Thonas C. Curran on fri 2 apr 99
Ted & Terry Meier wrote:
>
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> I heard the other day it is possible to do a reduction firing in an electric
> kiln by throwing in some moth balls. Has anyone heard of or used this
> technique? Does it work and if so what is the procedure?
>
> Ted Meier
Ted, isn't that an old method using the old style moth balls? As I
recall, there were warnings many years ago about doing this with the
newer variety of moth balls. I wouldn't experiment at all without more
input, and not just from one person. I've never tried any moth balls
and am no guru, but I thought it wise to put a caution posting about the
subject just in case... Carolyn who should have used moth balls for
that wool sweater that the moths feasted on last year!
Ted & Terry Meier on fri 2 apr 99
I heard the other day it is possible to do a reduction firing in an electric
kiln by throwing in some moth balls. Has anyone heard of or used this
technique? Does it work and if so what is the procedure?
Ted Meier
Louis Katz on sat 3 apr 99
Hi Ted
It seems I write this post to clayart about every two years.
Yes it is possible. Yes it can work. I was asked to introduce mothballs for
another student about twenty years ago. I put some in and after thaey had
evaporated and the gas collected to an appropriate concentration the gas
ignited and almost blew the door out.
That was then, this is now. If you do do this make sure you have adequate
ventilation as I am sure you will have no clear idea what gases you are
creating by this process.
Louis
Ted & Terry Meier wrote:
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> I heard the other day it is possible to do a reduction firing in an electric
> kiln by throwing in some moth balls. Has anyone heard of or used this
> technique? Does it work and if so what is the procedure?
>
> Ted Meier
--
Louis Katz
lkatz@falcon.tamucc.edu
NCECA Director of Electronic Communication and Webmaster
Texas A&M-CC Division of Visual and Performing Arts
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tmartens on sat 3 apr 99
Did this a long time ago when I wasn't even giving toxic fumes a
thought. Just chucked 'em in the peepholes at given temps on the way
up. Not a technique I would try again, as I remember we did not get
much reduction on the pots but my sister in law and I were sure as
hell reduced! Pitch black smelly oily smoke billowed straight out
and coated us till all you could see was the whites of our eyes.
Probably left us mothproof for life
I understand your desire for that 'reduced look', I think all of us
with electric kilns yearn for that magical reduction look but if it
is not bad for your elements (and it is unless you use a saggar) it
is bound to be bad for you!
Toni in South Africa yearning for summer to be reduced.
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
I heard the other day it is possible to do a reduction firing in an electric
kiln by throwing in some moth balls. Has anyone heard of or used this
technique? Does it work and if so what is the procedure?
Ted Meier
Jim Connell on sat 3 apr 99
A funny but sad story occurred just before I arrived here at my University.
The sculpture teacher and her student heard about this method of mothball
reduction and tried it out in the electric kiln. (The Alpine reduction kiln
had been ruined because she fired it and forgot to turn it off, leaving for
the weekend. It obviously over fired and set off the sprinkler system
warping the metal and destroying everything.)
They didn't read too much on how to do the mothball technique, went ahead
and put his sculpture in the electric and proceeded to fill the rest of the
kiln with mothballs. When fired, it produced enough carbon to electrically
arc the kiln and all but ruin it. Needless to say they learned the process
only took a few mothballs not a bushel basket.
This was the same pair that carved a big dent in the lid of an electric kiln
to make the kiln large enough to have an oversize piece fit inside. A year
or two later the lid literally fell apart as its mortar joints were all shot
to hell.
I was hired soon after!
Jim Connell
Winthrop University
Rock Hill, SC
-----Original Message-----
From: Ceramic Arts Discussion List [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.UKY.EDU] On Behalf Of
Ted & Terry Meier
Sent: Friday, April 02, 1999 10:15 AM
To: CLAYART@LSV.UKY.EDU
Subject: mothball reduction
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
I heard the other day it is possible to do a reduction firing in an electric
kiln by throwing in some moth balls. Has anyone heard of or used this
technique? Does it work and if so what is the procedure?
Ted Meier
Tom Buck on mon 5 apr 99
Louis:
Just a caveat: 20 years ago, the standard mothball was
naphthalene, a three-ring hydrocarbon (ie, just H and C atoms). Today, the
common mothball is dichlorobenzene (chlorine now imvolved). So these
mothballs will still release some reducing chemicals but also release some
quite hazardous fumes. If anyone intends to use the mothball approach to
reduction in an electric kiln, the person should make sure they are using
naphthalene and not dichlorobenzene. And even with naphthalene balls, the
kiln and kiln-room should be well vented because the decomposing
naphthalene may produce carcinogenic compounds (eg, benzene, toluene,
xylene).
Regards. Tom.
Tom Buck ) tel: 905-389-2339
& snailmail: 373 East 43rd St. Hamilton ON L8T 3E1 Canada
(westend Lake Ontario, province of Ontario, Canada).
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