mel jacobson on mon 19 mar 12
for those that have received the pdf files for the
minnesota flat top/small, you have tremendous
latitude in making changes or adjustments.
nothing is written in stone.
the first thing to consider is door height. make
sure you measure from your belly to the ground...make
the concrete blocks as high as you need for comfortable
loading.
if you are a skilled builder and know how to make an
arch...be my guest. several friends have used those plans
and added a soft arch top. it just takes a few extra pieces of
angle iron and bracing. and, if you weld, go at it.
that set of plans can be expanded or reduced to make almost
any sized kiln.
if you consider the nils lou car kiln then for all means get the
plans from him. don't try and modify this back yard kiln
into a commercial kiln.
you can make this kiln a few brick wider, or even four or
five bricks higher. just add some more courses. but, make
sure you keep the brick courses even...don't let yourself
get involved in lots of half brick cuts.
we think the stack and flue are critical in building this kiln.
if you expand the size of the flue you may be in trouble.
we also suggest that anyone building a new fuel kiln look
into cone 6 light reduction. it will change your life.
add down firing to the mix and you will see some wonderful new
things happen.
many of you that fire electric will have gobs of recipes
for your oxy firing...so, use them at light reduction and
see what happens. you may be surprised.
diana pancioli has many modified recipes for cone 6 reduction.
bill burgert is firing cone 6 reduction in his small back yard kiln
and because of denver altitude, and low gas pressure he found
that cone 6, light reduction is perfect for him.
and that brings up the point of using house gas. natural gas from
your home meter may be more than enough with a small kiln
and cone 6. no need to jack up your pressure and get a new meter.
try what you have first..then make changes later if need be.
these kilns fire well with a 500 gallon propane tank. in most cases
you will use between 15-20 gallons for a firing. at cone 6 that may
drop to 10 gallons. you just have to check, chart and see.
as i have said often, i fire from a house meter to cone 11-12 with
a 45 cubic foot minnesota flat top. 10-11 hours. works like a champ.
so, i have sent out about a 100 pdf plans. use them well and enjoy
what you have going on.
mel
http://www.visi.com/~melpots/
clayart page below:
http://www.visi.com/~melpots/clayart.html
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