High temperature adhesive for ceramics?

August 29, 2010 8:34 AM

My brother sculpted me a beautiful ceramic incense burner for my birthday a few years ago after I finished taking Anthropology at school. The top part resembles the face of some distant human relative, and smoke flows out through the eyes, nose and mouth. Unfortunately, right after he gave it to me, a small piece got chipped off while it was in my backpack! Where can I find a small quantity of good high temperature ( ~ 500F - 2000F) adhesive suitable for ceramics?
posted by rhythmicahly to sports, hobbies, & recreation (5 answers total)

No recommendations but I really doubt that your incense burner is reaching such high temperatures. Those are the temperatures at which clay is fired or glazed. Have you tried regular glue yet?
posted by bonobothegreat at 8:38 AM on August 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

What bonobothegreat said, unless you're using the sculpture as a kiln or forge.

If I were looking for high temperature glues, I would check out the local auto supply shops. I know they have gasket maker goop for high temperatures, and I would only be slightly surprised if they had regular adhesives in high temp grades too.
posted by zippy at 8:51 AM on August 29, 2010

In industry we use something called ceramabond (sp?) for adhereing Ceramic to ceramic or ceramic to metal.

We buy a very fine grade and in larger quantities but you may be able to find a small amount of it for a decent price. I think it's ok to ~800C.
posted by Quack at 8:57 AM on August 29, 2010

J-B Weld will go to 500F, and it's available at most hardware stores.
posted by lobstah at 10:05 AM on August 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

Drip some evaporated milk on the broken edges
and stick the parts together, works best for ceramics that have a porous surface. It shriks while it dries pulling the pieces together the crack will almost completely disappear.
Another thing would be sodium silicate aka water glass, available in fireplace stores for gluing ceramic fiber gasket to cast iron stove parts.
posted by hortense at 1:38 PM on August 29, 2010 [1 favorite]