I’d also like to know how you bind a charcoal block. I’ve never used
one. And do you use denatured alcohol or…
Michele
MikiCat Designs
Twist up some heavy gauge iron binding wire (I buy mine from
florists and garden centers.)
File out a notch on the four corners and, locating the wire in these,
wrap it around the short edges and twist it - just as you would for
soldering up a ring. Crimp a couple times.
Tony Konrath
I take a new block, and an empty Altiods tin (doesn’t matter what
flavor) and make an impression of the deep side of the tin on the
block. Then use your saw to cut the block to fit into the tin
tightly. You can leave it this way, or chop it down to size so that
you can close the lid (cutting off the oxygen supply and
extinguishing the block.) eventually it will be nothing more than a
tin full of charcoal powder, but then I use it for annealing white
gold. It is safer to use this way, and less messy, unless you flail
your arms sometimes (like I do at least once a week) and knock the
thing into your bench pan, spilling the powder chunks everywhere.
On the rare occasion I need to solder on charcoal I put a piece of
hardwood on my hearth and set up on that. Three minutes of being
hosed down with an oxy-acetylene flame and the surface anyway is
charcoal. Initially there is all the smoke and flames you might wish
for but a spray bottle of water keeps it under control. I have done
it with pieces of wood about the size of a cell phone, which were
safe to ignite in my pumice pan. It’s dirty but very cheap. Once they
are prepared they can be used again.
Chris Smythe
Let me add another twist to this:
In my kit of materials and tools when I started dental school was a
charcoal block.
It was the same size as what most of you use: about 3 by 7 inches and
about 2 inches Thick. We were told to use the cardboard box that it
came in as a form (it was about A half inch bigger in all dimensions
than the charcoal). We used hard dental plaster (Hydrocal) to fill up
half the box (we cut the top off). We then bedded the charcoal In the
plaster. I guess the point was to support the charcoal and allow us
to fully Utilize it.
Charles Friedman DDS
Ventura by the Sea