Plaster of Paris, Investment, etc.

[awemawson]

Yes my late brother tried that approach with a frog, but it didn't work when he put it back together 

[mattinker]

Here's something to have under your hat for later, the microwave is a good way to accelerate drying of small pieces of plaster . I have not yet tried de-waxing using the microwave, it should be good as you can heat things up nice and slowly.

Regards, Matthew

[vtsteam]

That sounds good Matthew, and another interesting part of that is that it heats more evenly throughout. Rather than the heat having to penetrate through from the outside.

I remember from one of Steve Chastain's advanced casting books that plaster of Paris (is it okay if I just say poP from now on?) is used for pouring basin or sprue insulating liners in casting work. poP is I think the best insulator found for this.

So if it is such a good insulator, I imagine that would slow down regular convection heating even more, compared to microwave heating. That could account for a good chunk of the time required.