Karin Hurt on sun 28 jan 01
Hi all,
Has anyone built their own fiber reduction kiln? Would you care to share your
plans, and experiences please. I belong to a small college and we are going
to make our own, evidently, fiber is preferred over brick. I'd love to hear
your comments and experiences.
Thanks
Karin
Laughing Bear Pottery
Jim Bozeman on mon 29 jan 01
Hi Karin, I have built 4 fiber reduction kilns so far and I think they are
much better than brick kilns IMHO. Since fiber doesn't retain heat as soon
as you reach temperature the kiln starts to cool. You can do a cone ten
firing and the very next morning take the ware out of your kiln and re-load
for another firing if you like. My kiln uses only about $20 worth of propane
per cone ten firing (at least before the price went sky rocketing!) It's
basically a cube (see Fred Olsen's book on kiln building) that is top loaded
and I rigged a pulley system to raise and lower the top. Fires to cone ten
anywhere from 8 hrs up to 13 hours. The 13 hour firing was when the
temperature dropped to 11 degrees last month. Just be sure to wear long
pants and a long sleeved shirt and gloves and a mask over your nose and
mouth when you construct the kiln. Jim Bozeman
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Jim Larkin on tue 30 jan 01
Karin,
About 14 years ago I built a downdraft fiber kiln for the local community
college, 25 ft3 firing space, by welding a frame with hinged door, all lined
with expanded metal. I then installed a lamination of 1/2 in. thick sheets
of fiber board, built up to a wall thickness of 5 inches(and roof, door and
floor). The fiber was anchored to the expanded metal frame with ceramic
cuplocks and high temp. metal rods. The fiber board was not a great choice
of materials(but it was free from a local industry) because of shrinkage
cracks and the brittleness it develops after firing, but it patched easily
and the kiln fired very well for many years. Finally, after too many patches
on the patches we tore it all out last year, put in a brick floor, which I
should have done in the first place, and with a lot of help from the sales
rep and a technician from Thermal Ceramics, lined the rest of the kiln with
fiber pyroblocks from Thermal Ceramics. I wouldn't try to install
pyroblocks without some good instruction first.
After the installation(a respirator is a must!) I sprayed the interior with
itc 100 to seal the fibers. It fires beautifully with a couple of Dedell(now
Ward) forced air burners.
All that said, I would have to question why the college would prefer
building with fiber over brick. I've done both and I would choose brick to
build with in most cases. Brick takes less expertise, is certainly healthier
to work with, and is much less prone to damage, something always likely to
happen in a school situation.
When buying a commercial gas kiln I think fiber is a good option, but when
building one you might want to really consider whether fiber is the way to
go. If you want more info. on our fiber kiln, I'll be happy to provide it.
Jim Larkin
Fox Pass Pottery
379 Fox Pass
Hot Springs, Arkansas
71901
foxpass@aristotle.net
----- Original Message -----
From: Karin Hurt
To:
Sent: Sunday, January 28, 2001 2:09 PM
Subject: Plans for constructing a fiber kiln
> Hi all,
> Has anyone built their own fiber reduction kiln? Would you care to share
your
> plans, and experiences please. I belong to a small college and we are
going
> to make our own, evidently, fiber is preferred over brick. I'd love to
hear
> your comments and experiences.
> Thanks
> Karin
> Laughing Bear Pottery
>
>
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