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kiln/salt and laminating repairs

updated fri 3 jul 98

 

Marcia Selsor on thu 2 jul 98

Great to have you back. What is m board? You say you are laminating over the
flame way. In your opinion could one laminate over a flame way really full of
salt sludge left by iver enthusiastic but unskilled salting students? We need
to repair our kiln. Thanks.
Marcia in Montana

Mel Jacobson wrote:
>
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> one of the wonderful things that happened at nceca was a conversation
> with ferez delkic about the affects of salt on itc products.
>
> he felt that it was time to really test his product with out any strings
> attached...and he asked me if i was willing to do it at my farm with a
> group of potters watching.
>
> of course we rose to the challenge....with potters like kurt wild, dannon
> rhudy, doug gray and a dozen others ready to assist us and to witness
> this test and to tell the truth no matter what the outcome, we knew
> that it would be a great project.
>
> ferez said he would design the kiln, furnish a couple of small modules, and
> some itc products, we would provide the brick, metal framing for
> the kiln and the door, new stack with liners and of course a new building
> to house it. the kiln would be ours to keep after the testing.
> it was very important that we all shared in the expense as not to
> tarnish the test.
>
> we mounted the kiln floor on a concrete base that was overlayed
> by expanded metal and 1/8th inch strap metal...ferez
> felt that it was important to have air under the kiln, so we designed
> a combination of metal work and concrete to support the floor.
>
> the interior of the kiln was sprayed with 2 walls of
> itc 100 and 296 top coat.
> the back wall of the kiln was laminated with a piece of one inch kaowool
> soaked in itc 100 then sprayed 4 times with 100 and a top coat of
> 296.........the ceiling module was sprayed with 100 2 coats and a top coat.
> same for the door. we used 1/4 inch 4x6 inch steel angle to frame the kiln
> and door. the entire kiln was designed as a nils lou flat top...double
> venturi of 36 square inches
>
> six strong men lifted the module in place for the roof (it was still wet
> and the water weight gave us problems) we are sure that the top is much
> lighter now after firing.
>
> the modules were 11 inches thick of kaowool, re/rod, and tied together
> with wire. it did not deform or sag in the firings. we sprayed only the
> hot faces with itc 100 and 296.
>
> we felt that if the kiln would melt in any place it would be the flame ways
> and we were not disappointed...after the 4th firing in four days
> we could see the brick melting in a strip about 2 inches high and
> 10 inches long.
> we repaired the melt with a strip of 1/8 inch m board soaked in itc
> 100 and laminated to the area. this strip did not melt or come off.
> more than likely we will laminated the entire flame way.
>
> we used 4 kinds of bricks from both a.p. green and fire brick supply.
> both used and new. we will not know for months what bricks hold up the best.
>
> more to follow
> mel/mn
> http://www.pclink.com/melpots