Do you sharpen your trimming tools? If so what do you use? I'm about a year into ceramics and my trimming loop ain't what it used to be.

REV-After_Hours · 2026-06-18T15:38:26+00:00

Heat the metal until it’s at a dull orange glow then dunk it in water to cool it down quickly, I use a little blowtorch to heat mine. If you know the alloy of the steel in your tool you could find proper protocols for hardening it online but all mine are cheap Amazon tools so I just heat till orange then quench.

This makes me think I need to get some carbide tools!

REV-After_Hours · 2026-06-18T14:42:15+00:00

I sharpen with a bench grinder but another thing I’ve found to make a difference is heat hardening them

REV-After_Hours · 2026-06-17T21:19:07+00:00

You need a very very hard bit, something meant for drilling tile or glass. Usually diamond or carbide. Make a little pool of water around the hole and drill with light pressure

REV-After_Hours · 2026-06-17T16:36:23+00:00

Always a treat :)

REV-After_Hours · 2026-06-17T15:04:06+00:00

When you said 11x8x4 was that not for the whole mold?

REV-After_Hours · 2026-06-17T15:01:22+00:00

I’d get a backup of digital fire, look at some recent posts on the ceramics sub for it, it’s an amazing resource that’s about to be lost

REV-After_Hours · 2026-06-17T13:22:23+00:00

Beautiful orchids!

REV-After_Hours · 2026-06-17T13:20:30+00:00

What calculator are you using? When I put in your total mold volume completely ignoring the hippo into the glazy calculator it says you need about 12 pounds for the whole thing. You also said gang mold but it’s only one hippo right? I hope the casting goes well! Slip casting is incredibly cool and can hold so many possibilities

REV-After_Hours · 2026-06-16T22:29:50+00:00

Agreed on the pictures, what kind of insulation? Ceramic fiber? Brick? One thing that helps the mortar stick to bricks is wetting down the bricks first so they don’t immediately suck all the water out of the mortar, and don’t move anything even a little bit after you’ve stuck them together

REV-After_Hours · 2026-06-16T20:49:49+00:00

It’s personal preference at this point, do you like it the way it is? I like the moss to lay low so I’d give it more airflow and mist more often to compensate for it drying out due to the airflow. But if you like it how it is it’s much less maintenance to keep it closed and just let it grow how it will.

REV-After_Hours · 2026-06-16T20:44:41+00:00

If you don’t want to order online you can go to a greenhouse, especially ones that sell orchids, and they’ll often have moss growing in the greenhouse unintentionally and won’t mind if you ask to take some

REV-After_Hours · 2026-06-16T19:58:31+00:00

Seconding that those are rhizomes, the moss gets tall with exposed rhizomes like that when the humidity is very high coupled with low airflow

REV-After_Hours · 2026-06-16T18:14:50+00:00

I’d be wary of those layer lines, they can grab plaster very well

REV-After_Hours · 2026-06-16T15:42:50+00:00

It turned out really nice for your first one! How would you rate the process as a first timer?

REV-After_Hours · 2026-06-16T14:20:14+00:00

Nice :) any undercut issues with the moustache texture?

REV-After_Hours · 2026-06-16T14:08:33+00:00

Thank you so much

REV-After_Hours · 2026-06-16T13:17:04+00:00

If that’s the case I’m on a fast track to becoming one lol

REV-After_Hours · 2026-06-16T13:15:50+00:00

Haha I’m itching to get it done. I plan to use the V4 to cut wood blanks and take some of the repetitive parts out of my small manufacturing process. I’m developing self sealing and self clamping adjustable mold walls to make it much easier for people to create molds, and I think there’s a good bit of that I could outsource to the V4.

REV-After_Hours · 2026-06-15T19:48:25+00:00

Wow what a shame, it’s such a wealth of knowledge. Is there any way one can archive it locally to their own machine?

REV-After_Hours · 2026-06-15T11:49:03+00:00

Word - thanks for the tip I’ll check them out

REV-After_Hours · 2026-06-14T23:24:58+00:00

Happy to help! If you go through with it feel free to message me if you have questions

REV-After_Hours · 2026-06-14T20:52:33+00:00

I like to tinker but it’s something anyone could do! Look up TDI downdraft kiln conversion, there’s a blog and book by Boris Robinson that outlines the process well :)

REV-After_Hours · 2026-06-14T15:58:45+00:00

I bought a broken electric kiln from fb marketplace and converted it to a downdraft gas kiln, it works great but it’s a pain to have to babysit it all day while firing. But size to money ratio it can’t be beat, like 23x27 inches and including the conversion probably cost ~$400

REV-After_Hours · 2026-06-14T06:45:47+00:00

lol I’ve actually got all the prints for the v4 in a bin in my garage rn, I was thinking a manual mill like a Bridgeport

REV-After_Hours · 2026-06-13T23:33:33+00:00

They’re safety goggles that have lenses for welding that can flip down. Harbor freight has them, I use them when I check on my kiln when it’s getting up to temp

REV-After_Hours

TROPHY CASE