What is this

SDE

Well-known Member
I found three of these in a tool box that I got at an auction. They are about 2by2by8". Very light and quite loud if you touch them together.
Thank you
SDE
a192910.jpg
 
My cousin was a ceramic engineer, He gave me some blocks like that. I think they may have been for insulation or the like, I use them for serious sanding, heavy rust etc.
 
They are stones for a terrazzo grinder . They are held in with with wooden wedges into a holder that fits on a 16 floor polisher.
 
That is what I thought I would try to use them for also.
Thank you
SDE
 
Dad bought some 'stones' that looked like those back in the day. They were advertised as an alternative to sandpaper. I can remember there was even a TV commercial.
kinda crumbly and a bit brittle if dropped, but they could remove varnish and paint.
 
OK let us know.... when you scrub them on something do they smell like sulfur? If so you have some slag glass blocks. They are used in the food industry to clean griddle tops. They have thousands on razor sharp edges all of the time you move them. Makes them grills all nice and shinny. Also works as sand paper and also can clean lite rust and paint off of items. Now if you want to REALLY go far back they were used way back like in the TEENS to build walkin refridgerators and freezers. The "blocks" 6x6x14 inches were glued together with roof tar and they were VERY good at holding the temperature. The Reading terminal in Philadelphia got some remodeling around 2000 and I got a boat load of these out of the dumpster. They dissapear quikly when you use them but they sure do cut! I still have some around in the back yard. They also made flotation devices out of them. Those goofy looking rafts on ships had those blocks in them. Float real good. jeffcat
 

Jeffcat , you have solved an almost fifty year old mystery for me :) While fishing as a boy I found a block of this sulphurous slag floating on Westernport Harbour , I kept it for years and used small bits of it for carving forms for casting soft metal trinkets .
I vividly remember the vile gas released when cutting into it and often reflected on its origin .
Do you know what type of raft they were used on ?
 
They're used dilithium chrystals.

[i:654c4848f0]"Scotty, I need more power!"
"I can't do it captain! It's the dilithum chrystals. They're full of holes like swiss cheese.
They're gonna blow!"[/i:654c4848f0]
 
Glad to help. Many years ago in a boat salvage yard I saw the ones that were used like WWII era. 4 man? They were the emergency last resort automatic release ones that launched themselves. Hang on the side of a wall up on deck. I know they were made with cork before the war but during with no cork around they used the glass slag. During the war so much stuff was made by anyone who could build it. Used what ever they had. Today it is all foam core. Just realize that slag has got to be like 98% air and water doesn't bother it. You said they sound neat when you tap them, I had some that sounded like dull sounding glass bottles. jEFFCAT
 

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