Testing sand for porosity

 another thing that would cause the surface to be really rough like that is pouring way way too hot

also that seam across the swivel part, that looks like the sand puffed on you when the metal was poured in because the moisture trapped behind the facing sand couldnt escape/vent through the rest of the sand because there was too much, or not enough breathability of the sand, and it just popped that part out as the metal was cooling

Dusty Dan — Yesterday at 11:38 PM

Ah I was wondering about that

Chirpy — Yesterday at 11:46 PM

looks like mostly breathability of the sand and water content tho

@FlashyFlash do you have a 1" or 1 1/2" pvc pipe piece somewhere nearby?

even 3/4" pvc pipe would work too

does not have to be very long, only a few inches really

and a wooden dowel rod that's a little bit longer than the piece of pvc pipe section

Dusty Dan — Today at 12:50 AM

The dowel is for ramming the sand in the pipe ?

Chirpy — Today at 12:54 AM

yea, lightly, and if the sand is too damp, it'll want to stick to the end of the raw wood dowel rod

just pack around 1 1/2" of sand lightly into the tube till the sand starts to push back and it feels solid, it shouldnt take much pressure to ram it in at all

then take your mouth and try blowing it out as hard as you can, if nothing can get through, then it might be that your sand cant breathe, but if it is less of a cork and extremely restricted, then the porousity of the sand might be ok, and just is too wet

or dump around 1 1/2" of sand into the tube and pack it in lightly with the dowel rod

if the sand wants to stick to the dowel rod, then it is really way too wet, or if the end of the rod feels wet after tamping it down

when you turn the tube over, it should feel pretty hard, but hold into the tube very snugly

would feel almost like a sugar cube, so not super hard, but still can crush it with enough force

if your sand can pass a little bit of pressure/air through it, then just sit there for a while and repeat that over and over again, pouring 1 1/2" of sand into the tube, and lightly tamping it down to get a feel for ramming the sand up, then knock that plug out and repeat 

everyone's greensand is a little different, and reacts a little differently to how it likes to be handled, and is a good way to figure out where the issues are with the sand

when you blow through it with your mouth, you dont want to use your lungs, you can try blowing through it, or try sucking the air through it with your mouth, it'll act as either a cork if it cant breathe at all and you end up with a constant vacuum, or if it will lose that pressure/vacuum on it's own as the air gets through the sand

that'll tell you alot about how hard the sand wants to be rammed up

and it sticking/balling up on the end of the piece of wood is a guaranteed way to tell that the water content is too high