vermiculite

[Alan Scott <ovencrft@nbn.com>]

I use vermiculite as an insulator both loose which is best, and with cement
8:1 mix which sets up like pumice in my highly efficient wood fired bread
baking ovens (five times as efficient as traditional masonry ovens). There
is legal leverage being applied at the moment on the as yet unresolved
possibility of asbestos like contamination of some Montana mined and
produced vermiculite. The science coming out is very distorted at this time
ranging from the industry saying that there is a 3% more chance of a long
time factory worker (20 years on the job) getting lung cancer from Montana
vermiculite to the other extreem. Personally I use the greatest precaution
with any of these modern insulation materials, perlite, foamglass, silica
blanket, rockwool, fiberglass etc, but to me in the field I rate
vermiculite as the least noxious with perlite and foamglass as the most
obnoxious by far.

alan scott   
Check out the web site for OVENCRAFTERS at http://www.nbn.com/~ovncraft