Merrie Boerner on thu 3 may 01
Is it possible to get TOO MUCH ash !?!
We unloaded the pots on Saturday and they were wonderful ! The clay
bodies
flashed orange all the way to the back of the kiln. The 'shadows' of pots
stacked next to each other are very distinct. On each individual pot we h=
ave
contrasting light and dark flashing, shinny and dull places, and an obvio=
us
blast of
ash. There are crystals and carbon trapped areas, and crawling shino and
smooth, caramel shino.....I didn't really like the soda ash wash on my sh=
ino
teabowls, but on the larger pots it looks okay.
Thank goodness we wadded everything ! On the first two rows of shelve=
s,
there were pools of glassy green melted ash under each pot.
So, if a pot had a rim on it, there is a nice collection of clear, green
melted ash there.
On the sides of the pots, ash ran in lines to the shelf. The ash on the p=
ots
in the
middle of the kiln stopped at the wadding. The back of the kiln might be =
my
favorite spot this time.....nice clay color, nice ash...some running and
some just dusting the sides of pots.
Thanks to Alex, Cindy, Melanie, Mark, Juliet, Allen, CJ, Stephen, and=
PJ
for working so hard !
So, all in all I'd say this was the best firing yet ! I know........
I always say that ; )
Until next time.....
Merrie in Mississippi
Matt MacIntire on thu 3 may 01
Merrie wrote:
>> Thank goodness we wadded everything ! On the first two rows of
>> shelves, there were pools of glassy green melted ash under each pot.
Thanks Merrie for posting your interesting results.
Your results sound so different from what we have been getting, I'm
curious...
What cone did you fire to? How long was the firing? What sort of wood d=
id
you use? Was it really dry wood or fairly fresh? How much wood would yo=
u
guess it took to fire the kiln? (sorry for the barrage of questions -
)
The 40 cu ft. single chamber wood kiln I have been working at fires in ab=
out
15 hours to cone 10 using close to 2 cords of wood. We don't get very mu=
ch
ash buildup, regardless of the type of clay. We wad everything, but it
seems unnecessary to me, since so little ash builds up. I wonder if our
firing time is just too short for much buildup...?
I wish we did get more ash. Some fly ash seems to stick later in the
firing, but doesn't have long enough to melt out. Leaves a gritty surfac=
e.
I like the way things look, but folks who are used to gas firing are
disappointed by how the late fly ash roughens the surface of open pieces.=
I
just fire my bowls upside down, so I don't mind. But I would like more a=
sh
buildup. I'd like to try to figure out what you did that made so much as=
h
accumulate.
what is the secret...?
Thanks in advance
Matt
Matt MacIntire on tue 8 may 01
WOW, Les... only a half a cord! ...that is impressive!
Thanks for your information. The more I learn about how others fire, the
more I feel like we could be doing this better. I may have mentioned, we
use nearly 2 cords, split quite small, to fire off a 40 cu ft kiln to cone
10. I don't mind using this much wood, but if we could do it with only one
cord that would be better. We only get a little ash, but I still like this
kiln the best of anything I've ever worked with.
Ruth has me thinking that we have too strong a draft going. Consequently we
need to overstoke. The excessive draft might also minimize the ash
deposits. Next firing, we'll try to alter our procedures to control the
draft better and we'll see what happens.
Thanks again for your help.
Matt
-----Original Message-----
From: Les Crimp [mailto:lcrimp@HOME.COM]
Sent: Tuesday, May 08, 2001 12:49 PM
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: Re: Woodfire#12Hog Chain POTS
Matt -
I fire a 27 cu. ft. down draft Bourry box kiln in 12 - 14 hours. Cone 10
down and 11 leaning.
To do this I use approx. 1/2 cord of cedar slabs cut to 27" for the Bourry
box and split quite small ( 1" to 1 1/2" diameter). We also throw in cedar
boughs, fir boughs, dried maple leaves, pine boughs. We feel this small
stuff gives us more fly-ash.
I obviously do not get the crusty build-up as from a train or anagama but I
do get good ash deposit which is melted well and is really very attractive
both to me and my customers.
We wad everything. I still like the color ( or lack of) of the wad marks on
the bottoms of the pots.
Les Crimp on that Island in the Pacific.
lcrimp@home.com
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Les Crimp on tue 8 may 01
Matt -
I fire a 27 cu. ft. down draft Bourry box kiln in 12 - 14 hours. Cone 10
down and 11 leaning.
To do this I use approx. 1/2 cord of cedar slabs cut to 27" for the Bourr=
y
box and split quite small ( 1" to 1 1/2" diameter). We also throw in ced=
ar
boughs, fir boughs, dried maple leaves, pine boughs. We feel this small
stuff gives us more fly-ash.
I obviously do not get the crusty build-up as from a train or anagama but=
I
do get good ash deposit which is melted well and is really very attractiv=
e
both to me and my customers.
We wad everything. I still like the color ( or lack of) of the wad marks=
on
the bottoms of the pots.
Les Crimp on that Island in the Pacific.
lcrimp@home.com
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