mel jacobson on fri 22 aug 08
i do not discourage anyone from research/experiments.
try whatever you want. that is how we should work.
but, some kilns are very time and energy consuming, and
expensive. often plans that we get are not accurate.
(for example, the rhodes wood kiln from the old book
was never built...it was a concept kiln. it does not
work well...and has been built many times over from those plans...and it
is a dog. but, people use very old data, old plans
and expect they have been tested...not true....often
they are concept ideas.)
to build a hill kiln, one must research the soil conditions,
have a good idea why and how you are doing it. have a
perfect source of fuel. (note that many supplies of wood
and sawdust are no longer available...it is being used for
fuel in industry....and no one gives it away any longer...fuel at
all levels is expensive...same for oil of all kinds...now you pay
for what was thrown out three years ago.)
do not expect some fantastic results....it may be
a total dog. often potters brag about kilns that
fire 50 percent failure. they never tell you about
the bad pots...just the two or three racers.
i have been witness to some huge wood/smoke/fuel
kilns that have been bulldozed over. total waste of
time and energy. and public expense. a grant gone bad.
many walk away...tsk, tsk, tsk....someone else's money.
so, i encourage good planning, lots of information from those
that have gone before. then go into the project with eyes
wide open....experiments are just that....it all may go to
hell very fast.
mel
from minnetonka:
website http://www.visi.com/~melpots/
clayart site:
http://www.visi.com/~melpots/clayart.html
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