David Woof on fri 24 dec 10
Jeff=3D2C I have never heard of a gopher kiln either. But if you like=3D=
2C w=3D
e can give that name to a bank kiln I built in the North woods 1982 or abou=
=3D
t.
I had just moved back to the isolated wooded mountainous ridge country to r=
=3D
aise my kids (single parenting) and make pots in the grace of solitude and =
=3D
I had a show scheduled in two weeks and an empty 46 cu' wood fire setting c=
=3D
hamber to fill. So I made the pots and while they were finishing drying I =
=3D
built a bisque kiln in the same bank the hard brick wood/salt kiln was sitt=
=3D
ing on. (Tuesday)Dug it out and built it in 5 hrs=3D2C loaded the pots=3D2=
C an=3D
d bisque fired to 010 in 7 hrs. Watchful steady climb. Next AM (Wedne=
=3D
sday) unloaded=3D2C glazed=3D2C and loaded the cone ten firing by midnight.=
=3D
Kids "candled" and "partied" till dawn. ( kids age 6=3D2C 7=3D2C and 9 wit=
h ol=3D
der brother age 14 party with smores=3D2C camp fire bread on a stick and fr=
es=3D
h venison strips stick roasted to taste.) By 5 am they have a bright red =
=3D
heat and I take it on over that day in the pm=3D2C(Thursday)and crash cool =
th=3D
e visible color. We let kiln sit and cool Friday while we pack for the s=
=3D
how=3D2C and Saturday 5 AM kids are opening newspaper for me to wrap the st=
il=3D
l too hot to handle beauties! At 8:00 am I'm setting them on the show tabl=
=3D
es still warm. Freshly placed price stickers are sliding about from the he=
=3D
at. Cool 9:00 am=3D3B folks are commenting on the welcome warmth of the p=
ot=3D
s=3D2C and buying. Kids are face painting other kids for .50 cents a fac=
e.=3D
Moms and dads buying pots. Kids get to eat and pants to wear. Thanks in=
=3D
part to our "gopher kiln" and a family united by work and the life we enjo=
=3D
yed.
=3D20
The quickie kiln had a 55 gallon barrel fire box that flued up at the back =
=3D
end to the forward drafting setting chamber set in it's own earth channel a=
=3D
bove the fire box and had an exit flue in the front just behind the bricked=
=3D
up loading door. A 20 gallon grease barrel sat over the flue hole for a c=
=3D
himney stack. The 55 gal drum lasted two firings and I then had time to r=
=3D
ebuilt it with a shale brick fire box. There was a shale quarry in the next=
=3D
ridge over. The shale could take cone 9 before starting to deform so I use=
=3D
d hammer split and cut slabs for bricks. They cracked some but were fine fo=
=3D
r the purpose I asked of them.
=3D20
Hope you enjoyed my Gopher Kiln story. If we want it or need it enough we=
=3D
make it work with what we have on hand. It has always been this way for c=
=3D
rafts people the world over time.=3D20
=3D20
David Woof...kicking back this 24th evening of Dec. satisfied and content f=
=3D
rom a day well spent.
________________________________________________________________________
13c. Re: Gopher kilns?
Posted by: "Vince Pitelka" vpitelka@DTCCOM.NET=3D20
Date: Fri Dec 24=3D2C 2010 12:51 pm ((PST))
Jeff -
I have never heard of such a thing and would love to know more if they did
exist. The classic early kiln built by potters in the southeast was of
course the groundhog=3D2C which was partially underground and buttressed wi=
th
earth since they had no fireproof material with which to construct a suppor=
=3D
t
frame. The first kilns in the world capable of reaching stoneware
temperatures were the "bank kilns" built in ancient China during the Zhou
Dynasty sometime around 1000 BC=3D2C and they were as you describe - sort o=
f =3D
a
tunnel or cave burrowed into an earthen bank. The key issue is that it
can't just be burrowed into the ground. It has to be a bank of high-clay
earth so that it will fire itself and become structurally stable. Bank
kilns were burrowed horizontally into the earthen bank and required a
chimney port coming up through the earthen bank at the back of the firing
chamber. The resulting natural draft proved to be highly effective and
allowed the kiln to reach high-fire temperatures. This design was the
predecessor of the anagama and tube kilns that became so prevalent in East
Asia.
=3D20
To say that "American settlers didn't exactly have a bunch of firebricks"
isn't exactly accurate=3D2C because anywhere they found clay=3D2C they coul=
d ma=3D
ke
bricks=3D2C and it was a very low-tech process requiring no equipment at al=
l.
That was the first step before making pots=3D2C regardless of where they we=
re=3D
.
If they found earth that could be burrowed into to make a kiln=3D2C it mean=
t
that there was enough clay in the soil that they could use it to make
bricks. It isn't hard to make bricks - it's just time consuming. You can
make them using very simple wood molds=3D2C and you do not need a kiln=3D2C=
bec=3D
ause
you use the bricks you have made to build a classic "brick clamp."
=3D20
If you have not seen it=3D2C you might want to check out Sydney Poitier in =
"T=3D
he
Last Brickmaker in America." It is one of those incredibly cheesy=3D2C sapp=
y
Hallmark Channel movies and I do not know how they snagged Poitier for it=
=3D
=3D2C
but it does show great footage of brickmaking and the brick clamp.
Basically the clamp is just a giant rectangular pile of air-dried greenware
bricks with fireboxes built into the base periodically around the perimeter=
=3D
=3D2C
and flue channels from the fireboxes snaking through the pile and opening t=
=3D
o
vents in the top. By moving pieces of metal or bricks that partially cover
those vents=3D2C the brickmaker could control the draft.
=3D20
In a classic brick clamp=3D2C the bricks closest to the firebox and nearby =
fl=3D
ue
channels would be distorted or even melted=3D2C the next layer would be fir=
ed
dark chocolate brown=3D2C and then the farther the bricks were away from th=
e
heat source=3D2C the lighter in color=3D2C until you get to bricks near the=
out=3D
side
surface=3D2C which would serve only as insulation and would not get fired a=
t
all. When the clamp was unstacked those bricks would be set aside protected
from the rain and would be included in the next firing.
=3D20
A clamp can be fairly small=3D2C so it would be no problem for a potter arr=
iv=3D
ing
on the Great Plains or wherever to find a clay source and make enough brick=
=3D
s
to build a kiln.
- Vince
=3D20
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Craft
Tennessee Tech University
vpitelka@dtccom.net=3D3B wpitelka@tntech.edu
http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka
________________________________________________________________________
15. Groundhog kiln (was Gopher Kiln)
Posted by: "Jeff Longtin" plasterjfl@AOL.COM=3D20
Date: Fri Dec 24=3D2C 2010 12:51 pm ((PST))
=3D20
The puzzle has been solved. (My memory failed me again.) Thanks for the
corrections.
=3D20
"The Groundhog kiln was popular among potters in the American south."
=3D20
Makes me wonder what was popular among American potters in the north.
(Bottle kilns?)
=3D20
Jeff Longtin
Minneapolis
=3D20
=3D20
=3D20
=3D
Jeff Longtin on fri 24 dec 10
Reading Lee's posting about a grant for the "folk arts" in Minnesota made
me wonder if any potter has revived the tradition of gopher kilns?
I haven't thought of them in ages so I did a google search to see what
they look like again. That yielded nothing, so I wonder, has anyone ever h=
eard
of a "gopher kiln"?
I'm sure I read it some where Ceramics Monthly, or perhaps the Olson book
on kilns?
If I recall they were kilns built by digging directly into the ground,
hence the term "gopher", and were basically a one chamber wood kiln. Owing =
to
the fact that early American settlers didn't exactly have a bunch of
firebricks on their backs, when moving out to the prairie, they did the ne=
xt best
thing and built the kiln into the ground.
I presume it had it's limitations but I wonder if it's benefits might be
revisited?
Jeff Longtin
Minneapolis
Tommy Humphries on fri 24 dec 10
Perhaps you are thinking of GROUNDHOG kilns...Merry Christmas all!
On Dec 24, 2010, at 7:56 AM, Jeff Longtin wrote:
> Reading Lee's posting about a grant for the "folk arts" in Minnesota
> made
> me wonder if any potter has revived the tradition of gopher kilns?
>
>
> Jeff Longtin
> Minneapolis
Vince Pitelka on fri 24 dec 10
Jeff Longtin wrote:
"Reading Lee's posting about a grant for the "folk arts" in Minnesota made
me wonder if any potter has revived the tradition of gopher kilns? I haven'=
t
thought of them in ages so I did a google search to see what they look lik=
e
again. That yielded nothing, so I wonder, has anyone ever heard of a
"gopher kiln"? I'm sure I read it some where Ceramics Monthly, or perhaps
the Olson book on kilns? If I recall they were kilns built by digging
directly into the ground, hence the term "gopher", and were basically a one
chamber wood kiln. Owing to
the fact that early American settlers didn't exactly have a bunch of
firebricks on their backs, when moving out to the prairie, they did the
next best thing and built the kiln into the ground."
Jeff -
I have never heard of such a thing and would love to know more if they did
exist. The classic early kiln built by potters in the southeast was of
course the groundhog, which was partially underground and buttressed with
earth since they had no fireproof material with which to construct a suppor=
t
frame. The first kilns in the world capable of reaching stoneware
temperatures were the "bank kilns" built in ancient China during the Zhou
Dynasty sometime around 1000 BC, and they were as you describe - sort of a
tunnel or cave burrowed into an earthen bank. The key issue is that it
can't just be burrowed into the ground. It has to be a bank of high-clay
earth so that it will fire itself and become structurally stable. Bank
kilns were burrowed horizontally into the earthen bank and required a
chimney port coming up through the earthen bank at the back of the firing
chamber. The resulting natural draft proved to be highly effective and
allowed the kiln to reach high-fire temperatures. This design was the
predecessor of the anagama and tube kilns that became so prevalent in East
Asia.
To say that "American settlers didn't exactly have a bunch of firebricks"
isn't exactly accurate, because anywhere they found clay, they could make
bricks, and it was a very low-tech process requiring no equipment at all.
That was the first step before making pots, regardless of where they were.
If they found earth that could be burrowed into to make a kiln, it meant
that there was enough clay in the soil that they could use it to make
bricks. It isn't hard to make bricks - it's just time consuming. You can
make them using very simple wood molds, and you do not need a kiln, because
you use the bricks you have made to build a classic "brick clamp."
If you have not seen it, you might want to check out Sydney Poitier in "The
Last Brickmaker in America." It is one of those incredibly cheesy, sappy
Hallmark Channel movies and I do not know how they snagged Poitier for it,
but it does show great footage of brickmaking and the brick clamp.
Basically the clamp is just a giant rectangular pile of air-dried greenware
bricks with fireboxes built into the base periodically around the perimeter=
,
and flue channels from the fireboxes snaking through the pile and opening t=
o
vents in the top. By moving pieces of metal or bricks that partially cover
those vents, the brickmaker could control the draft.
In a classic brick clamp, the bricks closest to the firebox and nearby flue
channels would be distorted or even melted, the next layer would be fired
dark chocolate brown, and then the farther the bricks were away from the
heat source, the lighter in color, until you get to bricks near the outside
surface, which would serve only as insulation and would not get fired at
all. When the clamp was unstacked those bricks would be set aside protecte=
d
from the rain and would be included in the next firing.
A clamp can be fairly small, so it would be no problem for a potter arrivin=
g
on the Great Plains or wherever to find a clay source and make enough brick=
s
to build a kiln.
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Craft
Tennessee Tech University
vpitelka@dtccom.net; wpitelka@tntech.edu
http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka
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