2ley on thu 5 jan 06
From:
> Hi (other) Philip,
>
>
> You know...if you set up a little forced Air blower, to provide Oxygen/Air
> to the contained-in-the-Barrel Fire...
Hi, Philip, from The Other Philip,
I've been thinking about that very thing, perhaps even using a pipe with
holes in it running up from the bottom of the barrel where the 1 inch
filling hole was on the drum.
After pulling the pots I have nothing of the firing materials but fluffy
ash. We're going to refire this weekend, if the weather holds. So, thanks
for the idea!
Philip Tuley
2ley on thu 5 jan 06
What I did on my winter break.
Sorry if you read this in more than one place, but I figured it might be
worth it to some other poor soul who tries to do his or her own sawdust
firing without attending someone else's first.
To set the stage, for those of you silly enough to continue reading this, I
started a sawdust firing in a 55 gallon oil drum at 7 PM on New Year's eve.
Today, at 3:30 PM, it was finally "cool" enough to remove the pots without
entirely burning my fingertips.
The pots came out a mixed bag. Some were great, some weren't. I think the
slowness of the firing, combined with the lower temp, kept the effects
muted.
Here's what I learned.
1) Holes in the drum are good. More holes are better. One website I read
suggested 24 of them at 1/2 inch around the bottom area of the drum. I did
that, then added 6 more, and I think that, had I done another set of 12 or
so about 1/3 of the way up the drum I would have fared better.
2) Fuel is good. Too much fuel isn't. I put a layer of sawdust, the pots
wrapped in wet cotton material soaked in salt water with a variety of oxides
then put on them, then some heating pellets, a bunch of a friend's junk mail
(envelopes don't burn well unless you crumple them, btw, duh) both layers
I'd added salt to and soaked with starter fluid, then I put in the wood
itself. Oh, and around and above the pots I also put some of those
compressed sawdust logs. Finally I put more pellets, paper, and lighter
fluid.
The wood caught great, the paper formed a heat barrier, I think.
3) If you have a layer that isn't burning, mix it up a bit so that it will
catch instead of forming an insulating blanket. (See the envelopes above.)
4) Removing the lid of the drum in order to get things going again works.
The fire had almost completely died without reaching the sawdust when I
removed an inner cover made out of a trashcan lid. The fire then started
heating up, finally getting very hot. This was 2 days after starting, btw.
5) You can always refire.
So I will. Probably next weekend. And this time no letters, more lumber,
and more air holes.
Still, I like some of what I got. As soon as I can get these photos
transferred (probably next week) I'll post them.
Philip Tuley
Let us so live that when we come to die even the undertaker is sorry.
- Mark Twain
pdp1@EARTHLINK.NET on thu 5 jan 06
Hi (other) Philip,
You know...if you set up a little forced Air blower, to provide Oxygen/Air
to the contained-in-the-Barrel Fire...
You could get a hell of a lot more heat, and, likely depending on how you
did it, you'd get complete combustion of everything includeing Carbon...
For which the 'holes' in the main Barrel, would be more for egress of
combustion by-products, than to admit Atmospheric Air...
Would not be too hard to do...
You could fill the barrell 'tight' with flat envelopes and Sawdust and so
on, and it would all burn completely...
Phil
el ve
----- Original Message -----
From: "2ley"
> What I did on my winter break.
>
> Sorry if you read this in more than one place, but I figured it might be
> worth it to some other poor soul who tries to do his or her own sawdust
> firing without attending someone else's first.
>
> To set the stage, for those of you silly enough to continue reading this,
I
> started a sawdust firing in a 55 gallon oil drum at 7 PM on New Year's
eve.
> Today, at 3:30 PM, it was finally "cool" enough to remove the pots without
> entirely burning my fingertips.
>
> The pots came out a mixed bag. Some were great, some weren't. I think
the
> slowness of the firing, combined with the lower temp, kept the effects
> muted.
>
> Here's what I learned.
>
> 1) Holes in the drum are good. More holes are better. One website I read
> suggested 24 of them at 1/2 inch around the bottom area of the drum. I
did
> that, then added 6 more, and I think that, had I done another set of 12 or
> so about 1/3 of the way up the drum I would have fared better.
>
> 2) Fuel is good. Too much fuel isn't. I put a layer of sawdust, the pots
> wrapped in wet cotton material soaked in salt water with a variety of
oxides
> then put on them, then some heating pellets, a bunch of a friend's junk
mail
> (envelopes don't burn well unless you crumple them, btw, duh) both layers
> I'd added salt to and soaked with starter fluid, then I put in the wood
> itself. Oh, and around and above the pots I also put some of those
> compressed sawdust logs. Finally I put more pellets, paper, and lighter
> fluid.
>
> The wood caught great, the paper formed a heat barrier, I think.
>
> 3) If you have a layer that isn't burning, mix it up a bit so that it
will
> catch instead of forming an insulating blanket. (See the envelopes
above.)
>
> 4) Removing the lid of the drum in order to get things going again works.
> The fire had almost completely died without reaching the sawdust when I
> removed an inner cover made out of a trashcan lid. The fire then started
> heating up, finally getting very hot. This was 2 days after starting,
btw.
>
> 5) You can always refire.
>
> So I will. Probably next weekend. And this time no letters, more lumber,
> and more air holes.
>
> Still, I like some of what I got. As soon as I can get these photos
> transferred (probably next week) I'll post them.
>
> Philip Tuley
>
>
> Let us so live that when we come to die even the undertaker is sorry.
>
> - Mark Twain
scott jarrett on fri 6 jan 06
where would you set up the air blower?
>From: pdp1@EARTHLINK.NET
>Reply-To: Clayart
>To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
>Subject: Re: [CLAYART] Things I learned from my sawdust firing, or...
>Date: Thu, 5 Jan 2006 20:16:18 -0800
>
>Hi (other) Philip,
>
>
>You know...if you set up a little forced Air blower, to provide Oxygen/Air
>to the contained-in-the-Barrel Fire...
>
>You could get a hell of a lot more heat, and, likely depending on how you
>did it, you'd get complete combustion of everything includeing Carbon...
>
>For which the 'holes' in the main Barrel, would be more for egress of
>combustion by-products, than to admit Atmospheric Air...
>
>Would not be too hard to do...
>
>You could fill the barrell 'tight' with flat envelopes and Sawdust and so
>on, and it would all burn completely...
>
>
>Phil
>el ve
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "2ley"
>
>
> > What I did on my winter break.
> >
> > Sorry if you read this in more than one place, but I figured it might be
> > worth it to some other poor soul who tries to do his or her own sawdust
> > firing without attending someone else's first.
> >
> > To set the stage, for those of you silly enough to continue reading
>this,
>I
> > started a sawdust firing in a 55 gallon oil drum at 7 PM on New Year's
>eve.
> > Today, at 3:30 PM, it was finally "cool" enough to remove the pots
>without
> > entirely burning my fingertips.
> >
> > The pots came out a mixed bag. Some were great, some weren't. I think
>the
> > slowness of the firing, combined with the lower temp, kept the effects
> > muted.
> >
> > Here's what I learned.
> >
> > 1) Holes in the drum are good. More holes are better. One website I
>read
> > suggested 24 of them at 1/2 inch around the bottom area of the drum. I
>did
> > that, then added 6 more, and I think that, had I done another set of 12
>or
> > so about 1/3 of the way up the drum I would have fared better.
> >
> > 2) Fuel is good. Too much fuel isn't. I put a layer of sawdust, the
>pots
> > wrapped in wet cotton material soaked in salt water with a variety of
>oxides
> > then put on them, then some heating pellets, a bunch of a friend's junk
>mail
> > (envelopes don't burn well unless you crumple them, btw, duh) both
>layers
> > I'd added salt to and soaked with starter fluid, then I put in the wood
> > itself. Oh, and around and above the pots I also put some of those
> > compressed sawdust logs. Finally I put more pellets, paper, and lighter
> > fluid.
> >
> > The wood caught great, the paper formed a heat barrier, I think.
> >
> > 3) If you have a layer that isn't burning, mix it up a bit so that it
>will
> > catch instead of forming an insulating blanket. (See the envelopes
>above.)
> >
> > 4) Removing the lid of the drum in order to get things going again
>works.
> > The fire had almost completely died without reaching the sawdust when I
> > removed an inner cover made out of a trashcan lid. The fire then
>started
> > heating up, finally getting very hot. This was 2 days after starting,
>btw.
> >
> > 5) You can always refire.
> >
> > So I will. Probably next weekend. And this time no letters, more
>lumber,
> > and more air holes.
> >
> > Still, I like some of what I got. As soon as I can get these photos
> > transferred (probably next week) I'll post them.
> >
> > Philip Tuley
> >
> >
> > Let us so live that when we come to die even the undertaker is sorry.
> >
> > - Mark Twain
>
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