Ravenson on fri 20 apr 01
Ok I was looking threw some of my books on historical pottery and saw =
lots of pictures of Chinese and Japanese kilns. Many of these had =
several chambers one right after one another. I know John fires a Kiln =
of this type. What is the purpose of the different chambers. Is it =
1) to separate different potters wares but allow them to all fire at =
once, 2) to allow stoking at each chamber in order to even out the kiln, =
3)or is there some other reason for having 5 -8 or more chambers.
Thank you all=20
Jeff James
P.S. sorry about the spelling errors in my last post was going to spell =
check when my 4 years old asked me a question. I hit send answered his =
question then realized I forgot to spell check.
=20
Hank Murrow on sat 21 apr 01
>Ok I was looking threw some of my books on historical pottery and saw lots
>of pictures of Chinese and Japanese kilns. Many of these had several
>chambers one right after one another. I know John fires a Kiln of this
>type. What is the purpose of the different chambers. Is it 1) to
>separate different potters wares but allow them to all fire at once, 2) to
>allow stoking at each chamber in order to even out the kiln, 3)or is there
>some other reason for having 5 -8 or more chambers.
>Thank you all
>Jeff James
Dear Jeff;
The chinese and Koreans used such kilns first, and they were brought to
Japan from Korea during Hideoshi's pottery wars. At Mino, where shino wares
were fired in big anagamas, the change to noborigama brought higher
temperatures and faster fires. This changed the fat white glazes of Shino
to the shiny grey glazes of Oribe (same materials), and necessitated a lot
of brush decoration to make up for the now less interesting glaze. Not all
economic improvements are also aesthetic improvements!
When these chambered kilns were introduced, potters quickly found out that
certain glazes fit the front chambers better. Copper reds, tenmokus, and
celadons went in the front chambers, where the cooling was quicker (because
air was left open to feed upper chamber stoking). Khaki, and rusts, and
shinolike glazes went in the upper chambers which had a slow cooling once
the kiln was shut down.
I imagine the main reasons that multichambered kilns became prevalent were
fuel efficiency and fewer wasters.
Hank in Eugene
vince pitelka on sat 21 apr 01
Jeff James writes:
"Ok I was looking threw some of my books on historical pottery and saw lots
of pictures of Chinese and Japanese kilns. Many of these had several
chambers one right after one another. I know John fires a Kiln of this
type. What is the purpose of the different chambers. Is it 1) to
separate different potters wares but allow them to all fire at once, 2) to
allow stoking at each chamber in order to even out the kiln, 3)or is there
some other reason for having 5 -8 or more chambers."
Jeff -
While Western potters continued to make larger and larger single-chamber
kilns, with multiple fireboxes, which were extremely inefficient, Eastern
potters discovered the benefits of "sequential firing." Notice that all of
those kilns are built on a slope. Whether it is a Korean "split-bamboo"
tube kiln, a Japanese Jagama tube kiln, or a Japanese noborigama (which
means hill-climbing kiln or stair-step kiln), the idea is that you start the
fire in the big firebox at the bottom, and that brings the first section to
temperature, while the residual heat preheats the subsequent sections. Each
section or chamber has a firebox with a side-stoking port, and once the
first section or chamber has reached temperature you move on to the next
chamber, stoking from the side port until that one reaches temperature,
moving on to the next one, slowly working your way up the whole series of
chambers. There was a multi-chamber hill-climbing kiln in Fukien province
in southern China still in use in the 30s that had five chambers all
totaling 12,500 cubic feet. Such large climbing kilns have pretty much
disappeared form the scene, because of the obscene amounts of wood required
to fire them. The largest Japanese noborigama in Shigaraki and Karatsu had
twelve to fourteen chambers, each damn near the size of a single-car garage.
The whole firing required 3000 logs, but that one firing would contain the
year's production of a pottery village.
Best wishes -
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Crafts
Tennessee Technological University
1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
Home - vpitelka@dtccom.net
615/597-5376
Work - wpitelka@tntech.edu
615/597-6801 ext. 111, fax 615/597-6803
http://www.craftcenter.tntech.edu/
Kevin H. Miller on sun 22 apr 01
the woman i work with, irene glover forbes, built a dual chamber kiln about
35 years ago to satisfy a kiln building class requirement (for chuck
minnis at east carolina university in nc -- credit where it's due). it was
moved once because the studio had to be moved and then some years later it
blew up and she had to rebuild again. it's a terrific kiln!
the "front" is where we load glazed ware and a second chamber behind it is
where we bisque. naturally it's terrifically economical because you're
getting the benefit of a "free" bisqueing when you are doing a glaze load.
i'm sure this idea originated with the old chinese kilns but you'll have to
get one of the kiln warriors on clayart to fill you in on why they were
doing it.
sure wish i'd been around to kelp build that kiln.
roberta miller
Lee Love on thu 26 apr 01
> Jeff James writes:
> type. What is the purpose of the different chambers.
Tatsuzo Shimaoka's Noborigama is 5 chambered. Each chamber=
has a
different atmosphere and a different effect.
The chamber in the firemouth is the hottest and it gets the most effe=
ct from
ash. A white Shigaraki clay is used in it with no glazing except from t=
he
deposited ash.
The next chamber is the Yohen chamber. When temperature is reache=
d,
charchol is filled into the chamber to cover the pots and cause heavy red=
uction.
Shigiraki clay is used here and no glazes; The surfaces are not as shi=
ny as
in the firemouth but have much depth.
The next chamber is the oxidation chamber. Kaki and Nuka are the glazes=
used
here along with some others.
The next chamber is the reduction chamber. Glazes favoring reduction a=
re used
here.
The last chamber is the salt chamber. Often cobalt slip is put on thes=
e
pieces.
--
Lee Love
Mashiko JAPAN Ikiru@kami.com
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