rohde on fri 6 apr 01
As some of you know I have asked many questions about the fast fire wood =
kiln.
well I have built one.. and I fired it for the first time about a month =
ago. the process of wood firing is new my college and my professor. so =
we have many questions about it.
the first firing went ok... for the first time. I guess. we got it up =
to cone 010 that is the high we got it. We fired it for about 16 hours. =
we were hoping to get it to cone 10.
So I need to know what is the key to wood firing?
I know it need dry wood.
time
air flow
but these are things I need to know I think
how often should I stoke the fire, how many pieces of wood, how big of =
pieces???
how often do you clean the amber from the floor of the fire boxes?
do you clean the amber out when the reach the top of the bars in the =
fire box?
is it a bad thing to let the amber go above the bar?
and what other things do I need to do to reach my ultimate goal?
thanks Andy
Hank Murrow on sat 7 apr 01
Andy wrote;
>As some of you know I have asked many questions about the fast fire wood kiln.
>
>well I have built one.. and I fired it for the first time about a month
>ago. the process of wood firing is new my college and my professor. so
>we have many questions about it.
>
>the first firing went ok... for the first time. I guess. we got it up to
>cone 010 that is the high we got it. We fired it for about 16 hours. we
>were hoping to get it to cone 10.
>
>So I need to know what is the key to wood firing?
>
>I know it need dry wood.
>time
>air flow
>
>
>but these are things I need to know I think
>
>how often should I stoke the fire, how many pieces of wood, how big of
>pieces???
>how often do you clean the amber from the floor of the fire boxes?
>do you clean the amber out when the reach the top of the bars in the fire box?
>is it a bad thing to let the amber go above the bar?
>
>and what other things do I need to do to reach my ultimate goal?
About the shape of your firebox and where the air comes in: it is a good
idea to have a main air supply just under the grate but above the coals.
This main air supply should ideally be a wide, short slot just under the
grate, but probably is easier to build as several 2.5" high openings.
Also, it is a good idea to have one or two 'mouseholes' to supply air under
the coals. This way you can control the size of the coal pile by giving air
at the mouseholes to burn the coals down, or reducing the air at the
mouseholes to build the coals back up.
Good Luck, Hank
steve dalton on sun 8 apr 01
Andy,
I don't know if somebody has already answered your questions, I usually
don't check my email over the weekends. It will take awhile to develope a
rythem in stocking and watching the flame. I'm still getting it down, but
here are the things I've done. I'm sure they could also answer your
questions.
First off, stoking...You don't want to overstoke, it is easy to do and it
can really mess things up. On the door of my kiln, I added the little 2
inch x 2 inch hole at the top of the door(this is also used on the Olsen
Fast Fire). During firing, flame will exit this little hole and I use this
as a guage so to speak. When the flame sucks back in, I know it's time to
stoke the firebox. During reduction, I've learned to watch the intensity of
the flame and the amount of smoke coming from the little hole. When both
drop, I'll stoke.
I typically throw in 6-8 pieces of kindling sized pieces(Roughly 1 inch
square), the length depends on the depth of you box. On my first fire box,
I went with 16 inch, but with my new box I can go up to 20 - 22 inches.
Embers, you don't want them to build up too high or rake them all out to
much either. I've found out if I tamp them down or rake them more foreward
if they reach the bottom of the grate bars. I've made some mistakes by
doing it too much, but it's just a little trial and error.
Steve Dalton
sdpotter@gte.net
Clear Creek Pottery
Snohomish, WA
----------
>From: rohde
>To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
>Subject: kiln help?
>Date: Fri, Apr 06, 2001, 9:48 PM
>
>As some of you know I have asked many questions about the fast fire wood
kiln.
>
>well I have built one.. and I fired it for the first time about a month
ago. the process of wood firing is new my college and my professor. so we
have many questions about it.
>
>the first firing went ok... for the first time. I guess. we got it up to
cone 010 that is the high we got it. We fired it for about 16 hours. we
were hoping to get it to cone 10.
>
>So I need to know what is the key to wood firing?
>
>I know it need dry wood.
>time
>air flow
>
>
>but these are things I need to know I think
>
>how often should I stoke the fire, how many pieces of wood, how big of
pieces???
>how often do you clean the amber from the floor of the fire boxes?
>do you clean the amber out when the reach the top of the bars in the fire
box?
>is it a bad thing to let the amber go above the bar?
>
>and what other things do I need to do to reach my ultimate goal?
>
>thanks Andy
>
>___________________________________________________________________________
___
>Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
>You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
>settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
>Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
melpots@pclink.com.
scott lykens on mon 9 apr 01
heres one i think most folks forget about, shelves,
if your using shelves that block too much air flow from the fire box the
kiln can stall quite nicely. Didnt want to believe it myself, as we were
using whatever shelves deemed not functional for anything but a wood kiln,
not the shelves that were the right size. Oh and by using the proper size
shelf that took us from 35 cubic feet useable 25
two or three odd size student peices took that down to about 15. turned out
that this was all of the problem. after trying multiple ways of firing and
never getting temp, cutting the amount of work in the kiln almost in half
made all the difference. maybe this will never happen to you, but for us
and our students we always wanted to get more work in the kiln adn had
difficulty saying no those peices dont get in the firing. Im sure any of
the many other factors of firing could be a culprit, but i figure this to be
the unpopular one that might not get mentioned.
sct
>From: steve dalton
>Reply-To: Ceramic Arts Discussion List
>To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
>Subject: Re: kiln help?
>Date: Sun, 8 Apr 2001 20:16:07 -0700
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>Andy,
>I don't know if somebody has already answered your questions, I usually
>don't check my email over the weekends. It will take awhile to develope a
>rythem in stocking and watching the flame. I'm still getting it down, but
>here are the things I've done. I'm sure they could also answer your
>questions.
>First off, stoking...You don't want to overstoke, it is easy to do and it
>can really mess things up. On the door of my kiln, I added the little 2
>inch x 2 inch hole at the top of the door(this is also used on the Olsen
>Fast Fire). During firing, flame will exit this little hole and I use this
>as a guage so to speak. When the flame sucks back in, I know it's time to
>stoke the firebox. During reduction, I've learned to watch the intensity
>of
>the flame and the amount of smoke coming from the little hole. When both
>drop, I'll stoke.
>
>I typically throw in 6-8 pieces of kindling sized pieces(Roughly 1 inch
>square), the length depends on the depth of you box. On my first fire box,
>I went with 16 inch, but with my new box I can go up to 20 - 22 inches.
>
>Embers, you don't want them to build up too high or rake them all out to
>much either. I've found out if I tamp them down or rake them more foreward
>if they reach the bottom of the grate bars. I've made some mistakes by
>doing it too much, but it's just a little trial and error.
>Steve Dalton
>sdpotter@gte.net
>Clear Creek Pottery
>Snohomish, WA
>
>
>
>----------
> >From: rohde
> >To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
> >Subject: kiln help?
> >Date: Fri, Apr 06, 2001, 9:48 PM
> >
>
> >As some of you know I have asked many questions about the fast fire wood
>kiln.
> >
> >well I have built one.. and I fired it for the first time about a month
>ago. the process of wood firing is new my college and my professor. so we
>have many questions about it.
> >
> >the first firing went ok... for the first time. I guess. we got it up
>to
>cone 010 that is the high we got it. We fired it for about 16 hours. we
>were hoping to get it to cone 10.
> >
> >So I need to know what is the key to wood firing?
> >
> >I know it need dry wood.
> >time
> >air flow
> >
> >
> >but these are things I need to know I think
> >
> >how often should I stoke the fire, how many pieces of wood, how big of
>pieces???
> >how often do you clean the amber from the floor of the fire boxes?
> >do you clean the amber out when the reach the top of the bars in the fire
>box?
> >is it a bad thing to let the amber go above the bar?
> >
> >and what other things do I need to do to reach my ultimate goal?
> >
> >thanks Andy
> >
> >___________________________________________________________________________
>___
> >Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
> >
> >You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> >settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
> >
> >Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
>melpots@pclink.com.
>
>______________________________________________________________________________
>Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
>You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
>settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
>Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
>melpots@pclink.com.
_________________________________________________________________
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rohde on mon 9 apr 01
where do you teach at?
rohde on mon 9 apr 01
i am sorry i send you the wrong email... but any ways... what type os
shelves do i need then... i sent you pictures of what my kiln looks like i
had to change a few thinks from freddy's fast fire but it is almost the
same. are you talking about the floor shelves or the shelves that get
sacked on top of that.... i am going to try firing a different way next
time... which will be in 2 weeks i think....
where are you at in the usa????
and where do you teach at????
andy
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