William & Susan Schran User on fri 10 nov 06
On 11/9/06 10:33 PM, "Craig Clark" wrote:
> One more thing about safety, if you decide to use an electric kiln
> to fire, please be certain to turn the power to the kiln off before
> reaching inside.
Indeed!
If one is reaching into an electric kiln with metal tongs, yikes!, turn off
the power!
Saw a film of someone doing raku in an electric kiln many years ago.
Think it was somebody in Richmond, Virginia.
Anyway, kiln was in basement.
Guy would take the pot out,
then run up a set of stairs to go outside to drop the pot in a can for post
firing reduction.
My first thought was: "This is the most insane thing I ever saw!"
Here is my take on kilns for raku:
Choices:
Electric or gas,
Top loading, front loading or top hat, removing the entire top of the kiln
(fiber).
Gas is more portable and flexible.
Electric requires outlet with sufficient amperage.
Gas fired kiln, generally speaking, will fire faster, but is often more
difficult to control temperature rise.
Electric usually takes longer, but heat rise is more easily controlled.
Top loading - well, you gotta reach down in from the top and for some
forms/shapes, it's harder to remove pots from the kiln.
Front loading - easier to remove most forms from firing chamber, but you
still can only reach from one direction.
Top hat - easiest to remove pots from, one can move around the kiln to
access ware.
How many shelves/pots should one have in the kiln?
With our set-up at school, we have a top hat, propane fired, one burner
kiln.
We use one 15" polygon shelf and fire 4 - 6 pots at a time.
Sometimes if the pots are small and they are not going into post firing
reduction, we may fire more.
Post firing reduction area directly adjacent to kiln is sand pit with four
wire mesh cages to hold combustibles and 4 trash cans that are inverted over
cages.
I don't like the idea of more than one shelf in the kiln.
In all the excitement it's too easy to knock the 2nd shelf over while trying
to access pots underneath.
All this said, for some folks electric is their only feasible option.
One does what one must to accomplish their goal.
--
William "Bill" Schran
wschran@cox.net
wschran@nvcc.edu
http://www.creativecreekartisans.com
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