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Using A Kiln For Other Than Firing Pottery


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I have been asked by a blacksmith if he could use my kiln to temper metal. He said it would need to be set between 300-500 degrees for a certain period of time, but no higher. I have a Paragon Sentry kiln with a controller, but I know of no cone settings that would fire that low. I want to help him out, but I also don't want to cause problems - either with the kiln or with his metal pieces. I don't do a lot of experimenting with my kiln - just use the pre-set steps to bisque at cone 05 and glaze at cone 5. Any thoughts or advice greatly appreciated.

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I have been asked by a blacksmith if he could use my kiln to temper metal. He said it would need to be set between 300-500 degrees for a certain period of time, but no higher. I have a Paragon Sentry kiln with a controller, but I know of no cone settings that would fire that low. I want to help him out, but I also don't want to cause problems - either with the kiln or with his metal pieces. I don't do a lot of experimenting with my kiln - just use the pre-set steps to bisque at cone 05 and glaze at cone 5. Any thoughts or advice greatly appreciated.

Your controller has two firing modes: Cone-Fire and Ramp-Hold. You could temper the steel using Ramp-Hold.

 

Sincerely,

 

Arnold Howard

Paragon Industries, L.P., Mesquite, Texas USA

ahoward@paragonweb.com / www.paragonweb.com

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Neil

A friend who makes banjos lived up my hill a bit up the road-he used to spread this load of tempering out amongest all the local potters.I am not  banjo player

So no one person was always doing the low heating.

He moved to Oregon a few years back. He still makes few banjos

He sold off his Guitar business when he left

You may have heard about his banjos as they are famous.

http://www.wildwoodbanjos.com/

 

mark

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I have tempered brass rings(about 25 of them) used in Banjo manufacturing in an old school maunal Skutt Kiln-I had the lid cracked open on low setting.

Mark

Custom knife makers also heat steel at a low temperature for an extended period.

 

They first heat the steel to a high temperature--typically around 1800F--to harden the steel. After the first heating, the steel is so hard that it is brittle and breaks easily. Heating the steel at a low temperature makes the steel pliable.

 

Sincerely,

 

Arnold Howard Paragon Industries, L.P., Mesquite, Texas USA

ahoward@paragonweb.com / www.paragonweb.com

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Neil

A friend who makes banjos lived up my hill a bit up the road-he used to spread this load of tempering out amongest all the local potters.I am not  banjo player

So no one person was always doing the low heating.

He moved to Oregon a few years back. He still makes few banjos

He sold off his Guitar business when he left

You may have heard about this banjos as they are famous.

http://www.wildwoodbanjos.com/

 

mark

 

Who hasn't heard of Wildwood Banjos?!? Nice!

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There is a local steak house that heats up 1 inch thick basalt blocks 6 inch x 6 inches square in a kiln to 600 degrees. then places a raw steak on a hot block to your table where you can cook the steak on the rock and eat the freshly cooked meat slice by slice.  They call it "steak on the rock.".....very tasty.  yum

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  • 10 months later...

Anyone ever baked bread in a kiln?  Any toxicity concerns?

 

Is not a good idea to cook food in your kiln. A certain amount of the stuff that burns out of the clay and glazes is absorbed by or is on the surface of the kiln's bricks. It's a tiny amount, but you don't want that getting into your food.

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  • 2 years later...

OK . SO can I bake a enamel paints onto heat tolerant surfaces in my kiln? I use currently do this in my oven, but the black mailboxes I paint on are smelly and also they leave a foggy film on themselves which does not happen on the white boxes, they come out shiny. My hubby would love if I could do these inn my kiln instead of the oven. is it possible to simply hold the temp at 350 for at least 30 minutes? I have the V6-CF Bartlett controller on my electric kiln and am a newbie. if it is possible, would I have to worry about the smokey film that is very hard to clean off the boxes also affecting my elements or walls? My intuition says yes it would be a potential problem..

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