Hank Murrow on sun 12 feb 06
On Feb 12, 2006, at 5:54 PM, Randy McCall wrote:
> I am thinking about building a small wood fired kiln.
>
> What are the positives and negatives?
>
> I talked some to Ben Owen who said that unless you fire it to Cone 11
> or 12
> a lot of the ash does not melt. I guess that means some glazes or
> some of
> the pottery will have rough places on it.
Good questions, Randy. First it must be said that cone 11 or 12 after
lot of ash has fallen on the cones is not really cone 11 or 12. The
ash, being a flux, will cause the cones to fall sooner than in a gas
kiln. I think cone 12 in a wood kiln is like cone 10 in a gas kiln.
that said, you can always salt or soda fire the pots to help melt the
ash and give more overall evenness to the wares. hard on the fireboxes
tho. Wood fire..........so exciting for the potter, so hard to market
to a culture that is attrected to bright shiny colors. What to do? My
solution is to do it all.......... but start with a gas kiln until you
can afford to do wood/salt/soda/etc.
Cheers, Hank
www.murrow.biz/hank
David Hendley on sun 12 feb 06
I'll leave it to others to enumerate the positives and negatives of owning
a wood fired kiln, as my "positive" may well be a "negative" for you.
For instance, I enjoy going to the pallet factory, loading the truck with
wood, and spending a day handling, smelling, looking at freshly-cut
boards.
I will say this: if you have to write to Clayart and ask about "the
positives and negatives", a wood kiln is probably not for you. I believe
it needs to be a burning (pardon the pun) desire that you will pursue
regardless of practicality or the advice of others.
With any wood I have ever used, ash deposits on clay are fully melted
and smooth when fired to cone 10. Ashes that land on glazed areas will
melt at an even lower temperature.
David Hendley
Old Farmhouse Pottery
david@farmpots.com
http://www.farmpots.com
----- Original Message -----
>I am thinking about building a small wood fired kiln.
>
> What are the positives and negatives?
>
> I talked some to Ben Owen who said that unless you fire it to Cone 11 or
> 12
> a lot of the ash does not melt. I guess that means some glazes or some of
> the pottery will have rough places on it.
Randy McCall on sun 12 feb 06
I am thinking about building a small wood fired kiln.
What are the positives and negatives?
I talked some to Ben Owen who said that unless you fire it to Cone 11 or 12
a lot of the ash does not melt. I guess that means some glazes or some of
the pottery will have rough places on it.
Just asking before I go to the expense and time.
Randy
Pottery Web Site
members.tripod.com/~McCallJ/index.html
South Carolina
Stephen Mills on mon 13 feb 06
Randy,
The high Cone *thing* is actually because Fly-ash (from the fuel you are
burning) affects the way the cone behaves. I was taught the following:
*Take off a cone for wood, and another for salt*.
This is an over simplification as it is chemically not really as
straightforward as that, but it *works*.
In other words for cone 10 read cone 9, for cone 11 read 10 etc.
I mostly fire wood AND salt, and fire to cone 12 flat! but reckon that
in my case it equals 10, or maybe slightly less, because the clays I use
would be blistering and heaven knows what else if the TRUE
heatwork/temperature WAS 12!!!
Go for it, keep the design as simple as possible and have fun. That's
exactly what I have done, and built a kiln that an Arthritic 69 year old
(me) CAN fire on his own, AND get really nice results from a 9 hour
firing without being completely knackered at the end of it.
I've written a CD about it and am currently working out how to sell it
outside the UK!
Steve
Bath
UK
In message , Randy McCall writes
>I am thinking about building a small wood fired kiln.
>
>What are the positives and negatives?
>
>I talked some to Ben Owen who said that unless you fire it to Cone 11 or =
>12
>a lot of the ash does not melt. I guess that means some glazes or some o=
>f
>the pottery will have rough places on it.
>
>Just asking before I go to the expense and time.
>
>
>Randy
>
>Pottery Web Site
>members.tripod.com/~McCallJ/index.html
>South Carolina
--
Steve Mills
Bath
UK
Lee Love on tue 14 feb 06
On Sun, 12 Feb 2006 20:31:34 -0800, Hank Murrow wrote:
>Good questions, Randy. First it must be said that cone 11 or 12 after
>lot of ash has fallen on the cones is not really cone 11 or 12.
Remember: cones measure heat work, not temperature. For example, most
pre-noborigama wood fired kilns never got above the temp of cone 1 (about
1100*C), but they were often fired for a week or longer. As similar to
Tony's case, firing for a week at 1100* does more heat work than firing for
6 hours to cone 10.
>Wood fire..........so exciting for the potter, so hard to market
>to a culture that is attrected to bright shiny colors. What to do? My
>solution is to do it all.......... but start with a gas kiln until you
>can afford to do wood/salt/soda/etc.
I agree with Hank. But I think maybe an electric kiln is even a better
place to start. A person can also experiment with a little raku or wood
kiln like Steve Mill's design.
But...Woodfired can come in many colors. It all depends upon your
atmosphere and the kinds and amount of ash you get. For example, my
teacher's signature cobalt blue, wood and salt fired Osara, are pretty
colorful. So are other woodfired works of his inlayed with blue and pink
slip and then fired in enamel to add red, yellow and green.
--
李 Lee Love
in Mashiko, Japan http://mashiko.org
http://seisokuro.blogspot.com/ My Photo Logs
http://ikiru.blogspot.com/ Zen and Craft
"The way we are, we are members of each other. All of us. Everything.
The difference ain't in who is a member and who is not, but in who knows
it and who don't."
--Burley Coulter (Wendell Berry)
Patrick Cross on wed 15 feb 06
Hello Randy,
Before I moved away from Athens, Georgia a few years back I was involved in
a wood kiln cooperative. There were about five main members but we usually
were joined by other interested potters in the area and also several
students(revolving) from UGA. What I'm trying to point out is there was
plenty of labor available to address all the necessities in getting a firin=
g
done. We had it worked out that we worked in 4 hour shifts during the
firing...for instance the last one I was involved in I worked from noon to
4pm then came back at mid-night and worked to 4am. Typically the firings
lasted 5 or 6 days going to cone 12/13. Even with the labor divided, a wee=
k
of that sort of schedule can make a person a little loopy toward the end.
Fortunately the fuel was free...well somewhat free. We had arrangements
with local guys that owned portable saw mills. When they were finished wit=
h
jobs we would come along and gather their waste product...primarily barked
slabs of pine in lengths from 10 to 16 feet or so but also smaller 1X2 and
2X2 stickers. Our fire box was 6 feet long so that meant re-cutting the
slabs and hauling them back to the kiln site...then stacking them in 6X6X6
foot units and covering them with tin for a few months. If I remember righ=
t
it took about 14 of those units per firing. The kiln was quite large
though...a double chamber, sprung arch arrangement. One chamber strictly
for wood, the second a combination wood/salt. It would take several days
just to load the ware even with three or four people doing it.
If I can figure out how to get the driver software for a used scanner I jus=
t
bought at the local Salvation Army I could email some photos of the kiln an=
d
surrounding yard to you.
Even with everything involved in wood firing it is by far the most rewardin=
g
ceramic experience I can think of. However, it certainly would be
beneficial to get a handful of other people close by interested in it too.
If you'd like to get an in depth observation into wood firing You
should/could contact Geoff Pickett of Farmington, Georgia...just Google
PickettPottery to get an email address. He is part owner of the kiln and
it's on his property. If you talk to him tell him Patrick says hi.
Patrick Cross (cone10soda)
On 2/12/06, Randy McCall wrote:
>
> I am thinking about building a small wood fired kiln.
>
> What are the positives and negatives?
>
> I talked some to Ben Owen who said that unless you fire it to Cone 11 or
> 12
> a lot of the ash does not melt. I guess that means some glazes or some o=
f
> the pottery will have rough places on it.
>
> Just asking before I go to the expense and time.
>
>
> Randy
>
> Pottery Web Site
> members.tripod.com/~McCallJ/index.html
> South Carolina
>
>
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