search  current discussion  categories  kilns & firing - misc 

salt firing wads

updated sun 19 aug 01

 

Earl Brunner on thu 16 aug 01


I roll my wadding in alumina hydrate, and then glue the wad to the
bottom of the pot (or the contact area) with some Elmer's glue (brand
name, is white and thick cream consistency, school glue) that has some
alumina in it. If you aren't worried about the other contact area
(shelf), you can just use the wadding and glue it down with the glue
alumina mixture, the glue burns out leaving the powdered alumina.

Peter Thomas wrote:

> I have a question I hope someone can answer.
> I have recently started salt firing and found that I
> love the effects of the vapour on the clay but I have
> one small problem with the wading!
> We use a mix of sand and fire clay which in normal
> wood firing just rubs off the pots, we also use an
> alumina based wading wich also works well in
> woodfiring unfortunatly in the salt firing these of
> course get a certain amount of glaze on them from the
> vapour consequently I lose some good quality pots on
> account of the damn wads (I like to bundle stack just
> in front of the fire box). Does anyone have any
> solutions? please help.
> Pete from Australia
>
> _____________________________________________________________________________
> http://shopping.yahoo.com.au - Father's Day Shopping
> - Find the perfect gift for your Dad for Father's Day
>
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> 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.


--
Earl Brunner
http://coyote.accessnv.com/bruec/
bruec@anv.net

Matt MacIntire on thu 16 aug 01


Pete wrote:
PT> we also use an alumina based wading

How much Alumina are you using in the wadding?

We used to use 1/2 Alumina Hydrate and 1/2 EPK for Kiln wash when I used to
fire in a salt kiln. We never wadded anything then, because this mix was so
dry on the shelves that nothing stuck much, even with a LOT of salt. Maybe
your wadding just needs *more* Alumina Hydrate...? Alumina Hydrate works
great, but is a bit pricey.

maybe others may have different suggestions...

Matt

cd on thu 16 aug 01


Hi Pete,

The sand in your recipe is likely attracting the sodium vapors. A very =
good wadding for salt is simply your clay body, formed into marble sized =
balls, and then rolled around in (dry) alumina hydrate until they are =
coated all over. Separates very easily, the balls stay unglazed and =
slightly dusty.

As an alternative you could form a putty of 50/50 alumina hydrate and =
EPK by volumn.. works well also but the first suggestion is quicker =
for me somehow.

Good Luck,

Craig

Craig Martell on thu 16 aug 01


Hello Pete:

Two recipes I've used that work just fine are:

Sapphire Kaolin 35
Ball clay 15
Alumina Hydrate 50

and:

Kaolin 50
Alumina Hydrate 50


regards, Craig Martell in Oregon

iandol on fri 17 aug 01


Dear Peter Thomas,

I suggest you change to a mixture of Kaolin and #100 Alumina. about =
equal proportions should do the trick.

Recall popular opinion about salt glazing says that the salt reacts with =
silica to form the glaze and you have a recipe for disaster with your =
current mixture.

Have fun. Best regards,

Ivor Lewis. Redhill, South Australia

=?iso-8859-1?q?Peter=20Thomas?= on fri 17 aug 01


I have a question I hope someone can answer.
I have recently started salt firing and found that I
love the effects of the vapour on the clay but I have
one small problem with the wading!
We use a mix of sand and fire clay which in normal
wood firing just rubs off the pots, we also use an
alumina based wading wich also works well in
woodfiring unfortunatly in the salt firing these of
course get a certain amount of glaze on them from the
vapour consequently I lose some good quality pots on
account of the damn wads (I like to bundle stack just
in front of the fire box). Does anyone have any
solutions? please help.
Pete from Australia

_____________________________________________________________________________
http://shopping.yahoo.com.au - Father's Day Shopping
- Find the perfect gift for your Dad for Father's Day

Patrice Murtha on fri 17 aug 01


I too have a similiar receipe: 2/3 Alumina & 1/3 EPK and a little
bit of bentonite to keep it from drying out. I also use white school
glue to adhear the wads.

Steve Mills on sun 19 aug 01


A lot of UK salt firers use a mixture of Alumina Hydrate and flour, not
sure of the proportions. That seems to work very well. Over to you Phil.

Steve
Bath
UK


In message , =3D?iso-8859-1?q?Peter=3D20Thomas?=3D
writes
>I have a question I hope someone can answer.
>I have recently started salt firing and found that I
>love the effects of the vapour on the clay but I have
>one small problem with the wading!
>We use a mix of sand and fire clay which in normal
>wood firing just rubs off the pots, we also use an
>alumina based wading wich also works well in
>woodfiring unfortunatly in the salt firing these of
>course get a certain amount of glaze on them from the
>vapour consequently I lose some good quality pots on
>account of the damn wads (I like to bundle stack just
>in front of the fire box). Does anyone have any
>solutions? please help.
>Pete from Australia
>
>_________________________________________________________________________=
>____
>http://shopping.yahoo.com.au - Father's Day Shopping
>- Find the perfect gift for your Dad for Father's Day

--
Steve Mills
Bath
UK