vosburgh on sat 12 apr 97
Does anyone have any information on the health hazards of the smoke from raku?
Both straw and newspapers will be used in the firing. Is it more or less
dangreous than tobacco smoke? Any suggestions on the proper precautions to
take if we are working near occupied buldings (concerning exposure to building
occupants).
Kirby Vosburgh
Frank Hartlieb on mon 14 apr 97
When I worked at OCC in Royal Oak MI I fired our Raku kiln 4-5 days a
week, working with 5-7 people at a time. The kiln was situated directly
out the back door of our ceramics studio and near the majority of fresh
air inlets (vents) for the entire building, as well as the delivery dock
for maintenance and facilities management. As you can imagine, this
situation eventually became a problem as the smell of sm oke often invaded
offices and classrooms. OSHA finally tested for toxic chemistry in the
air and found that the diesel trucks who delivered and left engines
running at the loading dock were, likely to cause more harm than any raku
firing...we did however adopt a policy in which we notified one of the
maintenance people on duty that we were about to begin post=fire
reduction, and they would shut down the intake system and close the
loading dock doors...a small inconvenience that allowed for peaceful
coexsistence. As for the harm of smoke from firing to participants: Osha
fit me with a measuring device to test for harmful particles in the air
directly over and around our reduction pit and found nothing to exceed
their standards of safety. I think your best bet is to take precautionary
measures, keep smoke to a minimum and fire away.
frank-
hart9535@uidaho.edu
Don Jones on tue 15 apr 97
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>When I worked at OCC in Royal Oak MI I fired our Raku kiln 4-5 days a
>week, working with 5-7 people at a time. The kiln was situated directly
>out the back door of our ceramics studio and near the majority of fresh
>air inlets (vents) for the entire building, as well as the delivery dock
>for maintenance and facilities management. As you can imagine, this
>situation eventually became a problem as the smell of sm oke often invaded
>offices and classrooms. OSHA finally tested for toxic chemistry in the
>air and found that the diesel trucks who delivered and left engines
>running at the loading dock were, likely to cause more harm than any raku
>firing...we did however adopt a policy in which we notified one of the
>maintenance people on duty that we were about to begin post=fire
>reduction, and they would shut down the intake system and close the
>loading dock doors...a small inconvenience that allowed for peaceful
>coexsistence. As for the harm of smoke from firing to participants: Osha
>fit me with a measuring device to test for harmful particles in the air
>directly over and around our reduction pit and found nothing to exceed
>their standards of safety. I think your best bet is to take precautionary
>measures, keep smoke to a minimum and fire away.
>
>frank-
>hart9535@uidaho.edu
At the University where I worked as a tech. We had to tell the campus cops
whenever we were doing raku to prevent others from calling in a possible
fire in the Art dept. So I called up the first day and said we were
smoking pots today. They arrived anyway to see if we were really "smoking
pot"!
Don
claysky@highfiber.com
Randy Golly on wed 16 apr 97
I am getting ready to setup a raku kiln at my studio which resides
within a residential neighborhood. I would like to build some kind
of exhaust hood or large fireplace with a tall flue over the top of
my building to vent some of the smoke. Ill be working just outside
the rear of the studio in a metal covered but open sided work area.
Any ideas or easy to build plans out there?
Randy Golly
rcgolly@vermeertexas.com
Grapevine Texas
Isnt Spring Great!!
BWINER@UKCC.uky.edu on thu 17 apr 97
I learned from Robert Sunday, a potter who only uses raku firing in his work,
that you can do raku reduction without any smoke if you use his technic. He
uses a box filled with sand and places his pieces on a brick which sits on top
of the sand. Once he puts the piece on the brick which is surrouded with saw
dust or paper, he quickly places an inverted galvanized trash can of appropriat
e size over the piece and pushes it's rim into the send. No smoke will escape.
I have done this a few times and have been very pleased. I fire outdoors and
would probably not be bothered by a small amount of smoke. I also live in a
very residential area and my neighbors have not complained at all. In fact,
they enjoy to come and watch. Hope that this helps. Billy in Lexington, KY
Sherry mcDonald Stewart on fri 18 apr 97
This is a wonderful suggestion! I wasn't looking for it, but it has been
a problem for me , I admit, I smoked at night when my neighbors slept
when i was doing raku. I hope to raku again oneday, and really am glad
to hear about this technique.! Clayart is great!
Richard Gralnik on sun 20 apr 97
Be careful about using a galvanized can for this. Galvanizing burns out
at 300-400 deg. and creates nasty fumes. (See what kind of useful things
you learn when you decide to weld your own kiln frame!)
Richard
putting the finishing touches on the frame in LA
At 12:26 PM 4/17/97 EDT, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>I learned from Robert Sunday, a potter who only uses raku firing in his work,
>that you can do raku reduction without any smoke if you use his technic. He
>uses a box filled with sand and places his pieces on a brick which sits on
top
>of the sand. Once he puts the piece on the brick which is surrouded with saw
>dust or paper, he quickly places an inverted galvanized trash can of
appropriat
>e size over the piece and pushes it's rim into the send. No smoke will
escape.
>I have done this a few times and have been very pleased. I fire outdoors and
>would probably not be bothered by a small amount of smoke. I also live in a
> very residential area and my neighbors have not complained at all. In fact,
>they enjoy to come and watch. Hope that this helps. Billy in Lexington, KY
>
>
Gavin Stairs on mon 21 apr 97
At 10:35 AM 20/04/97 EDT, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Be careful about using a galvanized can for this. Galvanizing burns out
>at 300-400 deg. and creates nasty fumes. ...
Galvanizing (zinc) also alloys with the steel, making a brittle alloy that
considerably shortens the life of the stove/kiln. Better to use a 55gal drum.
Gavin
=================================
Gavin Stairs
http://isis.physics.utoronto.ca/
Sandra Dwiggins on wed 23 apr 97
Billy in Lexington, Ky---The inverted garbage can in the sand technique
sounds like something that I could use--living in a very close residential
area, but with enough yard to do sawdust firing. I'm interested in the
mechanics of how the paper and other materials are placed around the
brick in the sand. I can't quite picture how this is done---I'm envisioning
this hot pot placed on a brick, but can't figure out how the pot comes in
contact with the combustibles.
I'm very interested in trying this.
Sandy
sandra@icicsun.nci.nih.gov
kurt l. wild on thu 24 apr 97
Sandra Dwiggins wrote:
>
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> Billy in Lexington, Ky---The inverted garbage can in the sand technique
> sounds like something that I could use--living in a very close residential
> area, but with enough yard to do sawdust firing. I'm interested in the
> mechanics of how the paper and other materials are placed around the
> brick in the sand. I can't quite picture how this is done---I'm envisioning
> this hot pot placed on a brick, but can't figure out how the pot comes in
> contact with the combustibles.
>
> I'm very interested in trying this.
>
> Sandy
> sandra@icicsun.nci.nih.gov
I believe that when I saw Paul Soldner do this years ago he just used one
sheet of paper and set the pot on it. I have set the pot on "nest" of
shreded paper. The nest? Take a sheet of news paper and tear it into
strips and fluff it up a bit and set pot on it on the brick. I wouldn't
even bother with the brick. It works!!!
BWINER@UKCC.uky.edu on sat 26 apr 97
Sandy, In reply to the reduction of rakued pots. Many potters, including Rober
t Sunday and several of my friends in Hawaii who do a lot of raku firing, do no
t want the combusting materials to touch their pots during reduction. Robert
puts a handfull of wood shavings around the brick, close to the fired piece but
not touching it. The shavings have no problem igniting as the pot is so hot
when it comes out of the kiln. The reason the above potters don't like the
combusting materials (wood shavings, saw dust, paper, leaves) to touch the pot
is that sometimes these materials leave blackened areas where they touch the
pot. On the subject of using sand to stop the escape of smoke, I have
large metal containers that hold the sand, but a friend of mine who lives
close to me, uses an area next to her driveway that has been framed like
a sandbox and does not have to be emptied or moved when not in use. I may do
that myself. Hope this helps.
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