Quicksand Fans

I constructing a mud pit tote for sinking in. It will have circulation coils on the outside for heating the contents and spray insulation as well on the outside. I looking for a mud recipe to fill it with. Was thinking of bentonite clay and methylocelulose as the medium to fill the tank with. Does anyone have suggestions?

FarmCouple wrote:I constructing a mud pit tote for sinking in. It will have circulation coils on the outside for heating the contents and spray insulation as well on the outside. I looking for a mud recipe to fill it with. Was thinking of bentonite clay and methylocelulose as the medium to fill the tank with. Does anyone have suggestions?

From my experience, Bentonite is too slippery for any tactile use. Kentucky Ball Clay (commonly referred to as OM-4) has relatively high plasticity (draw) and can be mixed to a great variety of thicknesses.

I don't have any experience blending non-clay materials with it though. I suggest keeping it simple.

FarmCouple wrote:I constructing a mud pit tote for sinking in. It will have circulation coils on the outside for heating the contents and spray insulation as well on the outside. I looking for a mud recipe to fill it with. Was thinking of bentonite clay and methylocelulose as the medium to fill the tank with. Does anyone have suggestions?

Good luck with your tank. I think you will find that methycellulose is a good deal lighter than any kind of clay, so it will probably separate fairly rapidly. The methylcellulose is also quite expensive. Bentonite is readily available and relatively inexpensive. It is quite slippery so make certain you have safety in mind while getting in and out. Bentonite will have a very smooth feel to it if you keep it pure. If you like a more gritty feel you could try mixing in some peat moss. Be sure to get the kind of bentonite that is used as a cattle feed additive and not the kind used in oil-well lubrication. The latter might be ok but some of it contains additional substances that improve its properties for us in oil drilling and the safety of those substances would need to be investigated.