As I was reading the latest issue of RodBuilder I ran across a question that really didn't get completely. I had to do with what RTV ment.

It stands for "Room Temprature Vulcanizing. Simply stated - it sets up by absorbing moisture from the air until fully cured.

This is also the reason that when smoothing out you want to use alcohal on your finger to smooth out not just wet your finger with spit as this causes a film to appear on the surface and slows the curing time and can even stop the curing process!

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Used a lot for instant gaskets. You can also make molds for pouring metals out of it. Usually silicone based, so avoid contaminating things. And it can react with, and discolor, some things in curing as the cure can create acetic acid (vinegar I believe)... which you can sorta smell when it is setting too.

yeah i use a lot when modding my truck and just about anything else i need to make a gasket for

Return To Vendor (RTV)

I use it to make my worm molds and you can use it to mold low temp lead. It's a 2 part rubber compoud for reproducing just about anything you want to reproduce, but most anglers use it for make plastic worms.

Used to use a lot of it in my former life. The red RTV is extremely high heat resistant. Used it for repairing boiler door gaskets with a fire in the boiler. These were neg. pressure boilers. So the red color will take the heat.

There is a green high temp as well that I know jewelers use. I had a very old ornate silver belt, est. ca 1500-1600, that I took to a jeweler to have modified. Jeweler was so enamoured of it that he made molds of the links to make his own. Was green, not red. Molten silver didn't cause it any problems at all.