Russ

Good one Min... you'd think getting folks to throw wood in the kiln would be simple. BUT NO!!! Although having lots of good food helps alot.

My education on firing came from the School of Hard Knocks aka trial and error. After 25yrs with this kiln Im still learning. With my type of kiln about 50% is people wrangling.

Yep.. im no math genius. .. it is 50%. Thanks Min.

Not a math genius by any stretch of the imagination but here goes.... from what i gather you put in 33% too much whiting than the recipe calls for and you want to correct it with a larger amount of glaze right? So heres my attempt ... frit 3134 is 1400g... multiply 1400 X .33 .. which is 462. .and then add that number of grams of frit into your bucket. Then go to the next...c&c.. 1800X.33 =594g and so on and so forth. Youve already added the whiting+33% so pass that one. You will end up with a corrected 13330g glaze batch. Oh by the way I never make ANY mistakes! Correction (thanks to Min) multiply by .5...

Most of my shelves are pressed alumina. The zircon wash protects then from the corrosive effects of the ash. I also have the nitrite bonded sio2 in the very hottest part of the kiln (because I've "melted" the pressed alumina ) and yes they are kiln washed also. If mixed and applied correctly this wont flake like the alumina/kaolin stuff. I recoat every glaze firing. I would imagine with soda you'll have to scrape or grind the wads off that stick depending on how much soda you use. I dont think there's any way of avoiding that.

I coat the ENTIRE inside of my kiln with the zircon/glomax/cmc gum wash. AND both sides of my shelves and stilts. I have not had ONE flake of this kiln wash come off period. Flyash will stick to it a bit but it protects the brick and shelves.

https://insight-live.com/insight/share.php?z=K5hHzDs2Kr Ive been using this for several years now in a c10 wood kiln. Way better than traditional kaolin alumina.

These work very well. And for temporary use hollow core doors work great, are lightweight and will usually store upright behind studio doors.

One possibility . .... It could be the breaker that is wearing out. Breakers over time become overly sensitive especially if theyre run close to the tripping point for a long time. An electrician could figure that out for you.

I also spray a commercial underglaze (Coyote Clay) Thinning it down helps with spraying but I try to do at least 3 coats. Being thinned it is absorbed into the bisque quickly allowing the next coat almost immediately. Im just saying Ive never had any problem with gum in a glaze granted I dont and have never used a commercial glaze as I mix my own.

Well thats a good question.. probably 1 to 3%. I mix the cmc in a gallon jug with water and let it set a few days. Then add a quart or two to about 4 gallons of glaze when mixing. In this amount it gives even the most powdery glaze a nice hard coat when dry.

I use cmc gum in all my glaze formulas and I dip and spray. When spraying I add water so it goes thru the sprayer easier. I didnt know there was a problem with gum and spraying and dipping for that matter. My philosophy is this... its all just one big experiment and thats how we learn.

In reduction the oxygen in the iron oxide is removed leaving the pure form of iron FE. Ive done heavy reduction on pieces sprayed with straight iron oxide and come up with a silver gray finish.

!!!!

That is a perfectly good used wheelhead. You could clean it up a bit with some steel wool.