Joyce Lee on sat 3 jun 00
I've never used any other gas kiln except the Geil fiber-lined. I have
two and have challenged them in just about every way a novice might
challenge such a glaze spewer. I use both for ^10 reduction firing, but
have also rakued very successfully in the smaller one (12 cu ft...8cu ft
stacking space) following Steve Branfman's guidelines in his book "Raku:
A Practical Approach." I have also bisque fired in the larger one to
^06 ... worked fine. Both kilns have been sprayed with ITC, so I can't
be certain what percentage of the success is due to the Geil kiln,
Branfman's book or the ITC. If you've ever read my firing posts, you
know I overfire constantly to ^11 flat in the larger Geil ... sometimes
accidentally; sometimes purposely because I liked some of the happy
accidents. The overfirings are NOT the fault of the kiln. The kilns are
terrific as is the recommended firing schedule, which I seldom follow. I
believe that backup support would be available, but so far I haven't
needed any.
Joyce
In the Mojave hoping this won't trigger a series of "why do you fire the
way you fire?"....... the answer would be because I always want to see
what will happen if I take it just a little higher ... easy to do in the
bigger Geil... and occasionally rewarding.
Susan Antinori on wed 30 jan 02
I have recently decided for many reasons to buy a commercial kiln rather
than build one on site. And now the problem begins...which one? Does it
matter? I've chatted with Paul Geil and he's sold on the fiber but I
think, after talking to folks with fiber, I want the brick. I'd like one
about 27 cu. feet, and with good tech support, easy to learn to fire and
reliable. After all the technology, do you suppose it really makes a
difference? And if so, is there a site that evaluates these babies?
Thanks so much....any comments from folks firing small commercials would
be greatly appreciated.
Susan
Stephen J Lewicki on thu 31 jan 02
Susan -
You will certainly be looking at front-loaders, car bottoms, etc. Also take
a look at our Bell-Lift DaVinci kilns. These go up to 35 cubic feet, are
relatively easy to load, are all brick, include three zone control and are
quite inexpensive when compared to some of the alternatives that you will
be reviewing. Visit this link: http://www.hotkilns.com/lift.pdf. It is a
rather unique design.
Stephen J Lewicki
President, L&L Kiln Mfg.
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