I did look it up and found the temperatures higher than I remembered.
Solid soapstone had two temperatures. First it said 1300 C. Then it
said 1100 C for 24 or 48 hours. About 1 % shrinkage for the solid.
Need to go slow thru 500 degrees to 800 degrees to let the bound water
leave.

Compacted........ No pressure given. About 8% shrinkage. And the temp
was 1100 C. Maybe I ought to check the last figure again.

Dan

wrote:
I do think it is something that can be done at home. The details are
in " Procedures in Experimental Physics " by Strong. Available as a
reprint for Linsay. I will look it up and post. You can also turn
solid soapstone into Steatite in a pottery kiln. Experiments at the
highschool did not work well. The piece did change, but fractured
along
an impurity line. I did not see the actual experiment.

Dan
Bob Engelhardt wrote:
wrote:

... you can use soapstone
powder somewhat like powdered metal. Mold it and compress it,
then
sinter it. ...

Hey, that's cool. How much pressure to compress and how much heat
to

sinter, would you think? In other words, do you think it's
something

that an HSM could do?

Bob