Lili Krakowski on fri 11 jul 08
Wood firing may be having a flare up, because a lot of places where loggers
have been Gentrified out of existence or into the poorhouse will wake up and
see that the fires in California are more acts of poor planning than Acts of
God!
So I do think it will become easier for potters to get permission to glean
trees that have fallen in the forest and the EPA did not hear them!
What exactly will potters will do? Firing costs are rising no matter what
fuel. We cannot expect to raise our prices all that much.
Ideas? Predictions?
Lili Krakowski
Be of good courage
Lee Love on sat 12 jul 08
On Fri, Jul 11, 2008 at 11:04 AM, Lili Krakowski
wrote:
> What exactly will potters will do? Firing costs are rising no matter what
> fuel. We cannot expect to raise our prices all that much.
>
> Ideas? Predictions?
Lili,
I use waste wood that would otherwise be burned in an open
fire. It goes to a builder first, then a pallet maker gets those
scraps and I get what he can't use. I pay for half the delivery
only. The pallet maker pays for the other half. He tells me it costs
him more to have someone burn it for him, so he is happy to pay half
delivery.
My kiln costs about $8.00 to fire a bisque and glaze firing.
Wood is a renewable fuel. Only problem I forsee are more
co-generation plants like we have in Saint Paul, getting the waste
wood before it gets to me.
--
Lee Love in Minneapolis
http://mashikopots.blogspot.com/
http://claycraft.blogspot.com/
"Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground." --Rumi
Paul Herman on sat 12 jul 08
Hello Lili,
What will potters do? Well first we probably should "be of good
courage" as you say. Consider the rich history of ceramics made before
the fossil fuel age.
I think people will do all kinds of different things for firing in the
future, and certainly wood will be one way to fire pots that will
remain viable in some places. I think is IS getting easier to cut
trees up at Tahoe, for example, and foresters know well the benefits
of thinning the trees out some. The "dog hair thickets' of densely
growing stunted trees we see these days are the results of past
logging practices. The pine forests of the west should have many less
trees per acre, and then when they burn it only scorches the bark of
the old trees a little, not killing them.
The Flagstaff Arizona area had about six big ponderosa pines per acre
before logging, and now there are hundreds. Many parts of the west are
in the same condition, including parts of the Plumas Nat'l Forest
where I cut my wood.
For myself, I plan to continue to wood fire for as long as I can get
up to the woods and harvest dead trees, and to pursue the mix of clay,
stone, ash and fire. I have about 250 gallons of propane out front in
the big tank, and when that is gone I think I might just tell the
propane company to come get their tank. That will be a liberating
moment!
Best wishes,
Paul Herman
Great Basin Pottery
Doyle, California US
www.greatbasinpottery.com/
On Jul 11, 2008, at 9:04 AM, Lili Krakowski wrote:
> Wood firing may be having a flare up, because a lot of places where
> loggers
> have been Gentrified out of existence or into the poorhouse will
> wake up and
> see that the fires in California are more acts of poor planning than
> Acts of
> God!
>
> So I do think it will become easier for potters to get permission
> to glean
> trees that have fallen in the forest and the EPA did not hear them!
>
> What exactly will potters will do? Firing costs are rising no
> matter what
> fuel. We cannot expect to raise our prices all that much.
>
> Ideas? Predictions?
>
> Lili Krakowski
>
> Be of good courage
Dale Neese on sat 12 jul 08
I fire with propane. The price per gallon has doubled since last year. I've
raised my prices some but not to scare off any potential customers. Last
couple of weeks here in our neighborhood we had "brush pickup" since
regulations have forbidden open burning of debris. As I made my morning walk
around the streets where residents were asked to pile brush on the side of
the road for pick up, I was wishing I had someplace to store all the fuel
wood that was being throw out. All of it free for the taking. Some people
were pulling trailers with the intentions of scavenging useable pieces. It
took our disposal service 2 weeks to clear every pile from the streets using
tandem open semi-trailers with a claw to handle everything. Not only were
there cuttings from Oak trees, there were stacks of wood from new
construction. Various lengths of 2X4's, wooden pallets by the dozens all
being hauled off to some processing place. Since the huge "mulch pile fire"
here in Helotes that burned for 60 days couple of years ago, processors are
not allowed to stockpile huge amounts of brush anymore. Before we were
annexed into the city limits I could have fired a wood kiln. But now the
newer neighbors would certainly object to the burning of wood for firing a
kiln. I feel lucky as it is to have a gas kiln where many of the residents
don't know that it exists. It's just simply amazing how much wood there is
out there to be taken for free.
Dale Tex
"across the alley from the Alamo"
Helotes, Texas USA
www.daleneese.com
Michael Kline on sat 12 jul 08
I use "edgings" from a local lumber mill that are otherwise burned in a
field to get them out of the lumberyard. Most all of the potters in the
Penland area buy this lumber when they can get it. Several problems exist.
1) The guys truck is old and he is always repairing it. 2) There aren't
enough potters to make this a side business for the mill.
Most mills in the area, large and small, are chipping their surplus edgings
and slabs. So it's only a matter of time until this mill will invest in a
more profitable method of using these edgings and slabs. So what will we
do? I anticipate we will see a conversion to cord wood (cut for the
woodstove) . There will most likely always be small timber being cut for
wood stoves.
On Sat, Jul 12, 2008 at 3:34 AM, Lee Love wrote:
> On Fri, Jul 11, 2008 at 11:04 AM, Lili Krakowski
> wrote:
>
> > What exactly will potters will do? Firing costs are rising no matter
> what
> > fuel. We cannot expect to raise our prices all that much.
> >
> > Ideas? Predictions?
>
> Lili,
>
> I use waste wood that would otherwise be burned in an open
> fire. It goes to a builder first, then a pallet maker gets those
> scraps and I get what he can't use. I pay for half the delivery
> only. The pallet maker pays for the other half. He tells me it costs
> him more to have someone burn it for him, so he is happy to pay half
> delivery.
>
> My kiln costs about $8.00 to fire a bisque and glaze firing.
>
> Wood is a renewable fuel. Only problem I forsee are more
> co-generation plants like we have in Saint Paul, getting the waste
> wood before it gets to me.
>
> --
> Lee Love in Minneapolis
> http://mashikopots.blogspot.com/
> http://claycraft.blogspot.com/
>
> "Let the beauty we love be what we do.
> There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground." --Rumi
>
--
Michael Kline
4062 Snow Creek Road
Bakersville, NC 28705
Read the blog "Sawdust & Dirt"
www.michaelklinepottery.blogspot.com
Dale Cochoy on sun 13 jul 08
Hi Dale,
How did you enjoy the San Ann bonsai convention and your new stock?
Dale Cochoy
Wild Things Bonsai Studio
Hartville, Ohio Zone 5
>
> Dale Tex
> "across the alley from the Alamo"
> Helotes, Texas USA
> www.daleneese.com
>
gary navarre on mon 14 jul 08
I know what I'm gonna be dooin!!!
And if you been paying attention I've been developing a pretty efficient, though a bit laborious, method of doing the actual work of gleaning the slash. We will get into tree climbing and trimming later but for a quick review... if you see a dead and down branch pick it up and take it home! During the early '70's when I was living in Kalamazoo Sally and I were in an upstairs apartment on South Westnedge and I'd built a couple kilns that needed wood so I scrounged from a house demolition and picked up limbs I found along the street while walking or cycling around town. I refused to drive for a long time, unless I got paid like at Fisher-Graffs scrap yard, so I had a squirrels eye view of the real world. Come to think of it I was pretty squirreled out of my mind back then too like most all us potters in the neighborhood. Dick Sutton, Drew Krouse, Katy Coony, Karen Harrison to quickly recall few, and in spite of my dervish partying in the background of my
minds eye I'd see visions of collecting fuel from the dead limbs of Pines and another kiln along the lines of my present design. What a hoot one time I was hauling a 15 foot oak branch along the main drag howling at the morons in cars to get out and walk. Now most of them are probably too fat to walk. When I came to I realized its not easy to carry a 20' extension ladder and painting gear on a 10 speed and I got something to drive.
Sad to say but most pottery schools don't teach woodsmanship. Most students don't see a woods anymore. So to the actual work of snipping up the slash takes a bit of thought. The twigs and limbs come off first with lopping shears and as a result you can walk around a little better. Anything an inch or more in diameter can make a stick and smaller twigs are saved to put into the Koie Cooker to make glaze ash. Right now I have piles of Poplar and Maple twigs sitting around I'll snip into Koie fuel. Once a chunk of slash is too thick to lop I measure it with a stick that is cut to 4 stoakable lengths, 144", and bring out the chain saw, cutting 3 or 4 lengths.
I probably won't need to find work trimming trees like I had in mind some time ago but, if I were, getting paid to collect my wood would be pretty cool. I do need to get up over to Don Oddisons place to clear up those Red Pine limbs left when he had it logged.
My prediction is wood firing is not making a short comeback, it never left, just d... a.. Americans didn't know it existed. Gas, oil, and electric will become a more expensive thing of the past. Wood firing has and always will be around as long as someone wants to make something out of a lump of clay and burn the hell out of it just to see what happens so stay in there aeh!
Gary Navarre
Navarre Pottery
Navarre Enterprises
Norway, Michigan, USA
http://www.youtube.com/GindaUP
http://public.fotki.com/GindaUP/
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