tgschs10 on tue 2 nov 99
Most all of you know about ITC and its protective properties and about
Delkic Ferris' work with the product. Being adventurous, I obtained a
combination gas and electric kiln from Ferris about a year ago. When I first
heard about the possibility of having a kiln that would fire both gas and
electric, I had the idea to fire with electric up to about 1400-1500 and
then to start the gas for body reduction and later glaze reduction. I had a
horrible time getting things hooked up and have now fired it about 7-8
times. I last fired about 2 weeks ago. Howard Axner wanted to come over so I
set the kiln on electric only to 1450 F with a three hour hold. When I woke
the kiln was at 1400F and by the time Howard arrived we were ready to turn
on the gas. What nice about this technique is that while I feel comfortable
letting my electric go overnight without supervision, I would never consider
such with gas. From 1400-1500 to 2300 F can be a short time particularly if
one leave both the electric and gas going; in fact by noon, I could leave
the house and go to lunch. I know there is some concern about the electric
elements burning up in reduction but its done in industry and so far I've
had no problems with the elements. With ITC being readily available, I
wonder if anyone else is firing this way and why some of the smaller
conventional electric kiln companies don't insert a gas burner at the bottom
so the kiln can be used either way. My kiln is 4 X 3 X 3 feet and has two
large gas burners. Both Howard and Ferris helped me get set up and if anyone
is interested you might consider calling them.
Tom Sawyer
Nils Lou on wed 3 nov 99
Tom, If you have a copy of my book, The Art of Firing, I describe such a
small kiln adaptation using an AIM test kiln. I fire it on electric to
Cone 010 then light the small propane burner for reduction letting the
elements continue to add heat. Fires to Cone 10 in three hours flat. See
pages 62 and 78 for a description. The elements are coated with ITC213 and
the kiln with ITC100/296A. No perceptable degradation on the element's
performance after approx. 35 firings. NL
On Tue, 2 Nov 1999, tgschs10 wrote:
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> Most all of you know about ITC and its protective properties and about
> Delkic Ferris' work with the product. Being adventurous, I obtained a
> combination gas and electric kiln from Ferris about a year ago. When I first
> heard about the possibility of having a kiln that would fire both gas and
> electric, I had the idea to fire with electric up to about 1400-1500 and
> then to start the gas for body reduction and later glaze reduction. I had a
> horrible time getting things hooked up and have now fired it about 7-8
> times. I last fired about 2 weeks ago. Howard Axner wanted to come over so I
> set the kiln on electric only to 1450 F with a three hour hold. When I woke
> the kiln was at 1400F and by the time Howard arrived we were ready to turn
> on the gas. What nice about this technique is that while I feel comfortable
> letting my electric go overnight without supervision, I would never consider
> such with gas. From 1400-1500 to 2300 F can be a short time particularly if
> one leave both the electric and gas going; in fact by noon, I could leave
> the house and go to lunch. I know there is some concern about the electric
> elements burning up in reduction but its done in industry and so far I've
> had no problems with the elements. With ITC being readily available, I
> wonder if anyone else is firing this way and why some of the smaller
> conventional electric kiln companies don't insert a gas burner at the bottom
> so the kiln can be used either way. My kiln is 4 X 3 X 3 feet and has two
> large gas burners. Both Howard and Ferris helped me get set up and if anyone
> is interested you might consider calling them.
>
> Tom Sawyer
>
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