vpitelka on fri 25 jan 08
Gary Wagoner wrote:
"I was looking at some archived posts about suitability of bricks for
sodium vapor atmospheres, and came across Vince's account of high
alumina bricks degrading badly in a sodium vapor kiln owing to their
porosity and the fact that they resist salt and thus the surface
doesn't seal with glaze deposit. I wonder if others have found these
bricks to be inappropriate for this application? I seem to remember a
thread about spraying glaze (Shino?) on the interior of kilns to seal
them. Does that make sense in this situation? Or ITC? I have some
Kruzite bricks that I would like to use to build a sodium vapor kiln
and a wood kiln, but would appreciate any advice or relevant warnings."
Gary -
I think that you have exactly the right idea. I cannot speak from
experience, other than having had to scrap a salt kiln built with Kruzites.
But we did not coat the interior, because I didn't know at the time that
this was necessary. I think that if you gave the interior surface a good
coating of shino you would seal out the sodium vapors. I'd repeat that
coating periodically and really let it soak into any cracks or gaps that
develop. Don't give the sodium vapors any chance to enter the Kruzites.
There's no reason why this shouldn't work out well. I wish you good luck,
and I'd love to hear how this works out.
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Craft
Tennessee Tech University
vpitelka@dtccom.net; wpitelka@tntech.edu
http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka
Gary Wagoner on fri 25 jan 08
I was looking at some archived posts about suitability of bricks for
sodium vapor atmospheres, and came across Vince's account of high
alumina bricks degrading badly in a sodium vapor kiln owing to their
porosity and the fact that they resist salt and thus the surface
doesn't seal with glaze deposit. I wonder if others have found these
bricks to be inappropriate for this application? I seem to remember a
thread about spraying glaze (Shino?) on the interior of kilns to seal
them. Does that make sense in this situation? Or ITC? I have some
Kruzite bricks that I would like to use to build a sodium vapor kiln
and a wood kiln, but would appreciate any advice or relevant warnings.
Gary Wagoner
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