So I’ll not be grinding any more kitty litter. My brother-in-law sells animal feed and mentioned that he sells powered bentonite. So I stopped by to check it out. This is what I found. I paid 20$ Canadian for the 50# bag. Not sure if he gave me a deal or not, but I’ve spent hours grinding kitty litter and never got anything this fine. https://photos.app.goo.gl/emcrtH1DVNYtj3KfA https://photos.app.goo.gl/qzVjZ5TbgEZxcQXJA
For sure the farm co-ops are the way to go for Sodium Bentonite. That should keep you in good shape and mix/perform better than the kitty litter. Now find yourself a source for Calcium Bentonite, blend the two and you'll have the best of both worlds. Best, Kelly
Given your location, I might enlist the help of some of your Canadian compadres on that since the shipping cost will likely exceed the product cost, but I'm thinking foundry supply houses. Best, Kelly
Calcium Bentonite is the kind of bentonite used in kitty litter. If you saturate the kitty liter with water and mix in 1 part kitty liter and 5 parts wet sand. it will mix much easier. The wet clay and sand will make a vert sticky base to be added to the green sand later. The way to tell the two types apart is to wet each. One will be more sticky than the other and feel solider. This is the calcium bentonite. It is only very slightly effected by water. if you put a golf ball size piece outside in the weather for a year. You will have a mostly intact golf ball size piece. If you do the same with sodium bentonite. It will be gone after just a couple rains. Both type can be bought from a well driller. The sodium bentonite is used in the drilling fluid "mud". it will be a very fine powder. The calcium bentonite will be the grout used to seal the outside of the casing to the earth. It will have around 60% fine gravel mixed with a course powder. This will need to screened. Joe
I think the easiest way to tell the two apart is Western (Sodium) Bentonite will absorb 15x more water than Southern (Calcium). SB expands like crazy. Smelko is a foundry supplier that some members here have used. Here's what they have to say about the use of each. Bentonites | Smelko Foundry Products Ltd. Best, Kelly
Not sure you can rely on that being universally so? Lot's of different cat litter, crystal/silica gel, natural (corn cob/wood/wheat/etc, but true, the most common are clay but there are a lot of clays. I would think the clumping stuff would more likely be Sodium Bentonite. Best, Kelly
I have a bag of hole plug used by well drillers here that is also sodium bentonite. It’s harder to crush than kitty litter but it made nicer sand https://photos.app.goo.gl/7jSY1YWUf8RUFMPu8
Looks good. I got a 50# bag of finely powdered sodium bentonite for I think $18 from a place here in Ottawa called Can-Pipe. Brand name is Quik Gel and like your bag of Hole Plug it's mined in Wyoming and sold by Halliburton. Mine might be meant as some sort of drilling lube. But to find calcium bentonite I finally gave up and paid some guy on the internet more money plus shipping for just 10# of the cosmetics grade stuff. I'm not sure I can tell if it made any difference to use both, but there are fancy reasons why it's supposed to be beneficial. You can certainly use just sodium bentonite. I always thought clay cat litter was more likely to be sodium bentonite too, but I'm not sure where I heard that. Its extra absorbency would probably make it a good choice for litter. Jeff
