Jennifer Boyer on thu 9 jul 98
Hi All,
Well I got some nice new kiln shelves for my vintage gas kiln, and I'm looking
at the soaps(cut up hard brick) that have served me well for 20 plus years....I
think I need to upgrade. They are getting crumbly and I have more and more
drops in the pots. My question is what is an alternative to hard brick soaps
that will work for a 48 inch high stack of shelves? I like the density of the
posts I have in my electric kiln, but they are only about 1 inch by 1 inch.
The posts I use in the gas kiln are 2 1/4 inch by 2 1/2 inch so provide
stability. Anyone out there building their shelf stack with smaller posts?
They need to fire to cone 11, and survive a small amount of reduction...I
wouldn't mind smaller posts when trying to fit wide bowls onto my shelves. And
I realize I could start the stacks with bigger posts and go to a smaller size
as i go up. Another concern is durability.
TIA
Jennifer in VT
>
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Jennifer Boyer jboyer@plainfield.bypass.com
Thistle Hill Pottery
Vermont USA
http://www.vermontcrafts.com/members/JenniBoy892.html
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Richard Gralnik on fri 10 jul 98
Jennifer,
I just spoke to the good folks at Thorley Refractories yesterday about
shelf posts. They make them in various sizes, shapes - 1" square,
1 1/2" square and triangle, 2" square, 2 1/2" round. They usually
start with 15" lengths that they cut to size but I imagine they can
make longer ones too. With the hollow center maybe you could
insert a length of round stock steel to reinforce the posts' stiffness
on those long lengths.
One comment the guy made when I asked about using soaps for posts
interested me. He said using the larger size, higher density bricks as
shelf posts can cause problems for the shelves. He said the extra mass
of the soaps causes differences in the heating and cooling rate of the shelf
where the posts stand. They slow heat absorption on the up side and
retard cooling on the downside, creating greater localized stresses on the
shelves.
This is a new one to me. The extruded posts are a lot cheaper than
buying and cutting soaps, and the posts use less shelf space, but I've
heard soaps are good because they last (almost) forever. Does anyone
have any input on this?
Thanks,
Richard
starting to make progress on the kiln again...
At 11:48 AM 7/9/98 EDT, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Hi All,
>Well I got some nice new kiln shelves for my vintage gas kiln, and I'm
looking
>at the soaps(cut up hard brick) that have served me well for 20 plus
years....I
>think I need to upgrade. They are getting crumbly and I have more and more
>drops in the pots. My question is what is an alternative to hard brick soaps
>that will work for a 48 inch high stack of shelves? I like the density of
the
>posts I have in my electric kiln, but they are only about 1 inch by 1
inch.
>The posts I use in the gas kiln are 2 1/4 inch by 2 1/2 inch so provide
>stability. Anyone out there building their shelf stack with smaller posts?
>They need to fire to cone 11, and survive a small amount of reduction...I
>wouldn't mind smaller posts when trying to fit wide bowls onto my shelves.
And
>I realize I could start the stacks with bigger posts and go to a smaller size
>as i go up. Another concern is durability.
>TIA
>Jennifer in VT
>
>
>>
>
Grimmer on fri 10 jul 98
Jennifer,
I've been using thick walled, square, 1.5" extruded posts for
about a year now, and they seem to hold up OK in a redux kiln
at ^10. Make sure you get the kind with the little, round hole
down the center, and that they are cut straight.
steve grimmer
marion illinois
Dennis Davis on fri 10 jul 98
Jennifer,
I have used the 2" triangular posts, (probably the same as Bailey Ceramics catal
page-93) in Cone 10-11 reduction for almost 20 years. My present stack is a lit
less than 40" but previous kilns have been larger. The only ones I have thrown
away are results of dropping and breaking or occasional glaze drips. You can gai
little extra space by using them. My shelves are 12x24 and one inch thick.
Dennis in Stafford, VA
Jennifer Boyer wrote:
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> Anyone out there building their shelf stack with smaller posts?
> They need to fire to cone 11, and survive a small amount of reduction...I
> wouldn't mind smaller posts when trying to fit wide bowls onto my shelves. And
> I realize I could start the stacks with bigger posts and go to a smaller size
> as i go up. Another concern is durability.
Earl Brunner on sat 11 jul 98
I had a friend once that built his kiln, got the shelves (silicon carbide) had
pots and orders waiting, but no shelf supports. He had a brainstorm, a stroke
of genius, he cut up a bunch of soft insulating firebrick into assorted
sizes, loaded and fired the kiln. :)
BAD< BAD< BAD< idea!!!!!! the soft brick crumbled under the combined stress
of the weight and heat. He lost every pot in the kiln, the shelves just
settled down onto the tops ot the pots. Wasn't too good for the shelves
either.
Earl Brunner in Las Vegas where it's pushing 107 degrees today and rained
yesterday (rain = humidity) So the 107 isn't just a "dry heat"
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