Finish for a cast iron glue pot ?

Aug 04, 2004 7 Replies

I've a bigger cast iron gluepot simmering nicely in the electrolytic de-ruster. When it's ready, I'd going to black wax the outside, and bitumen the "bain marie" surfaces.



But how to finish the inner pot surface, where the glue goes ? I'd like something that's rustproof and non-reactive, and certainly won't react with the glue. I don't use hide glue often enough that I can merely leave yesterday's glue in it ready for the next day.



Any suggestions ?



"Andy Dingley" wrote

Not terribly constructive in practical terms, but I have a glue pot the inner pot of which is lined with vitreous enamel.

Jeff G

Thanks for everyone's suggestions.

I'm inclining towards nickel plate. I've been looking for an excuse to buy the chemistry for doing electroless nickel anyway ($75).

I'm doing some acid copper plating at the moment (on leather !) Having nickel handy would also allow me to interleave the plating materials, which gives a stiffer and more robust plating on non-conductors. I might try copper plating on the iron too, but that's tricky with an acid plating bath and I can't really work with cyanide baths.

Do tell about copper plating on leather!

Friend of mine's retired walking boots. She wants to turn them into a garden ornament.

Total failure so far - it depends on getting a conductive layer onto the leather before plating, usually involving some sort of graphite coating. Our various recipes haven't worked very well yet, and we're still waiting for some commercial Aquadag to show up.

OTOH, I have managed to copper plate titanium (which is difficult), and to electroless copper plate steel (which is also difficult, without cyanide).

Best part is that _all_ of the materials came from just one place, the over-the-counter farm vet chemist. Few kg of copper sulphate (for athlete's hoof in sheep or something), conc sulphuric acid (drain cleaner), stockholm tar (sheep polish), calf feeding buckets (stronger and heatproof)

Andy Dingley notes:

Good lord. This used to be the hot set-up for baby shoes in the '40s, '50s, '60s. May still be for all I know. You need to find a supplier for one of those outfits, though I think most of the ads wanted to sell the entire business kit.

Charlie Self "Inanimate objects are classified scientifically into three major categories - those that don't work, those that break down and those that get lost." Russell Baker

Not for years. It's all done with bronze powders and a resin these days.

There's also the famous Victorian patent "A Scheme for Electroplating The Dead"

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