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Mark C.

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Everything posted by Mark C.

  1. Those blanks look exactly like the XIEM ones
  2. As a tungsten carbide user for deacdes now I'll give this a try. Yes the green wheel will do the outside and a diamand Dremel could do the inside. That said I never have never sharpened one as I only use the smaller size (like a R-2 Kemper )I like a squre end and a smaller rounder end on same tool for trimming I wear them out over time and there is no reason to sharpen team as they hold the edge until worn out. Sharping one just wears them out sooner I have used a few kinds Bison custom ($$$) as well as the XEIM which dropped they line (they had replaceable tips)
  3. Jeff (They fired it, however, in a nitrogen fueled "kiln" and fired them to 3000 degrees) this is how recrystallized silicone carbide is made in a Nitrogen rich oxyegen free environment .Often electric arc furnace. All my kiln shelves are made from this process (advancers or Baileys). I have a pile of soap bricks (like a while brick cut in half the long ways) made from same material. Its the stongest material at high temp and never warps at say 2400 (cone 11 ) and keeps warm a long time and glaze will not stick to the surface as its smooth and not porous. You can look it up say on Alibaba and see some interesting forms made in China same way. By the way that nitrogen rich 3,000 degree furnace costs an arm and leg to fire and maintain . There are very few of them around. the globe. Saint Gobain headquatered in France is one of the older doing this (they make Advancers) the Bailey clay ones come from Germany and now China has a few plants as well. This is the feild of industrial ceramic engineering. Way above my pay grade.I have a funny story about one of these guys-maybe another time-they made electric arc furance lids for the tops of crucibles.
  4. I used these from Euclids when I rewired my electric -brass and stainless -I added some copper coat as well to insure great long term corrosion free connection https://euclids.com/products/element-connector-large-2-screw?pr_prod_strat=e5_desc&pr_rec_id=82bd0e954&pr_rec_pid=5133891010605&pr_ref_pid=5133812236333&pr_seq=uniform
  5. How about copper split bolt connectors . Electricians like me use them on all large wire connectons as they are made for large amp draws. They are usually all copper and a brass nut. They are spendy and come in a variety of sizes. Also I use copper coat on these connections as that keeps out all corrosion. Never had one fail.
  6. This time last year I decided to pack in my 44 years of Christmas sales at a small shopping center in a small town close to me. I had made a special locking booth for just this location and the spot was very cost effective. I picked the dates I wanted to be open in December and paid a flat fee of $200. Now when I started back in 1979 selling here I was in front of a very busy drug store. I think it was called Value Giant-then it became Payless Drugs for many years and I dealt with the same manager for 17 years. Back then I paid 10% of sales on a trust basis. That store became Rite Aid then CVS. I went thru many a manager and cut it down to a one-time booth fee-if I recall it was 400-600$ for my 18-20 day run in December. The local Safeway manager at one point asked if I could set up outside his store so that year and for about 5-6 years as was next to the store exit. This was a busy location and for the 1st time I got some late day sun into the booth as it faces west. The business was always good. Safeway went thru lots of managers and I decided that I had enough as they were always changing the contact. This location was 600$ flat fee but one manager wanted me to move away from the exit to a dead zone. That year I moved over to the local owner’s pet store and I have been in front there for at least 15 years. I cut a deal with the shopping center manager direct and offered $200 flat fee to whatever dates I wanted in December. The pet store does zero advertising and is a local favorite (small town local store) I have 7 signs that advertise my sale on private property around town. The signs are in key spots around town and also advertise in local paper so the pet store gets my customers and I get theirs it’s a win win. Last year a few days before xmas I was taking to my sales help and we both decided it was time to pack it in. I told the manager I was done but had another potter in mind to take it over. I called him before new year’s about 1 year ago today about taking over the booth and made him a deal he could not refuse. I would teach him how to set the booth up and take it down as long as he takes it all away next year from me to store at his place (it’s an install that takes a few hours) and it connected to building and I use the power from Pet store for lighting. I said the booth and racks are all free and that my insurance is paid up for 2023 but in 2024 he would have to get his own. All I asked for was the $200 for booth fee. The one big thing was he got long covid in February 2020 and it nearly killed him (he is young guy) Since then he has not sold or made pot and it’s been a long slow recovery. He works in high fire reduction fired Porcelain (Dave’s same as me) and he has great work. That all said I gave him a year’s notice. Well we just packed up his booth xmas eve as I always have the past 44 years and I did show him how to build it and helped him with details and have showed him the ropes. His 1st sale at this location was good for him and he’s on his way to making a storage area to get the booth and racks from me this year to keep at his place. I was only going to do this teaching once as I have no other person in our area to give this to. I feel I’m paying it forward and hope he continues on a path to success as I have had at this location. I had built a huge Christmas season of sales and now it’s one less thing for me to do at xmas. Now it’s just keeping my 7 outlets supplied at the holiday season and no more retail myself at xmas. All part of the slow down plan Here’s a few photos of His work in new to him booth this past few weeks.
  7. Mea's details are spot on I use JB weld epoxy and a fine nylon line for hair wraps and heavier line to make my hang loops but its really just minor details-I also drill a hole thru center of bamboo to pull string with the hairs up and make a loop to hang brush then glue the holes shut. I have about 4-5 kinds of bamboo (I tend to harvet black bamboo for handles) The timber bamboo in photo gets 30+ high and gets water from sink clay settling tubs then on to bamboo. Here's a bunch hanging next to sink waiting for glaze day-I do tend to make them larger than hers -larger handles and more skunk hairs My glazing is lots of loose brush work under glazes like rutile so these brushes get a workout nearly every week or two. Thanks Mea for posting the you tube. I never had a mentor on making these just winged it but that process is the same. I really got into it in the late 80s and 90s. These where made then.
  8. This looks very simalair to one West Coast Brand single burner I had for 30 years and sold last year without ever firing. My west coast had a loose lid with two handles for removing. It was really uneven firing avcording to previoius owner. Its not a West Coast but similar. The more burners the better for evenness.
  9. I put my refires (gas kilns) in cooler spots and go very slow at 1st as they are tight and can crack if heated to fast
  10. Yes I have made my own over 30 +years-I have deer hair (and have some elk to try) but most are made from skunk tails. These are cut off road kills and aired out for a year outside hanging. Then I use bamboo from our property-which is cut and dried in the right lengths. I wrap the hairs tight with a string around them and the end is covered in waterproof epoxy and the string is put thru the center and forms a loop on top to hang brush. I have also just expoxeyed the hairs in without the thru string and still use a string loop in small hole glued in tio for hanging as they dry best hanging. I have shown thse in photos before here. These brushes have lasted many decades of heavy use. The skunk hair is course and very durable. Deer hair is finer. I use them on glaze days -at least 6 of them for underglazing.
  11. I get that the 30 amp is undersized-my point is the whole outbuilding undersized as well or just the kiln? 30 amps to a kiln building is way to small so I'm saying up size the supply to kiln shed The whole shed cannot just be on a 30 amp #10 wire? if so have the whole shed rewired back to main breaker
  12. Its a non issue-all an electrician has to do is pull the old wire to the cute kiln house and install a larger new # 6 wire-. The 30 amp breaker comes out a new 60 amp doublke breaker goes in. That will work easy if that conduit is 1 inch under the cement if its 3/4 its still possiable but a much harder pull and smaller ground wire . You need the newer smaller copper Number #6 wire either way. It looks like a sub panel juction box is inside shed as well-That needs to be looked at. whats not klnow to me is what other lights outelet in shed and how thay are powered? What is the size breaker for whole kin shed 40-50 or 60 amps? its a key question Worse case a new run on the surface in conduit
  13. No i do not but they did stop importing it back then ,but I heard they got it going again since the Custar deal went south-all rumors at this point. IKts cheaper than the EU stuff for them. I know someone who knows more that I will see in about 2-3 weeks I'll ask then.
  14. So Laguna is the importer for Mahavir spar and thats the new go to spar to replace Custar read about the breakdown analysis below you can also find this at Laguna's website under articles https://www.lagunaclay.com/_files/ugd/e5330f_f36857d85c574abc9da8e88c9d6fde7b.pdf
  15. Nobody I knew got it. No students no teachers. You need to be exposed for many many years Not-2-3 years. Just forget about it and work smarter. If you are still worried about it read up on mine workers, they get it after a lifetime of exposure . Many more things way more dangerous to you like crossing the street or driving
  16. Just forget about small exposure and now start to work smarter with a mask and wet mop . I have been a full timer for 50 years and for the 1st 15-20 years was exposed badly . I mixed clay in collage and it was in the early 770s (no masks) -had to go outside to breath from clay dust. I swept dust for deacads before useing a wet mop. Mixed clay and glazed in large amounts. In the 90s I caught on some to dust.' Now for the record every 10 years now I get a lung difusion test that measures how elastic your lungs are (in asbestos or silicosis or any lung disease )your lungs become less elastic and this test can show you that you are headed that way. If you get diagnosed with any lung desease you are already toast so this test gives one a heads up. I have three such tests now under my belt. I also have a central vac heps system in studio and a air handlers that is also hepa. I hepa vac the dust and do not sweep it. The vac is outside of building. Give up greenware sanding and use a wet sponge-think no dust you will be fine moving forward-welcome to the forum
  17. I ordered some of these potentiometers as the site has a 25$ min buy (I got some other items as well) if you are needing one just PM me-they are super low cost
  18. Speaking of sustainability I have felt bad about my part in global warming for decades using so much fossil fuel (natural gas) as a full time potter. For me as a Potter I try to offset this in other areas and we all can do some part as each of us has a part to play in this whether it’s simple recycling or an electric car or other small part. Everything counts. For me personally I have had a solar water preheater (copper solar water heater panels, two 4x8 panels on roof) feeding into my water heater since Jimmy Carter funded an incentive in 1980 and help me pay for them. They are still up and working today after43 years. I have moved them once and had to keep them serviced and replaced the 80-gallon solar tank once but it’s an active system. My wife and I personally installed ourselves a 9.6 KW ground mount solar electric panels in early 2020 as well as a 22.5 KW lithium backup battery system. Yes, I helped raise the price of raw lithium. We did 100% of all the install. We use a very small amount of grid power and make the rest ourselves from the sun. Do whatever you can as it all adds up.
  19. Its a crazy heavy stand. I have just the stand next to my wheel that holds my throwing clay and plaster bats. Its a heavy table . This was the 1st model they made. The motor is one that the user cannot change the brushes but any motor shop can. Parts are non existent . You sit on the corner which is odd. I threw on one that my partner had in themid 70s. 250-350 for a working unit with zero issues is fair-remember no service or parts.
  20. (Can we talk about sustainability please) Sure lets talk ,I have made a living from clay for about 50 years give or take.I have had some time to consider it. You talk about classes which really compared to say a toilet or tile manufacture are about 1/16 of a drop in a bucket compared to the use of materials and cumbustion gas output of all the classes in. the world. I have strong feeling on keeping beginner pots-I think it should be, throw them back on the plaster table for a long spell of time until one gains the skills but that's never going to happen as humans feel it's precious once made and want to keep the cracked dog bowl thats warped and 1 inch thick with crawed glaze. I consider it part of an industrial process. Its hard on mother earth ,any way you want to feel good about it its a fact. The electric or gas kiln is not great for earth but for that matter either are humans on this scale of population we are at now. Pottery making in all but a commercail level is small time compared to the commercial ceramic world. Is ceramics stainable ? Well are humans stainable on this planet? We all have thoughts on that point I'm sure. Just for some prospective we have been at war most of our existance even though most of us on this planet despise war we are currenty still at war on this planet . Still at war in 2023 is that sustainable ? as it seems its been going on as long as we could pick up a club, so one could say thats as sustainable as we humans are. Mining materials and processing them and and shipping them and then making clay from them-its a ton of energy and its not yet a mug or a plate.Far from that. I think of sustainibiliy as a loop and like say paper-trees =paper= recycle for more paper=growing more trees for more paper. Trees help the earth.It can be a loop and go on forever depending on the amout of paper we humans consume as the population grows.As you know at some point its no longer a loop as the use of paper gets to be more than we can recycle and grow.But for now its a loop Ceramics is not even close to a loop Now waste thats easy to curb. Clay is clay as long as its not fired. completely recycleable for the most part. The issue is those palstic bags that keep clay moist,all plastic is bad news ,real bad news. The cardboard boxes all can be boxed aagin recycled. One you fire its going to last close to forever so some thought shold be made about that. In teaching most do not consider that. Never had a teacher even talk about it in my days in collage. Have I ever thought ceramics as a sustainable loop no as its not for me. All we can do is be more efficient with our processes in ceramics.
  21. So I have some EPK news They got hit (the mine) a year or two ago with a big hurricane and then the vein they where mining ran out and they have had to move the whole operation (lots of machinery) to another site on the property. They are now back up and shipping it out once again I still had two bags as I'm a hoarder of materials-which is a good thing if its your business
  22. I heard (not comfirmed )that Pacer (they mine custar) is going thru bankruptcy and may once again come out as a working mine over time. I now have enough Custar to last me until I'm gone I have a bag or two of the Kona F4 soda spar as well . Good to be a horader of glaze materials
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