mel jacobson on sun 16 may 10
i had the joy of building a small wood fired kiln on
the beach in dubai...right where the new road to the
biggest hotel in the world now stands. that was 1983
and the beach was clear for miles. white sand, aqua
sea. it was, and still is spectacular.
we used only driftwood, as there was an un-ending supply
of it on the beach..mountains of it. many of the ex/pats
would walk the beach and haul it back, and when the pile
was the size of a house, they would have a party and burn
the entire pile. i took all i wanted.
funny story, i was looking for brick, and an engineer from
the construction of the dubai aluminum company said to me
at a party....`my god, we have thousands of left over brick from
building the huge smelting furnace...k-26's. they sent over a huge
michigan loader
with the bucket full, just dumped them in our yard. enough to
build a big anagama...we built a phoenix cross draft. it was a
small dandy kiln.
when we fired, we got a very lovely haze of salt...almost
un-seen, but there for sure.
i think, as vince has said, you have a batch of heavenly
wood. and, coupled with the fine pots that you make, it
should be perfect.
mel
from: minnetonka, mn
website: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/
clayart link: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/clayart.html
new book: http://www.21stcenturykilns.com
alternate: melpots7575@gmail.com
David on mon 17 may 10
Hello Mike,
I have fired with N.A. pine wood from a local mill here in Japan. Compared =
to Japanese red pine the only difference I have been able to find is the as=
h is much lighter and flies around the kiln easier than the Japanese pine. =
That particular trait is undesirable for me so I don't use it. The work I t=
ook out of the kiln after that particular firing had a very high amount of =
ash glaze. I guess it is possible it is a salt glaze, I don't know enough a=
bout what salt glaze looks like to say. I have posted a picture of two piec=
es on my blog, accessible here, http://togeii.wordpress.com/2010/05/17/japa=
nese-red-pine-north-american-pine/ The piece on the left was fired with Jap=
anese red pine, the right piece with North American pine.
Every single Japanese potter I have talked to doesn't use N.A. pine. They w=
ould rather pay 1,000-1,500 yen per bundle for Japanese red pine than use f=
ree N.A. pine. I think that says a lot.
Dave
http://togeii.wordpress.com/
Mike on mon 17 may 10
Hi Mel,
That's a great story. Isn't it just amazing sometimes what life lays out
in front of us? Just have to keep our eyes open to notice.
Since starting the planning of this kiln, I have developed an
appreciation for free brick, and a healthy respect for the cost of
refractory materials, especially with prices the way they are here.
With about an equal number of people saying yes and no to the wood (on
and off list), I think I'm going to just have to learn the hard way. I
always advise my kids against it, but in the end I think it's the most
effective way to learn. Succeed or fail, you generally don't forget the
lesson for a good long time.
Of course, I can be a bit more cavalier about it the first time firing,
it won't just be my stuff in the kiln (grin), probably 2/3s of the work
will be from the workshop participants, who for the most part will be
less concerned about whether or not the work comes out looking like
Karatsu ware. Hell, it being the first firing and all, I suppose we
should be thrilled if we can just get the glazes to melt.
Thanks again everyone,
Mike
Mike
in Taku, Japan
http://karatsupots.com
http://karatsupots.blogspot.com
Kiln Building Workshop, Oct. 15 - 22
http://karatsupots.com/workshop2010/workshop2010.html
http://karatsupots-workshop.blogspot.com/
(2010/05/17 11:40), mel jacobson wrote:
> i had the joy of building a small wood fired kiln on
> the beach in dubai...right where the new road to the
> biggest hotel in the world now stands. that was 1983
> and the beach was clear for miles. white sand, aqua
> sea. it was, and still is spectacular.
>
> we used only driftwood, as there was an un-ending supply
> of it on the beach..mountains of it. many of the ex/pats
> would walk the beach and haul it back, and when the pile
> was the size of a house, they would have a party and burn
> the entire pile. i took all i wanted.
>
> funny story, i was looking for brick, and an engineer from
> the construction of the dubai aluminum company said to me
> at a party....`my god, we have thousands of left over brick from
> building the huge smelting furnace...k-26's. they sent over a huge
> michigan loader
> with the bucket full, just dumped them in our yard. enough to
> build a big anagama...we built a phoenix cross draft. it was a
> small dandy kiln.
>
> when we fired, we got a very lovely haze of salt...almost
> un-seen, but there for sure.
>
> i think, as vince has said, you have a batch of heavenly
> wood. and, coupled with the fine pots that you make, it
> should be perfect.
> mel
>
> from: minnetonka, mn
> website: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/
> clayart link: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/clayart.html
> new book: http://www.21stcenturykilns.com
> alternate: melpots7575@gmail.com
>
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