Tony Ferguson on wed 27 jun 01
Greetings,
Any advice on a good gas kiln to purchase or a certain
type of design to build would be appreciated.
Thinking about building a down draft fiber kiln--but
what the hell do I know about building gas kilns.
I've built wood and raku kilns, not gas--I see them as
quite different. Thinking you gas fired folk know a
whole lot more than I do! I would like to know what
your opinions are on various types of gas kilns,
homemade and commercial. Also, thoughts on forced
air, venturi, gas vs propane, etc. Thanks!
Tony Duluth, MN
=====
--Tony Ferguson, fergyart@yahoo.com315 N. Lake Ave. Apt 401Duluth, MN 55806(218) 727-6339Looking to see, buy or barter artwork go to:http://acad.uwsuper.edu/www/aferguso/fergyart.htm
Stephen Grimmer on thu 28 jun 01
Tony,
Two books: The Kiln Book by Fred Olsen and The Art of Firing by Nils
Lou.
Olsen has a set of design principals that, if followed, guarantee a kiln
that fires well and will last. I've seen kilns that break or bend an Olsen
rule or two and still fire well, but every kiln that I've seen with major
firing problems breaks a primary principal in a big way. Some of the kilns
he uses as illustrations are a bit silly in my opinion, but the book is
thorough and well written.
Nils Lou's book is a treatise on the Minnesota Flat top. I've built 2
MFT's and they fire like a champ. Very controllable. If you decide to build
a flat top, you gotta follow his advise on the exit flue and chimney. I can
send you a set of plans for mine, if you like.
Two aphorisms of mine:
1. Pay now or pay later.
2. When in doubt, be generous.
Best,
Steve
p.s. Eclipse Burners are the best!
--
Stephen Grimmer
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
> From: Tony Ferguson
> Subject: Gas Kiln Building: HELP
>
> Greetings,
>
> Any advice on a good gas kiln to purchase or a certain
> type of design to build would be appreciated.
> Thinking about building a down draft fiber kiln--but
> what the hell do I know about building gas kilns.
> I've built wood and raku kilns, not gas--I see them as
> quite different. Thinking you gas fired folk know a
> whole lot more than I do! I would like to know what
> your opinions are on various types of gas kilns,
> homemade and commercial. Also, thoughts on forced
> air, venturi, gas vs propane, etc. Thanks!
>
> Tony Duluth, MN
John Weber on thu 28 jun 01
Tony, I have a 70 cu ft downdraft kiln that I have built and rebuilt many
times. It is currently a car kiln with an arched roof, even though it
started out as a Minnesota Flat top. It uses propane. I also, with help,
wired and built the safety system. It used six venturi burners mounted
vertically.
The process I went through building and rebuilding has rewarded me many
times over with the knowledge I learned about building and firing kilns.
There is no other way I could have obtained the depth of knowledge without
the hands on, learning from mistakes approach.
Every time I thought I had made another mistake, I later discovered I just
didn't have the patience to learn the how to use what I had. For example, my
venturi burners, I always threaten to change them to use blowers, but then
the next firing is perfect, so why change something that isn't broke. I
think I might suggest you start with blowers however just to have a little
more control of your input.
So, it all depends on what you want. A quick way to firing kilns, or a
learning experience. The cost is going to end up the same as far as I can
figure out, unless you are incredibly lucky, so I wouldn't use that as the
primary criteria. If you want to see a step by step process of building a
kiln similar to the one I have, look at Robert Piepenburg's book, "The
Spirit of Clay", he has detailed instructions and good pictures. Of course
Nils Lou is a classic if you want to build the Flattop. By the way, I
changed mine from a Flattop to an arched roof but really can't say there is
that much difference, except now I can get in those tall pitchers. The roof
is really about what you might be comfortable with building. I actually find
the arch easier than the flattop because of the problems I had with over
stressing the clamps on the flattop causing breakage of the bricks nearest
the corners. If you need more help don't hesitate to ask. Good luck! John
Weber in Manakin-Sabot, VA
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ceramic Arts Discussion List [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG]On
> Behalf Of Tony Ferguson
> Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2001 8:35 PM
> To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
> Subject: Gas Kiln Building: HELP
>
>
> Greetings,
>
> Any advice on a good gas kiln to purchase or a certain
> type of design to build would be appreciated.
> Thinking about building a down draft fiber kiln--but
> what the hell do I know about building gas kilns.
> I've built wood and raku kilns, not gas--I see them as
> quite different. Thinking you gas fired folk know a
> whole lot more than I do! I would like to know what
> your opinions are on various types of gas kilns,
> homemade and commercial. Also, thoughts on forced
> air, venturi, gas vs propane, etc. Thanks!
>
> Tony Duluth, MN
>
> =====
> --Tony Ferguson, fergyart@yahoo.com315 N. Lake Ave. Apt
> 401Duluth, MN 55806(218) 727-6339Looking to see, buy or barter
> artwork go to:http://acad.uwsuper.edu/www/aferguso/fergyart.htm
>
> __________________________________________________________________
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> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
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>
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>
Marcia Selsor on thu 28 jun 01
Dear Tony,
I fired with venturi burners on natural gas for 20 years..
But you need very tall stacks to use venturi burners.
You should check with the building codes to find out restrictions.
Recently, the Univ. where I taught has had to rebuild the stacks. They
were told the cost to meet code would be $14000 for each stack. If they
chose forced air burners the stack could be much shorter.
So these are some of the considerations.
Marcia in Montana
Tony Ferguson wrote:
>
> Greetings,
>
> Any advice on a good gas kiln to purchase or a certain
> type of design to build would be appreciated.
> Thinking about building a down draft fiber kiln--but
> what the hell do I know about building gas kilns.
> I've built wood and raku kilns, not gas--I see them as
> quite different. Thinking you gas fired folk know a
> whole lot more than I do! I would like to know what
> your opinions are on various types of gas kilns,
> homemade and commercial. Also, thoughts on forced
> air, venturi, gas vs propane, etc. Thanks!
>
> Tony Duluth, MN
>
> =====
> --Tony Ferguson, fergyart@yahoo.com315 N. Lake Ave. Apt 401Duluth, MN 55806(218) 727-6339Looking to see, buy or barter artwork go to:http://acad.uwsuper.edu/www/aferguso/fergyart.htm
>
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> 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.
--
Marcia Selsor
selsor@imt.net
http://www.imt.net/~mjbmls
http://www.imt.net/~mjbmls/Tuscany2001.html
http://www.imt.net/~mjbmls/Gallery.html
vince pitelka on fri 29 jun 01
> Nils Lou's book is a treatise on the Minnesota Flat top. I've built 2
> MFT's and they fire like a champ. Very controllable. If you decide to
build
> a flat top, you gotta follow his advise on the exit flue and chimney. I
can
> send you a set of plans for mine, if you like.
Steve -
I think this misrepresents Nils Lou's "The Art of Firing." I think it
started out as a treatise on the Minnesota Flat Top, which Nils developed,
but the newer edition offers very good general coverage on the art of
firing. It is good information for anyone building and firing gas kilns.
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/
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