Mark C. Posted June 5, 2017 Report Share Posted June 5, 2017 I was away a week and just noticed a sale on the new cone 16 thermal -lite kilns shelves made in Germany. I ordered a few 12x 24s to try out .They make them in most common sizes including electric kiln sizes. These make sense if you fire a lot since they are 5/16 of an inch thick. I'm curious about them as I have a stack of 50 advancers and want to see how they compare to those . I'll post a review later in year about this comparison . One last note this is the last day of a 3 day sale on these shelves-it goes until midnight tonight.-no pressure . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark C. Posted June 24, 2017 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2017 My 2 12x 24 test shelves came today They came well packed as they should considering it was about $450 for the two including shipping as they where on sale. $190 each I;m testing these compared to my over 50 advancers These are made in Germany -they never warp at cone 11-they are made in a nitrogen environment without oxygen present in an electric arc furnace at temps that make what we do look like cool aid on ice cubes in regards to temps. If you ever ship shelves which I have this is how you pack them-anything less is a disaster waiting to happen. I bought some advancers recently off potters attic that where extra long but broken and would have worked in my small kiln-the guy did not know how to pack them well even though he said he did know how 3 times as that is all I cared about-hence they got broken to bits in shipping-it all was an insurance deal and all worked out but this is how you pack a shelve.He told me he knew how as HE was a collage professor -you know the rest of that story or at least I do.I live in the real world as a lowly potter who packs pots and ships them what do I know? These are 5/16 inch thick and weigh 9#s each-I need to wash them to control plucking with my porcelain . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcia Selsor Posted June 24, 2017 Report Share Posted June 24, 2017 These shelves look great. I need to get a few replacement shelves for my slabs in the raku. I don't need this quality for that. But let us know how they work out. Being a college professor doesn't mean someone knows everything. As one I've known quite a few who do have their areas of expertise and of lacking knowledge in other areas. Sorry your advancers broke. Marcia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark C. Posted June 24, 2017 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2017 (being a college professor doesn't mean someone knows everything.) ​I know this but he was so adamant about this fact and kept saying it-as I asked him 3 times on his plans about packing of these.It was a classic ivory tower situation . My backstory on this- A few years back I had bought 12 advancers from Maine-which is 3,000 miles from me.Thats a lot of handling on fragile shelves. The ad was in CM and my only concern was the packing as these are like shipping peanut brittle in 12x24 sheets so packing is EVERYTHING-That person told me in detail how he was going to send them.He got the whole idea about packing them and they all made it (insured of course)in great shape. ​This latest fellow was so adamant that he knew how and would not share his plans on how-well the rest is history My whole family where teachers even art professors so I get that this is a generalization and in this case it was O so true. He still is trying to sell the 30 inch long advancers on potters attic- Buyer beware they say.In this case it's shipper beware. On another note he may be one heck of a great art professor in the midwest.Packing is just not one of his skillsets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldlady Posted June 24, 2017 Report Share Posted June 24, 2017 years ago i ordered a spherical pot from hawaii on ebay. when the box arrived, sounding like a baby rattle, i did not even take it out of the hands of the mailman. the insurance covered the cost but when i finally opened the box, the pot had been "wrapped" in one sheet of newspaper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glazenerd Posted June 24, 2017 Report Share Posted June 24, 2017 Shipping clay is so much easier. Very appealing set of specs on these shelves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JBaymore Posted June 27, 2017 Report Share Posted June 27, 2017 Really looking forward to your testing of these. I was talking to Jim Bailey for quite a while about the development of these. Sounds like a good potential alternative to Advancers. Maybe a bit of 'competition' in the market will drive the price down a bit. best, ..................john Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
douglas Posted June 27, 2017 Report Share Posted June 27, 2017 I bought some advancers recently off potters attic that where extra long but broken and would have worked in my small kiln-the guy did not know how to pack them well even though he said he did know how 3 times as that is all I cared about-hence they got broken to bits in shipping-it all was an insurance deal and all worked out but this is how you pack a shelve.He told me he knew how as HE was a collage professor -you know the rest of that story or at least I do.I live in the real world as a lowly potter who packs pots and ships them what do I know? Sounds like this professor is 'selling' broken shelves from the university, saying they broke during shipping, and collecting the insurance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark C. Posted June 27, 2017 Author Report Share Posted June 27, 2017 I do not think this is the case Douglas.He reimbursemented me for the sale.His issue is he does not know how to pack this type of fragile item for real world shipping.That was my only issue with him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark C. Posted July 16, 2017 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2017 I just cycled two of these new shelves thru a cone 11 fire. Here's the results so far in this very short trail period. They are still flat as can be after this fire I rolled two very thin coats of wash on them (my homemade Hi alumina wash) to keep my porcelain from sticky feet.(plucking) These shelves compared to my over 50 advancers are different in these aspects-rounded corners-they also are 1/4 lighter -only 9#s for a 12x 24 and they are 1/32 thinner than the 5/16 thickness of an advancers. This is all good news.These cost $190.00 each and where 100$ to ship them-it opasys to buy more to keep the shipping cost down-I was only testing two of them as I had some spare paypal funds in my account. if you are a professional who fires every week or two these will pay for themselves in gained pottery space in no time -you can get them in electric kiln sizes as well as this standard size I use. They need a little better care than most shelves -you cannot quick cool themas they will thermo shock. You have to keep them dry (no leaving in rain or on concrete (put wood under them) so far I will recommend these as a slightly cheaper alternative to Advancers. Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnolia Mud Research Posted July 16, 2017 Report Share Posted July 16, 2017 Mark, Do you put your homemade Hi alumina wash on Advancers? My understanding was that Advancers did not need such treatment even with procelain. LT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark C. Posted July 17, 2017 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2017 I have used Advancers since the 90s and my porcelain can stick small feet parts if not washed. I think at lower cones this may not be an issue but for me at soft cone 11 and 1/2 it can be. I want my feet clean and the wash works oh so well.My average load is over 40 shelves lately. Since I do not flip these wash is of no concern. I have tried not washing them more than a few times but its always the same outcome -so its wash and be happy. Bodies like frost will early pluck unless washed as it glasifies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaolinwasher Posted July 19, 2017 Report Share Posted July 19, 2017 say , years ago i was doing a tile job, and the guy who was an expert with years of experiance, told me i was using the tile cutter wrong so he flipped it , and i said why are the numbers upside down now ? he looked at it with shock, he realized he had been using it for years upside down and was giving me a lecture. some want to be smarter weather they are or not . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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