Jeff Lawrence on sun 25 jan 98
Hello all,
If you need a kiln and are at all inclined to do it yourself, I'd say go for it.
I just finished (in October) a 70-80 cuft gas car kiln. Prior to that, my
kiln construction experience consisted of a couple of raku kilns. (However,
I am a barbecue expert.)
It cost about $10K once the shouting was done (shelves, materials, shipping,
labor) -- not cheap, but not bad compared to $25K for a smaller commercial
kiln. It was a challenge, mainly because I have a gift for doing things the
hard way first and realizing the easy way afterward.
Hard way:
1. Read all those books David Hendley recommended
2. Decide you must have a metal frame (having theorized your way to a
mastery of welding, unencumbered by actual experence)
3. Decide you need fiber efficiency, even though bricks are easy
4. Choose psuedo-standard shelves, incommensurate with brick sizes
5. Obsess on every stick, worry about your choices in steps 2, 3, and 4
6. Repeat 2,3,4,5 for different sized shelves, bricks, and cubic capacity
Two Easy ways (in retrospect):
A Read Nils Lou's book, order all the pieces exactly as he lays them out,
and cash in some friendchips for a weekend.
B Buy one of those Olsen kits and assemble it
There is a major kick to rolling your own. Except that you can't help
thinking about how to improve the design on the next one ...
Jeff
Jeff Lawrence
jml@sundagger.com
Sun Dagger Design
Rt 3 Box 220
Espanola, NM 87532
ph 505-753-5913
fax 505-753-8074
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