Rhonda Kale on sun 15 may 05
Mudbuds-
Hubby and I are about to plunge into the joy of home remodeling and do our back patio into a "three season room/screen porch. When the mosquitos got the size of small Cessenas it was time....
One of the things is that we will have an electrician come in to do all of the wiring-hubby is insulted by this but tough-love him more than life itself,but would rather be safe than sorry. I trust his carpentry but want the other to be done exactly right. Then it occurred to me-had a DUUHHH moment. If the electrician is going to wire the porch, run a line out to the potter's shed-he can wire in a new kiln! I have the test kiln (Paragon A-66) but it has become woefully apparent that I need more. Soooo what I have planned to do is build a lean-to with the hardibacker board and tin to the back of the potter's shed. Figured I would pour a cement slab for the floor.The doors would be built in sort a barn door fashion.
Soooo my question is:
For those who have done this before-
(1) What should I do/not do ?
(2) Layout? What to do around under kiln?
(3) and the most important-what experiences have you had with your kiln and what brands do you recommend? Any downright skunks?
I would like to have one that I can do manually but also program if necessary. I know the more bells and whistles you have especially computers, the more chance of breakdown-that is just the nature of the beast. I want to fire Cone 6 but if I could get one that was able to fire to Cone 10 that would be nice. This must last me a loooonnnnng time.
My budget is about $2500-3000.
All help would be appreciated.
Rhonda Kale
31.23595 N, 85.40529 W
Potters Council Member
qndivauniv@earthlink.net
Dean Poole on wed 18 may 05
Rohnda
I have used Skutt, black diamond, Paragon, And L& L to fire to cone 08 and
Skutts to fire to cone 6 for a while. My favorite Kiln as far as fit and
finish is the L& L. A skutt last me about 5 years firing once or twice a
week. I use the larger 12 cubic foot Kilns. Firing to cone 10 in electric
drastically reduces its life expectancy and true cone 10 kilns in electric
are probably going to set you back 5000 or so. When you install your new
kiln leave yourself about two feet on all sides. You will of course want
more room in front for loading.
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