eoteceramics Posted April 13, 2016 Report Share Posted April 13, 2016 Hi everyone, I accidentally fired earthenware clay to 1300°, oops. Its all stuck to the kiln bats and I need help in how to clean it all up. There is also one piece fused to a kiln brick. Its a big mess and a lot of work lost. I would really appreciate any help on this. thanks Julia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
High Bridge Pottery Posted April 13, 2016 Report Share Posted April 13, 2016 You may be better off throwing the shelves depending on how bad they are. Try to chisel/gouge out the clay in the brick while taking as little brick with it as possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bciskepottery Posted April 13, 2016 Report Share Posted April 13, 2016 Get yourself an angle grinder, a good respirator, and protective gloves. Work outside as you will raise a cloud of dust. You might be able to grind the clay off and get down to the original shelf. Once you do that, reapply kiln wash. If the melt is really bad, it might be better to just replace the kiln shelf. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted April 13, 2016 Report Share Posted April 13, 2016 If the pots puddled like I would expect them to, then chances are no amount of grinding will get those shelves clean enough to use again. And it would take forever if it were possible. Get new shelves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldlady Posted April 13, 2016 Report Share Posted April 13, 2016 someone should attach this to the question about using the wrong temp clay and glaze and point out that THIS COULD BE YOUR KILN! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chilly Posted April 14, 2016 Report Share Posted April 14, 2016 Whatever you use, you'll need a diamond blade, and as said above, that could work out more than replacing shelves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bciskepottery Posted April 14, 2016 Report Share Posted April 14, 2016 someone should attach this to the question about using the wrong temp clay and glaze and point out that THIS COULD BE YOUR KILN! This seems to be more an instance of setting the wrong temperature, not using the wrong clay and/or glazes. A mistake as easy as pressing slow glaze instead of slow bisque on a computerized controller and not reviewing the program before hitting start (or vice versa). Not that that has happened to any of us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rayaldridge Posted April 17, 2016 Report Share Posted April 17, 2016 I think a lot would depend on how fluid the melt was. I recently had an ash glaze run off a pot onto the shelf, and it was impossible to get it off. The glaze had actually soaked into the shelf, and when I ground it off, there was still glaze. I went down a half-centimeter, and still found glaze at the bottom of the gouge. Eventually I just ground off the wash and turned the shelf over. Some glazes will chip right off the wash, but others will ruin a shelf. Firing red clay to Cone 10 will result in a somewhat stiff glaze in many cases, so maybe it hasn't soaked in too badly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark C. Posted April 17, 2016 Report Share Posted April 17, 2016 Since I have no photos of the mess my two suggestions are Try to grind it off without destroying the flatness of said shelves with that grinder in above suggestions or buy new shelves which you may have to after grinding What I do not know is how deep into the shelve the glade soaked? How warped the shelves are now This is a classic case of learning ceramics thru the school of hard knocks which I have a PH.D. degree in myself Small details will bite you in this field and there is no easy way around the learning curve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benzine Posted April 18, 2016 Report Share Posted April 18, 2016 someone should attach this to the question about using the wrong temp clay and glaze and point out that THIS COULD BE YOUR KILN! This seems to be more an instance of setting the wrong temperature, not using the wrong clay and/or glazes. A mistake as easy as pressing slow glaze instead of slow bisque on a computerized controller and not reviewing the program before hitting start (or vice versa). Not that that has happened to any of us. I obsessively check my classroom kiln, to make sure the correct Cone/ program is set. I've had the same program entered, since I started several years ago. Yet, I still check to make sure the program is correct. I don't think there is a single other person in the school, or district that would know how to change the settings. Regardless, I look, like those settings could have been magically changed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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