mel jacobson on fri 2 jun 06
to echo vince's posts.
one thing i know for sure, if you skimp, make do,
take the short road when building a new kiln, it will
come back and bite you in the butt a few years from now.
kilns last a long time. a mistake, or cheap solution
will be hard to fix later on, or perhaps you will have to
take the kiln down and re/build.
it is as simple as saving 5 bucks on `all thread`, using quarter
inch rod instead of 5/8. or, making your own, welding bolts
to the end of a piece of scrap re/rod. ( just had a friend
who built one, and the bolt snapped off on the third firing.
the entire roof system came loose. was that worth the
few bucks saved? not a bit...it could have been a disaster.
i have seen people build great kilns using used brick and
bed frame metal. i have seen great kilns built using four
different kinds of brick...k23 k24,26, hard brick, whatever..all mixed
and they got all the metal work from a scrap yard. but, no compromise
was made in the design or safety. you can build a great burner
system from plumbing pipe. just make sure you have a good
baso valve. or, you can buy a system from nils...great burners.
non better. but, you pay for that quality.
we have a pair of his propane burners at the farm. they are
just terrific. they have fired four different kilns with perfection.
hundreds of times.
one of the reasons i love to watch donovan palmquist build
a kiln is that it is always `first class`. no short cuts. the welding
and frame are made of the best quality steel, painted. the connections
are spec't out perfectly. the bricks fit together like a perfect wall.
safety equipment works like it should. every time.
if you compromise safety, take short cuts, save a buck here
and there...you are in huge trouble.
i have been paid to look at three kilns this last couple years.
each was cobbled together.. i have no idea why they even spent
the money to build it. only one of the three made cone 9.
i just shake my head. in each case we made adjustments to flue
size, stack config, and got rid of bag walls, and of course changed
the shelf arrangement. turning `down` the gas pressure helped in
each case. i have helped several clayarters with the same thing...
and got the kiln to work.
the last kiln i fixed we fired in half the time, with half the gas.
lots of mis/information out there about fuel kilns.
lots.
and it keeps on moving along.
you know...`well hell mel, wally over at the junior college says
we have to have a flue at least 89 inches.`...wwwelll, wally
does not know shit.` so there.
mel
from: mel/minnetonka.mn.usa
website: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/ (new website)
http://my.pclink.com/~melpots3 old
Clayart page link: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/clayart.html
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