Holy guacamole! At long last I have located fire clay in Maine, and arranged shipping details from 200 miles away with a local potter.
SSSSSOOOOOOOOOO, now that I can create my own castable mix, let's talk ingredients and ratios!
If we relax and keep things simple, I can see using my vermiculite in a 1:1 ratio with "the other stuff"' and then, in the same vein, having "the other stuff" be a 1:1 ratio of fire clay to fire cement.
Part of why I went bulldog-tenacity for the fire clay is I already have two 50# bags of heatstop50 and was determined to use the stuff up. It's also a cheaper than castable refractory cements, plus i just really liked the idea of coming up with a tough and affordable mix to share with the community!
Once we dial in ingredients, looking to measurements is next! So instead of a little thinner as with the castable refractory products, I'd be looking at a four inch wall, back to Matt's basics, no?
Huge sigh of relief here, and now I can focus on getting some more prep done. I'm down with the thrill of the chase and all, but it feels good to have lined things up (of course Monday I need to finalize the details, may everything go smoothly!)
Here's to an incredible autumn day, or at least here's to you from an absolutely spectacular day in DownEast Maine~p