Billy Fields on mon 5 aug 02
I am in the process of building a homemade kiln. I want to make my own IFB
using sponge and fireclay. This will be a highfire kiln (^10). Can anyone
point me to a reference or post their own experiences related to this? So
far I am using 90% Lincoln "60" Fireclay and 10% dry porcelain casting slip
and about 150% water and soaking the sponge/foam over night and drying it.
My test bricks have been fired to cone 10 and seem ok. However, this is a
slooooow process. Any help or info would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Billy
Earl Brunner on mon 5 aug 02
You have fired some of these test bricks?
Earl Brunner
mailto:bruec@anv.net
http://coyote.accessnv.com/bruec
-----Original Message-----
From: Ceramic Arts Discussion List [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG] On
Behalf Of Billy Fields
Sent: Sunday, August 04, 2002 10:29 PM
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: Insulating firebrick using sponge? How?
I am in the process of building a homemade kiln. I want to make my own
IFB
using sponge and fireclay. This will be a highfire kiln (^10). Can
anyone
point me to a reference or post their own experiences related to this?
So
far I am using 90% Lincoln "60" Fireclay and 10% dry porcelain casting
slip
and about 150% water and soaking the sponge/foam over night and drying
it.
My test bricks have been fired to cone 10 and seem ok. However, this is
a
slooooow process. Any help or info would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Billy
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vince pitelka on mon 5 aug 02
> I am in the process of building a homemade kiln. I want to make my own IFB
> using sponge and fireclay. This will be a highfire kiln (^10). Can anyone
> point me to a reference or post their own experiences related to this? So
> far I am using 90% Lincoln "60" Fireclay and 10% dry porcelain casting
slip
> and about 150% water and soaking the sponge/foam over night and drying it.
> My test bricks have been fired to cone 10 and seem ok. However, this is a
> slooooow process. Any help or info would be much appreciated.
Billy -
I commend you for your ingenuity and willingness to even attempt this. It
is no doubt the most unusual method for making insulation brick that I have
ever encountered.
In my experience, homemade IFB for cone 10 use are not very successful
except for short-term temporary kiln experiments. In our studios we just
cannot do nearly as good a job of it as the commercial refractory
manufacturers. All the homemade insulating castable I have made, or seen
used, has degraded fairly quickly. The cost of insulation brick (you can
save money by buying seconds) seems a small price to pay when you are going
to the trouble to build a kiln, and then firing your wares in it over a long
period of time.
However, if you are determined to attempt homemade IFB, abandon the sponges,
and instead add significant quantities (at least 50% by volume, but you will
have to experiment) of coarse sawdust, crushed walnut shells, or anything
else that will burn out and leave voids in the fired mass. Dried coffee
grounds work great, if you can get a coffee house to save their grounds for
you.
If your dry casting slip is already deflocculated, I would avoid using it in
this mix. Once you add all the combustible materials, the unfired mix will
have a hard time sticking together, and a deflocculant will make it even
less sticky. Instead, add a little vinegar or Epsom salts to increase
plasticity, and 2% bentonite would help as well. You also might want to cut
back on the overall clay content and add some high-fired grog, in order to
reduce drying and firing shrinkage.
Good luck -
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Crafts
Tennessee Technological University
1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
Home - vpitelka@worldnet.att.net
615/597-5376
Work - wpitelka@tntech.edu
615/597-6801 ext. 111, fax 615/597-6803
http://www.craftcenter.tntech.edu/
billy on mon 5 aug 02
Yes, I have test fired them to cone 10. They are real strong and seem very
light. The bricks I have made so far exhibit lots of shrinkage and take a
long time to dry before they can be fired. I don't know if the slip I am
using is of the right viscosity. Someone suggested the sponge method to me
but had no personal experience with the process. So I've just been trying
different ways of producing these bricks. However, I hate reinventing the
wheel and welcome any thoughts on this matter...
Thanks,
Billy
At 06:25 AM 8/5/02 -0700, you wrote:
>You have fired some of these test bricks?
>
>Earl Brunner
>mailto:bruec@anv.net
>http://coyote.accessnv.com/bruec
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Ceramic Arts Discussion List [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG] On
>Behalf Of Billy Fields
>Sent: Sunday, August 04, 2002 10:29 PM
>To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
>Subject: Insulating firebrick using sponge? How?
>
>I am in the process of building a homemade kiln. I want to make my own
>IFB
>using sponge and fireclay. This will be a highfire kiln (^10). Can
>anyone
>point me to a reference or post their own experiences related to this?
>So
>far I am using 90% Lincoln "60" Fireclay and 10% dry porcelain casting
>slip
>and about 150% water and soaking the sponge/foam over night and drying
>it.
>My test bricks have been fired to cone 10 and seem ok. However, this is
>a
>slooooow process. Any help or info would be much appreciated.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Billy
>
>________________________________________________________________________
>______
>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.
>
>______________________________________________________________________________
>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.
David Hendley on mon 5 aug 02
I agree with the advice in Vince's response to this question.
1. Even for a died-in-the wool do-it-yourselfer like myself, I
would recommend buying, rather than making your own IFBs.
Your time and energy is better spent on other things.
2. If you persist, use a material like sawdust, that will burn out,
as the insulating addition to your refractory mixture, not sponges.
Now, I would like to add that commercial IFBs are not "made to size".
They are made larger than they need to be and are then cut to exact
dimensions after they are fired.
I would recommend the same procedure for your homemade bricks.
David Hendley
Maydelle, Texas
hendley@tyler.net
http://www.farmpots.com
Geoff Walker on tue 6 aug 02
Whoa! Billy!
I'd be leaving the porcelain slip out of your bricks. It would introduce too
many fluxes for my liking, making the brick more susceptible to a melt down.
I've had students use porcelain clay as wads for props when stacking a kiln.
A sure way to glue your whole stack together permanently! Many novice
potters are under the misapprehension that because most porcelainous clays
are fired to cones 10, 11 or 12 that they will behave like a fire clay. This
is not the case. They are designed to enter the glass phase earlier than
stoneware clays and fire clays and thus distort or even become fluid at
these higher temperatures, behaving more like glass than clay.
If you had to add anything to the fireclay, I'd be going for a clay that was
high in alumina.
The exciting idea, though is that you could perhaps form the sponge into,
say, an arch and fire it ready for use or make bricks of almost any size,
shape or contour ... mmmmmmm. Let's know how you get on.
Regards,
Geoff.
> I am in the process of building a homemade kiln. I want to make my own IFB
> using sponge and fireclay. This will be a highfire kiln (^10). Can anyone
> point me to a reference or post their own experiences related to this? So
> far I am using 90% Lincoln "60" Fireclay and 10% dry porcelain casting
slip
> and about 150% water and soaking the sponge/foam over night and drying it.
> My test bricks have been fired to cone 10 and seem ok. However, this is a
> slooooow process. Any help or info would be much appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Billy
Lee Love on fri 27 dec 02
On Mon, 5 Aug 2002 11:16:23 -0500, vince pitelka
wrote:
>However, if you are determined to attempt homemade IFB, abandon the
sponges,
>and instead add significant quantities (at least 50% by volume, but you
will
>have to experiment) of coarse sawdust, crushed walnut shells, or anything
>else that will burn out and leave voids in the fired mass. Dried coffee
>grounds work great, if you can get a coffee house to save their grounds for
>you.
The new German student at the workshop has made softbrick using crushed
coal. I guess it isn't as likely to float to the top of the mix as
sawdust is.
Also, I don't know if this is true of all softbrick, but I am told
here in Japan, that aluminum flakes are mixed in the clay. They burn out,
leaving an air space and contribute alumina oxide to the brick structure.
--
Lee Love In Mashiko, JAPAN Ikiru@hachiko.com
"Clay is molded to make a vessel, but the utility of the vessel lies in the
space where there is nothing...Thus, taking advantage of what is, we
recognize the utility of what is not.". --Lao Tzu
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