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corderite kiln shelves

updated mon 30 sep 96

 

George VanOstrand on tue 10 sep 96

I've been using corderite shelves for about five years in our wood kiln and
have mixed feelings about them. They are excellent in resisting the ash,
far better than the silicon carbide we have in the bag wall (these are
broken x shaped pieces from a commercial pottery and glaze over easily and
weep some sort of glaze). The problems I am having are that they have
warped by sagging at the bagwall where the temp probably gets well above
cone l0. This is not a problem in the rest of the kiln. Most annoying,
however, is trying to chip off glaze drips. I usually get a chunk of the
shelf along with glaze. I find them very soft. This softness is a positive
feature when you go to cut them, however. I get oversized shelves from a
commercial porcelain factory and cut them with ease using a masonry disc on
a skil saw.
George VanOstrand
gvanostr@julian.uwo.ca
London, Ontario