Aaron DeBord on fri 20 jun 97
Hi I am wanting to build a kiln and I need some brick formulas. I do have a
big supply of ground up IFB's and sutff. I am also wondering if I could
build the kiln out of the bricks and fire it up. or do I HAVE to pre fire
the bricks? Also how thick should I make the kiln wall? thanks for youre time.
[ Thanks from the great sirius ]
[ sirius@inetarena.com ]
Louis Katz on sat 21 jun 97
The answer is Yes, you have to pre fire or you have to not prefire.
Either can work. Dave Shaner who made brick for a wood kiln with free
fireclay and a Cinvaram Brick Press said he would never do it again.
Just the same if you would like to see footage on Anagama kilns being
built from raw brick in Thailand get a hold of my Video Traditional Thai
Pottery Part 1, Dankwean. The cool thing about raw brick is that they can
be trimmed with a machette (sp?) allowing each layer of brick to be
smoothed and leveled before the next layer is layed.if you are interested
email me individually and I will send ordering information. The uncool
thing is that the kiln probably would last longer if you fired the brick
until the started to sinter a bit. Cone 08 is probably not near hot
enough, but it probably depends on a lot of different factors. I suspect
that a high fire getting most of the firing shrinkage taken care of would
be wise.
Louis
Louis Katz
Texas A&M University Corpus Campus
lkatz@falcon.tamucc.edu
http://www.tamucc.edu/~lkatz
Sylvia See on sat 21 jun 97
Hi all,
Have noticed several requests for making bricks formulas and since I am
making high-fire bricks right now thought I'd send the recipe I am using.
Please note my kiln is not made yet so this is not an expert opinion. Have
no idea until I get firing what is going to happen.
recipe: equal parts fireclay (plainsman); vermiculate, sawdust and enough
water to make a mix that is easily spread and tapped into molds, made from
2x4's and 1x4's.
I made my molds 4"x9"x31/2". the depth is 3 1/2 " which is more than the
commercial bricks made, but I find the bricks shrink in the middle during
drying if a bit too thin a mix is used and they shrink in the firing. This
gives me some room to play with and I am going to run them through my table
saw and make them all uniform size when I get them all finished.They are
high-fire softbricks, and look pretty good.
I bought an electric cement mixer to make the mix, and spend an afternoon
making a lot of mix and storing in four plastic garbage cans with lids.
This enables me to put mix in the forms in the morning, and throw pots all
afternoon. I can usually lift the forms off the bricks by evening, and dry
them in the shade. I found drying them in the sun made them crack in the
middle and drying slower in the shade gives really nice bricks.
I am firing them in my raku kiln to cone 10. They shrink more going to
cone 10 than cone 6, so if you are going to fire to cone 10, you might as
well do it at the bricks stage as your whole kiln could shrink while doing
a load if you ony go halfway and take it up to cone 10 later.
I am not rushing the project, so I fire bricks after finishing a raku
firing, and then let them cool overnight. I can fire 20 bricks in my raku
kiln, which is an old 7 cu.ft. electric kiln. I have just about enough made
to make a smaller kiln than I want when finished, but big enough to fire
alot more bricks at a time.
I am also looking for a recipe for hard bricks for the outside row of
bricks, if anyone out there has one I'd sure appreciate your sharing. I
also want hard brick for the floor and burner ports.
I am also wondering if anyone knows of a material that comes in a
sheet-form like plywood. I'd like to sandwich fiber between high-fire
boards to make a flat roof and possibly door, so that I could use the kiln
for top-loading raku kiln if I wanted to. I'd also make a board type door,
so that I didn't have to brick up door each firing. If anyone knows of such
a material and where I can get it, I'd sure appreciate the help.
Thanks in advance.
The Sun is finally shining in Alberta, and faces smiling again.
Sylvia See sylviac@telusplanet.net
Throwing like mad outside in the patio. Hooray for summer!!!!!!
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