oldlady

well gang, i just finished firing the last load (actually it was also the first load since may, i think)  and i found myself using 9 shelves, thick,  full rounds.  it helps that i put a permanent bottom shelf in at 2 inches above the kiln bottom.   added a thick piece of lumber to the floor in front of the kiln.   found the hardest part was controlling the lid going both up and down.   it leans slightly against a metal  "handicap bath bar" attached to the wall.    finding space for my fingers is very difficult  since the shelves were purchased for a 2 1/2 wall thickness.  this kiln has 3 inch walls so i want to find a way to slice a 3-4 inch off opposite sides of each shelf for finger space.  one shelf is damaged a little on one side and i use it for deep down there.
anybody know how i can remove just a few inches without breaking the shelf?  somewhere, i have one of those 4 inch circular grinders, will that do it?  it would be great if i could take a bird's mouth bite out of 3 of them to fit around the thermocouples.
 

caroline, please contact the supplier of the kit.   ask what kind of expert is necessary to set it up correctly.   i had a friend who dies in a propane accident with just an outdoor grill.  "contractor" could be anybody with a license.

could this be a vein of Albany slip clay that made all those dark brown teapots and electrical thingies on electric wires we drive under?

i also use bakery buckets from the supermarket.  have had no problems and they are many years old.  been here for 20 years and some of them came then.  i did once buy a bucket from sherwin williams paint store when they were having a $1 sale.   got the last one.   it is good because the bottom does not have a seam, the wall curves down and there is no corner where it is joined to a bottom. 
drywall buckets are 5 gallon most bakery buckets seem to be 2 1/2 gallons these days.   i still have lots of them but the water here is so hard that some have crusted up beyond saving.  well, i could fill them with vinegar. but $$$$$$$ why?

the only time i fired a gas kiln was when a friend broke her arm and i did it all while she was not in the studio.   i staggered the shelves so the flame path made a repeat S pattern moving sideways as well as up and down.    she said the results were better than she had experienced and she was going to load that way afterward.
is the previous owner close enough to give you a lesson in exchange for lunch or such?

been reading a book about the different kinds of people and how some succeed in areas where most people are helpless.   how did you learn to use your hands to make things?

yep, the early version looked like that.   pinky, where is lithgow?  cannot imagine where you are if you do not say so.

have noticed the increasing interest in the speed of firing.   potters now talk about time instead of cones.   i will stick to what i know works, when i do not screw something up.  single firing is so simple, a firing may take 12-14 hours but that is the whole thing.   i can spray glaze a load  that fills  my very large L and L kiln in an afternoon.  fire it next day and it is done.  fire it that same day and it is done faster.  spraying glaze allows the work to be touched as fast as you put the spraygun down.  no waiting for drips to dry.

sorry to hear that,   hope it resolves soon
i just got old very suddenly, never noticed until it happened.   glad i lost 40 pounds but that wasn't the way i wanted.

pir, there is one other thing that you should consider.   how tall are you and how far down into the kiln you buy can you reach?   can you load shelves and pots easily today?   for 20 or thirty years in the future?  
L&L  now makes one that is wider than it is tall.   i wish i had one.   at 82 i find putting things on the bottom shelf, which is raised off the bottom of the kiln by 2 inches, is getting difficult.  if you are going to pay for a new kiln, remember how long they last with reasonable use.   notice when you see one close up that your fingernail will indent the brick if you just push your finger in.   and yes, the new discussions of kiln size talk about cubic feet.   ignore that and get the depth and width and shelf size. that is what matters.  the size of an acre is 43,560 square feet.  the shape matters, you cannot build a house on a 2 foot wide by 21,780 feet long acre.
L&L makes an easy to maintain kiln, those hard brick channels saved the day often when i unloaded a heavy shelf and smacked the wall.
to learn about kilns look at your local library section on pottery.   lots of junk about collecting old stuff, avoid that and get to the ones that are textbooks.  there is a very complete list somewhere in the archives here.

thanks, min for the division lesson!    as always, you are top of my list when it comes to glazes.  wanna do a glaze workshop together over zoom?   our guild has lots of new people stuck on bottles instead of mixing ingredients.   you be the puppet master and i will do exactly what you say.
 

To save yourself some work I would suggest making up 200 grams of base glaze with no stain as a baseline and dip a small test tile then add 0.60 stain (0.30%), re sieve then dip a second test tile, keep repeating this until you get up to 1.80% (that would be 6 additions of 0.60 grams of stain). Given that the 200 grams will be lower with each dip this isn't super accurate but it will get you in the ball park. 200 grams will get you the baseline plus 6 test of increasing stain. Doesn't have to be increments of 0.30%, if you want to test higher amounts bump it up to 0.50% or whatever you think best. 
A method to divide up the stain quickly is to measure out the total you will be testing, say 1.8% which for a 200 gram base will be 3.60 grams for my example above. Take the 3.60 grams and put it onto a flat smooth surface like a piece of glass or smooth countertop. Now use a metal rib and compress the stain into a flat square shape. With the rib now divide it down the middle then cut each half in thirds, makes 6 piles of stain, each 0.60 grams. Sounds confusing when I write this but it's quicker than weighing out each batch of stain and will get you close enough for a first run of tests. 
 
 
 

@oldlady, you know how I was wedging and throwing at the workshop? I have a 15# planter that I just threw. Had to wedge the clay in two pieces as I did not have the energy to wedge the full weight. Since covid this Summer, I have not had energy to do much of anything. Doing more push ups now, and pull ups and the side plank dips, but it is rough. Still have covid cough too.
 
best,
Pres

yes, babs, everything is getting heavier.   there is such a thing as gravity now, i never really noticed it until lately.   just brought home 500 pounds, packed like pres gets his, 50 pounds to the box.
i hijacked 2 neighbors going by and asked them to just set the boxes inside the bay window and i would put them underneath the shelf right there.  i dropped two of them and the helpful neighbors asked me to just get out of the way while they did it.

yes, babs, everything is getting heavier.   there is such a thing as gravity now, i never really noticed it until lately.   just brought home 500 pounds, packed like pres gets his, 50 pounds to the box.
i hijacked 2 neighbors going by and asked them to just set the boxes inside the bay window and i would put them underneath the shelf right there.  i dropped two of them and the helpful neighbors asked me to just get out of the way while they did it.

yes, babs, everything is getting heavier.   there is such a thing as gravity now, i never really noticed it until lately.   just brought home 500 pounds, packed like pres gets his, 50 pounds to the box.
i hijacked 2 neighbors going by and asked them to just set the boxes inside the bay window and i would put them underneath the shelf right there.  i dropped two of them and the helpful neighbors asked me to just get out of the way while they did it.

a tightly woven curtain fabric allows you to touch the clay with your fingers without leaving marks.  half a yard from a fabric store lasts for years.

a tightly woven curtain fabric allows you to touch the clay with your fingers without leaving marks.  half a yard from a fabric store lasts for years.

trying to do the math, callie.   so you buy 10 x44 pounds (approx 440) at a time.  my stuff comes in 50 pound boxes and i buy 500 pounds at a time, also for the price break at 500 pounds.  the guild ordered over 1000 pounds and shared the delivery charge among all of us who ordered anything. 
just moved the storage to under the bay window at the front of the studio.   not close to any radiators.  until last week,   it had been stored next to the boiler that heats the radiators and maintains a constant warmth so the radiators do not have to start up from room temperature in the winter, very cold matching the outdoor temp, adding a bit of warmth for sunshine each day.
a little worried about the cold of that location, the boxes stand 3 high and 4 stacks of 3.   a little was left over from last time i ordered.  floor is concrete with vinyl tile on top.   staying here during the winters now so i may be moving all of it back to the boiler area if it gets too cold.

trying to do the math, callie.   so you buy 10 x44 pounds (approx 440) at a time.  my stuff comes in 50 pound boxes and i buy 500 pounds at a time, also for the price break at 500 pounds.  the guild ordered over 1000 pounds and shared the delivery charge among all of us who ordered anything. 
just moved the storage to under the bay window at the front of the studio.   not close to any radiators.  until last week,   it had been stored next to the boiler that heats the radiators and maintains a constant warmth so the radiators do not have to start up from room temperature in the winter, very cold matching the outdoor temp, adding a bit of warmth for sunshine each day.
a little worried about the cold of that location, the boxes stand 3 high and 4 stacks of 3.   a little was left over from last time i ordered.  floor is concrete with vinyl tile on top.   staying here during the winters now so i may be moving all of it back to the boiler area if it gets too cold.

min, the test tiles are first done as greenware on one side then bisqued and tested on the reverse.   pretty clever1

How about a video instead? I have an upcoming show where they filmed a Artist Talk with me via Zoom. The point was to give show attendees a look inside my studio:
https://www.pmacraftshow.org/artist-talk/2022/mea-rhee

Yup. I missed driving a stick so I added one to my wheel's foot pedal.
Piece of redi rod attached to the side of the pedal with a small door knob threaded to the top.

thanks, min!   as always, you are so helpful to everyone.   will look it up.   thanks, again.
and you work on NEWSPAPER!   i live so far out that the washington post has to be special ordered.   that is OK, if i actually got it daily, i would read it all day long.

danielle, welcome to the forum.    we have several kiln experts here but they will need a lot more info to help you.   can you post  photos of everything about your kiln to help identify it?  if there is writing at all on the exterior case, take a photo.    look in all the places the info may be, along the sides of the box on the front where the knobs are.   is it an old square one or is it many sided?
photos of the exterior and some of the interior, size of the interior, photos of the elements themselves.     is it loaded from the top or from the side?    where did you get it and are you a new owner?    
someone can help you if you give all this info.