Wil Morris on sat 15 dec 07
I was wondering if anyone has ever considered the feasability of making
their own kiln bricks from raw materials to build a kiln. I know there's
issues to consider such as
- firing them at high temperatures too high for most potters kilns
- and the energy costs of firing small scale vs. the industrial large
scale
but my wild idea is this... Experimenting with refractory mixes (if
anybody has any ingredients to share..) making small fire and insulating
bricks a few at a time with my cone 8 electric kiln. When I have enough
bricks I build my gas kiln and fire it as high as it will go.
As a builder and an artist, I am frustrated that we have to rely so
heavily on buying expensive bricks (and shelves)from expensive industries
in order to 'make our own stuff'.
Ivor and Olive Lewis on sun 16 dec 07
Dear Wil Morris,
There is a lot of information for those who wish to work as you do.
The prime reading will come from:
Michael Cardew, "Pioneer Pottery ".ISBN 0 582 12624.
Harry Davis, "The Potter's Alternative" ISBN 0 454 01113 X
Jack Troy, "Salt Glaze Ceramics" ISBN 0 8230 4630 3
You can use low grade refractory material for a temporary Kiln.
Any grog should be fired high, above the intended firing temperature of =
your work. Try to use Sillimanite, or Mullite.
Leave it at that for the time being.
Best regards,
Ivor Lewis.
Redhill,
South Australia.
Paul Haigh on sun 16 dec 07
Google "brick making" and you'll find lots of info. There's also some good info in Olsen's Kiln book on bricks and castable domes. Often, brick makers would make and dry the bricks, then build a "kiln" of sorts with unfired bricks. The bricks in the interior osf the structure got to temp, the ones on the outside were put back in the next firing to finish up.
You'll find that lot of people make a brick kiln then cover with home-made insulating castable, which is another compromise on buying/building.
A friend lives near this place: http://www.oldmississippibrick.com/ . The site shows hand-made brick making. I think he bowhunts their property- I'm going to glaze a pot with their clay as a thank you for them.
The way I see it- unles you have access to some good percentage of the material for really cheap/free- it's going to cost a lot of time and money to make materials reliably for such a demanding application. It will be a satisfying endeavor, but maybe not financially if you rely on making pots for a living. (you could make hundreds of pots in the time it takes to make the bricks for a kiln- depending on what sort of kiln you want).
People do it- Steve Harrison in Australia does some for kilns. A town history book said that the bricks for several small schools etc were made next to the brook on my street, but this clay would definitley not take cone 12 wood kiln type temps/conditions- so watch your supply!
I've thought about it for kiln posts, a few bricks, maybe some with designs that I can load into my chimney before a firing. For a high-temp kiln, my understanding is that you want to fire them to at least full kiln temp before use. If you don't- then the inside of the brick gets much hotter than the outside and continues to vitrify- the inside of the kiln will shrink more than the outside relatively quickly.
Search the archives here for other info on making shelves/posts/etc and the tradeoffs.
Paul Haigh
Londonderry, NH
Terrance Lazaroff on fri 21 dec 07
Talking about making bricks for a kiln. This his how the traditional
Chinese potters make bricks. http://clayart.ca/00400making_bricks.htm
They produced approximately 12,000 bricks in 30 days. These bricks were
used to build a dragon kiln at Sanbao.
Terrance
Visit Terry's website at http://www.clayart.ca
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