clennell on mon 1 jul 02
Sour Cherry Pottery
> I am starting to daydream about building a wood fired kiln. I am unsure
> as to what exactly I want. Reading in the archives, I am somewhat swayed
> to the bourry box design, but I don't even know enough to know that. I
> have also seen suggestions of many books.
Here is your homework and then we'll talk. I am now in the habit of
assigning 4 books for would be wood kiln builders to read before I take the
time to help them plan their kiln. It is this "time issue" rearing it's
ugly head again. I can't tell you how many people have dropped by here in
the last 3 years to have a look at our train, ask for measurements,
suggestions, brick plans etc. Only one guy has built- wee lurking Normy.
If you're going to build a specific wood kiln, go have a firing in one. Norm
did. You wouldn't think about buying a car without driving it or reading
about them- the same advice for kilns.
I did alot of research before we bought our car and i flew to Utah to fire a
train kiln with John Neeley. Best money I could have spent. I don't want a
problem car or kiln.
Sorry about the attitude Janet, but I just want to have more time with my
pots.
cheers,
tony
4 books
Jack Troy- woodfired Stoneware and Porcelain
Coll Minoque and Robert Sanderson- Wood-fired Ceramics
Fred Olsen- The Kiln Book
The Art of Firing- Nils Lou
Buy these 4 books and read them back to front and then we know you're
serious and you'll have an idea of the kiln you want to build.
Tony Ferguson on mon 1 jul 02
I would add that Tony's suggestion is very solid. I ready everything I
could get my hands on, documented kilns when I was in Korea, and wood fired
a variety of kilns before I built mine. It helps to work with someone who
knows what they are doing too!
Now, of course, I would build mine differently (hind sight) but I learned a
great deal my building my own kiln, making mistakes "we call them learnings"
and having seen how other people approached building their kilns really
contributes to your knowledge base. There is no substitute for direct
experience. Go for it. Your other option is to hire a kiln guru and have a
kiln building workshop where by the fee you charge will at least pay for the
kiln builder/leader of the workshop you hire and possilby some of your
materials. Joan Slack-Debrock did this in Eastern Wisconsin--she brough
Jack Troy in to build her wood kiln. I had to laugh when she told me as I
thought, "what a great idea!"
Thank you.
Tony Ferguson
Stoneware, Porcelain, Raku
www.aquariusartgallery.com
218-727-6339
315 N. Lake Ave
Apt 312
Duluth, MN 55806
----- Original Message -----
From: "clennell"
To:
Sent: Sunday, June 30, 2002 10:24 PM
Subject: wood firing book- homework
> Sour Cherry Pottery
>
> > I am starting to daydream about building a wood fired kiln. I am unsure
> > as to what exactly I want. Reading in the archives, I am somewhat
swayed
> > to the bourry box design, but I don't even know enough to know that. I
> > have also seen suggestions of many books.
>
> Here is your homework and then we'll talk. I am now in the habit of
> assigning 4 books for would be wood kiln builders to read before I take
the
> time to help them plan their kiln. It is this "time issue" rearing it's
> ugly head again. I can't tell you how many people have dropped by here in
> the last 3 years to have a look at our train, ask for measurements,
> suggestions, brick plans etc. Only one guy has built- wee lurking Normy.
> If you're going to build a specific wood kiln, go have a firing in one.
Norm
> did. You wouldn't think about buying a car without driving it or reading
> about them- the same advice for kilns.
> I did alot of research before we bought our car and i flew to Utah to fire
a
> train kiln with John Neeley. Best money I could have spent. I don't want
a
> problem car or kiln.
> Sorry about the attitude Janet, but I just want to have more time with my
> pots.
> cheers,
> tony
> 4 books
> Jack Troy- woodfired Stoneware and Porcelain
> Coll Minoque and Robert Sanderson- Wood-fired Ceramics
> Fred Olsen- The Kiln Book
> The Art of Firing- Nils Lou
> Buy these 4 books and read them back to front and then we know you're
> serious and you'll have an idea of the kiln you want to build.
>
>
____________________________________________________________________________
__
> 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.
>
>
Ruth Ballou on mon 1 jul 02
I would add one other book to this list.... booklet really..... Laid Back
Woodfiring by Steve Harrison of Australia. It's available from the "Pottery
in Australia" magazine's website. Discusses plans and firing schedule for a
30 cu. ft. Bourry box kiln. Bourries are much more common in Australia than
here. My kiln is a larger version of Harrison's kiln. I "test drove" a
number of wood kilns and examined a lot of wood fired pots from various
kilns before deciding on the Bourry design. It is not a high ash deposit
kiln. However, more ash effects can be obtained by throwing some extra ash
in. It does give nice flashing.
Ruth Ballou
Silver Spring, MD
>Sour Cherry Pottery
>
>> I am starting to daydream about building a wood fired kiln. I am unsure
>> as to what exactly I want. Reading in the archives, I am somewhat swayed
>> to the bourry box design, but I don't even know enough to know that. I
>> have also seen suggestions of many books.
>
>Here is your homework and then we'll talk. I am now in the habit of
>assigning 4 books for would be wood kiln builders to read before I take the
>time to help them plan their kiln. It is this "time issue" rearing it's
>ugly head again. I can't tell you how many people have dropped by here in
>the last 3 years to have a look at our train, ask for measurements,
>suggestions, brick plans etc. Only one guy has built- wee lurking Normy.
>If you're going to build a specific wood kiln, go have a firing in one. Norm
>did. You wouldn't think about buying a car without driving it or reading
>about them- the same advice for kilns.
>I did alot of research before we bought our car and i flew to Utah to fire a
>train kiln with John Neeley. Best money I could have spent. I don't want a
>problem car or kiln.
>Sorry about the attitude Janet, but I just want to have more time with my
>pots.
>cheers,
>tony
>4 books
>Jack Troy- woodfired Stoneware and Porcelain
>Coll Minoque and Robert Sanderson- Wood-fired Ceramics
>Fred Olsen- The Kiln Book
>The Art of Firing- Nils Lou
>Buy these 4 books and read them back to front and then we know you're
>serious and you'll have an idea of the kiln you want to build.
>
>______________________________________________________________________________
>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.
The Slack-DeBrock Family on mon 1 jul 02
Hey Tony, yes I did bring in a kiln guru, but it was Fred Olsen to supervise
the building of his fastfire woodburner, not Jack! By the way, Fred's new
edition of his Kiln Book is really good and highly recommended, and the
workshop here, in north-central Wisconsin, is even mentioned! anyone who
can't swing doing overnight firings, not to mention 3 or 10 day ones, should
consider a Fastfire woodburner, as a typical firing takes about 9-11 hours
total to cone 10-12. I've fired this one, with friends, about 25 times now,
with each load holding about 200 pots, and have acheived some beautiful
results, lots of ash on top and sides, and wonderful flashing and gifts from
the fire. Several clayarters were very helpful in getting it right by the
way!
Just wanted to get the facts straight. Asking someone in like I did with
Fred was an excellent way to get a kiln built right, meet potters from
around the country and spend a week together, provide an opportunity for
others to learn too, and have a good time while doing it all.
So, for what it's worth in weather- it was 98 here in the northwoods today
and we are spending as much time as possible in the lake!
Joanie
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