Seems at some point a "temporary" pile of materials fell over onto my casting stuff and knocked the lid off the furnace. When the lid hit the floor the satanite got smashed up and has numerous breaks. The face is probably 3mm/1/8" thick, perhaps a bit less. Anyone done major repairs to the face like that before? I presume I'm probably better off removing the inswool from the lid and rebuilding, but the lazy SOB that creates piles instead of always putting things away wants to just slather on some more satanite and see if that'll work. Advice?
The first time I applied Satanite on the lid I put it on too thick and it cracked upon firing. I peeled the large chunks off the wool and put it on in thin layers. Now when it cracks I just paint another coat on. If yours is broken into small corn flakes I would just paint another layer on.
And you probably plan to heat each thin layer enough to make it glow a bit (weed burner works well) before painting again. I don’t think there is any need to let it dry before cooking it. Just paint it, cook it, paint it…. I protect the first couple feet of the inside of my chimney wool that way. About three thin layers makes a crust that lasts for many (30-40?) hours of hard firing. Denis
Don't know if it will help anyone else, but I fired it last time with charcoal and aside from the abuse caused by laziness and gravity, it served well the whole time until my foolishness damaged it.