shane mickey on tue 11 jul 06
mel,
i being a younger potter and probably automatically skeptical of information that is in a book over ten years old have come to the same conclusions as you, the kiln books are outdated. good reference point and place to start. I recently have been designing kilns with more restricted exits/inlets and chimneys. they fire on way less poundage and can fire much quicker, although i am still in the "fire for at least eight hours camp" for reduction/ salt firings. I also concure on your tight chimney theory, but i take it to the whole kiln, i only want air/gas going in where i want it and going out where i want it, that way the firer has total control over the mix and atmosphere in the kiln. Passives, well they are the best thing to have on a chimney, when we fired June Perry's kiln for the first time we used an oxyprobe and to watch the reading when a passive was pulled at stoneware temperatures was truly amazing. if i pulled a 4.5 x 4.5 passive it was a major shift in atmosphere,
then if we inserted a rather thin, maybe 1" x 4.5" piece of soft brick back in the hole it was a significant change also, wonderful tool to have on a kiln.
all that said, i do not get the no bagwall theory? you state
" WHEN A GAS KILN REACHES CONE 10, ALL THE of
KILN, SHELVES, BAG WALL AND POTS ARE AT CONE 10.", this is not true, the bagwall area is much hotter, the flame trough or firebox is way hotter, this really doesnt matter as you can just adjust what you put there. and also the idea of not having steps in a woodkiln, well i have to differ on that, i fire a larger anagama and i have a front fire wall thats 2 feet high, then two 18" steps in the kiln, the two 18" act as areas for sidestoking, less pots knocked over, and yes flames/ heat hit these walls but i have no trouble firing to temp, i agree with you about how people will stoke the hell out of a woodkiln to get to temp, not needed, we fire with very little stokes at the end but more frequently, we use two digital meters and they really tellus what the stokes are doing. the last firing we had cone 12 down in the back, cone 12 1/2 down in the middle and cone 11 down in front, the opposite of most anagamas. In closing i have to say that more potters need to rethink their
approach to building and firing their kilns. and i am glad that you started the discussion about this.
thanks
shane mickey
shane mickey pottery and
kiln design services
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Karen Sullivan on mon 20 aug 07
So a test to make chimney design
Logical....
Find someone who smokes...
Poke a hole in their cigarette and
Hand it back for them to continue
Smoking.....
A good lesson....
You might run away to protect yourself
From an angry smoker....
But it makes a point....
I used to have a kiln with a passive
Damper....or one in which a brick at
The base of the chimney was pulled out
To stop the chimney draw...
How does that work????
Try the cigarette test if you can
Find someone who smokes....
Bamboo karen
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