Dave Finkelnburg on mon 12 may 03
Joseph,
I was in a pottery last fall in rural China where traditional celadons
ware was being fired with coal. The kiln was a downdraft of about 80 cubic
feet capacity. Everything was fired in saggars. I can't say it did much
for the local air quality, but coal is an acceptable fuel. With coal, of
course, you do have the ash issues to your benefit or detriment, depending
on how you look at ash.
I will say that while the celadons were gorgeous and extremely
well-made, the simple coal-fired saggars I saw in China displayed some
lovely surfaces and were especially rich in earth-tone colors!
Good firing!
Dave Finkelnburg, firing with natural gas in Idaho
Earl Brunner on tue 13 may 03
I have heard that one of the draw backs to coal as a
fuel is the sulfur content if I remember right. Maybe
with the current trend towards letting the fire leave
its mark on the work it might be ok. But if control
is the issue (like with celadons) then it might now
work very well.
--- Dave Finkelnburg
wrote:
> Joseph,
> I was in a pottery last fall in rural China
> where traditional celadons
> ware was being fired with coal. The kiln was a
> downdraft of about 80 cubic
> feet capacity. Everything was fired in saggars. I
> can't say it did much
> for the local air quality, but coal is an acceptable
> fuel. With coal, of
> course, you do have the ash issues to your benefit
> or detriment, depending
> on how you look at ash.
> I will say that while the celadons were gorgeous
> and extremely
> well-made, the simple coal-fired saggars I saw in
> China displayed some
> lovely surfaces and were especially rich in
> earth-tone colors!
> Good firing!
> Dave Finkelnburg, firing with natural gas in
> Idaho
>
>
=====
Earl Brunner
e-mail: brunv53@yahoo.com
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