Russ

That old Amaco is a cone drive. Under the wheelhead there's a large metal cone, and a small rubber wheel runs along the outside of the cone. The speed of the wheelhead is determined by the location of the wheel on the cone. Pretty simple design, and yes, they are heavy and noisy. The old Shimpo wheels were made the same way. They last forever, but if you get a flat spot on the rubber wheel it'll thunk every rotation, which is super annoying. If you want a heavy modern wheel get a Skutt with the built-in splashpan. They weight a ton and will run a lot smoother than the old Amaco, and they have a much larger splashpan and better speed control than Brent wheels.

Drying it sandwiched between two pieces of drywall sheetrock wallboard whatever you call it in your area works fairly well. Make sure its pretty dry before unsandwiching it because if its only partially dry it may still warp. When firing lay it flat on a shelf with fine silica sand under your slab.  ...works fairly well but some of the other fine folks here might have other ideas they can send your way.

Also, pound the clay out into a slab until it is close to the thickness you need, then finish off by rolling. The less rolling you can do the better. Fire it on silica sand or on a waster slab. Firing on edge may or may not work depending on the type of clay you're using, especially in the cone 5 firing. For porcelain or other bodies that fuse pretty tight it's likely to warp.

Drying it sandwiched between two pieces of drywall sheetrock wallboard whatever you call it in your area works fairly well. Make sure its pretty dry before unsandwiching it because if its only partially dry it may still warp. When firing lay it flat on a shelf with fine silica sand under your slab.  ...works fairly well but some of the other fine folks here might have other ideas they can send your way.

Drying it sandwiched between two pieces of drywall sheetrock wallboard whatever you call it in your area works fairly well. Make sure its pretty dry before unsandwiching it because if its only partially dry it may still warp. When firing lay it flat on a shelf with fine silica sand under your slab.  ...works fairly well but some of the other fine folks here might have other ideas they can send your way.

The least amount of exposed skin. Long sleeves and full pants. Clothes you won’t cry about when an ember burns a hole in them. Cotton or wool, not synthetic.
I mostly use ordinary leather gloves until late in the firing, when I switch to leather welders gloves with the high cuff. Comfort and dexterity are important until it gets too damn hot. Never synthetic gloves (though there are heat resistant synthetics such as Nomex, I just haven’t tried them). Leather shrinks and becomes rigid when exposed to extreme heat. Seams fail first because they’re synthetic (plastic) thread. I consider gloves a semi-consumable. I’ve used cotton jersey gloves, they’re very cheap and provide some insulation, won’t melt onto your skin, but they also wear out quickly. Don’t use any glove with a hole in it, anywhere, you will get a burn. 
Footwear is always closed toe, usually leather, not necessarily boots, but socks must go above the ankle. No exposed skin!
There is a lot to be said for behavior over wardrobe. Tie your hair back. Never reach in, use a stick. Don’t stand in front of the firebox, stand to the side. A position five or ten inches lower can be 100° cooler. 

Thank you so much for your kind words @Kelly in AK! Everyone here has been incredible so far. 
 
I agree, I wish I’d made my firebox bigger. Bigger cross section and space under the grate. Luckily It sounds like I have some options and I could still drop the floor down if it’s still not enough. That way the air is coming in low enough to heat up before reaching the wood like you suggested. 
 
My first thoughts before starting anything was, the smaller the better. Cheaper to build, Fire, easier, etc etc. The main thing I’ve learned during this whole process is bigger is always better! You can always brick in a flue, make a bag wall if the kiln is half empty cause there’s too much space, would be easier to load if I could fit in, and with a wood fired kiln the firebox is probably never too big. 
 
I love your idea about double bricking the chimney! It’s really only doubled up the first brick and a half, would be easy to go up to the damper that’s 8” above the top of the kiln. Does that sound like enough, at least to start? Would you suggest hard brick or soft brick? I was told soft brick insulates better and wouldn’t be an issue since it’s outside of the kiln atmosphere? I mortared the chimney bricks with high fire alumina mortar up to the damper so nothing would seep out. But I have some extra bricks of both hard and soft. 
 
I was reading about the groundhog kilns in the Carolinas and loved those! They sound great. I grew up in Florida, wish I’d known about them then!
 

More air, more air and more air. If you can force air into the firebox and have that part adjustable  (a motorized fan of some sort with a speed controler) you can overcome alot of the"issues" youre having with undersized intake, exit and chimney size. My suggestion is to do as you proposed...enlarge your exit flue, enlarge the ashpit and forget about the chimney... with forced air chimney height becomes a non issue.  Adding more exterior insulation also helps alot.  When i first built my kiln i had some of the very same problems. It would take 12 to 16+ hours to fire. Ive now got it down to 5hrs +or- to c10 in the coolest parts which for me is the lower back portion .  When the blower was added to force air it cut the time down to 8 or 9 hrs.  Since then Ive changed stacking configuration leaving room for the flame to pass thru more readily along with a few more tweeks to get it to a consistent five hours. And its several times larger than yours at eighty cubic feet stackable space. Tons of wares, shelves and furniture along with the hardbrick mass to heat up.  So keep firing and tweeking things around. Dont worry about making mistakes... its how we learn!

Im going to say no, its not too small. With adjustments you should be able to get it to c14! The flames off the wood are hotter than that.  You just have to release the btu's stored up in that wood quickly with enough oxygen to burn it.

More air, more air and more air. If you can force air into the firebox and have that part adjustable  (a motorized fan of some sort with a speed controler) you can overcome alot of the"issues" youre having with undersized intake, exit and chimney size. My suggestion is to do as you proposed...enlarge your exit flue, enlarge the ashpit and forget about the chimney... with forced air chimney height becomes a non issue.  Adding more exterior insulation also helps alot.  When i first built my kiln i had some of the very same problems. It would take 12 to 16+ hours to fire. Ive now got it down to 5hrs +or- to c10 in the coolest parts which for me is the lower back portion .  When the blower was added to force air it cut the time down to 8 or 9 hrs.  Since then Ive changed stacking configuration leaving room for the flame to pass thru more readily along with a few more tweeks to get it to a consistent five hours. And its several times larger than yours at eighty cubic feet stackable space. Tons of wares, shelves and furniture along with the hardbrick mass to heat up.  So keep firing and tweeking things around. Dont worry about making mistakes... its how we learn!

More air, more air and more air. If you can force air into the firebox and have that part adjustable  (a motorized fan of some sort with a speed controler) you can overcome alot of the"issues" youre having with undersized intake, exit and chimney size. My suggestion is to do as you proposed...enlarge your exit flue, enlarge the ashpit and forget about the chimney... with forced air chimney height becomes a non issue.  Adding more exterior insulation also helps alot.  When i first built my kiln i had some of the very same problems. It would take 12 to 16+ hours to fire. Ive now got it down to 5hrs +or- to c10 in the coolest parts which for me is the lower back portion .  When the blower was added to force air it cut the time down to 8 or 9 hrs.  Since then Ive changed stacking configuration leaving room for the flame to pass thru more readily along with a few more tweeks to get it to a consistent five hours. And its several times larger than yours at eighty cubic feet stackable space. Tons of wares, shelves and furniture along with the hardbrick mass to heat up.  So keep firing and tweeking things around. Dont worry about making mistakes... its how we learn!

Yes. It should be close to intake. Its very hard to make it bigger while firing . The damper will control the size IF its made larger than needed.
Yes also. You need lots of room under the grates for the coals and to also keep the grates from melting IF youre using metal grates. I try to not let the coals build up more than half of the space below the grates. It will choke off the incoming air and cause stall.  .....wood kilns need LOTS of air to fire correctly.
Adding air with a blower of some sort will cut firing time in half or more and will increase temp IF you make sure youre not under feeding the fire. Overfeeding will also affect but not nearly as much. Watch the chimney exhaust. .. a little smoke at stoke is ok and then see it clear within several seconds is good. Smoke all the time thru firing.. no good. Too much fuel.
Also your wood size is what Id use at the beginning of a firing till about bisque temp. After that its smaller stuff with way more surface area for burning. Take one of your 2x3 pieces and split into 4 pieces. Itll burn way faster and release more btu's quickly.
 

It's a scam. I get these emails all the time about kiln purchases and they have a specific freight carrier, etc, etc. They'll probably want to use a stolen credit card to pay for it or something like that.

Yes. It should be close to intake. Its very hard to make it bigger while firing . The damper will control the size IF its made larger than needed.
Yes also. You need lots of room under the grates for the coals and to also keep the grates from melting IF youre using metal grates. I try to not let the coals build up more than half of the space below the grates. It will choke off the incoming air and cause stall.  .....wood kilns need LOTS of air to fire correctly.
Adding air with a blower of some sort will cut firing time in half or more and will increase temp IF you make sure youre not under feeding the fire. Overfeeding will also affect but not nearly as much. Watch the chimney exhaust. .. a little smoke at stoke is ok and then see it clear within several seconds is good. Smoke all the time thru firing.. no good. Too much fuel.
Also your wood size is what Id use at the beginning of a firing till about bisque temp. After that its smaller stuff with way more surface area for burning. Take one of your 2x3 pieces and split into 4 pieces. Itll burn way faster and release more btu's quickly.
 

If youre able to get Georgia kaolin (tile #6) ive found when added to your body will flash orange more reliably than other kaolins. Dont know about the chicken grit. What does it consist of?

Ive switched over to G200eu from custer  2yrs ago on every glaze i make and have had zero problems.  ZERO.

I was schooled in the 90’s, so my teachers were working in the 70’s. As awful as their habits were, the only one of them that died of cancer had one that wasn’t silica related. The conditions I’ve read about that caused silicosis in the developed world involved construction sandblasters who were working long hours every day, and exposed to huge amounts of dust due to the wrong respirator and inadequate ventilation. Unless you’re doing something very wrong, i don’t think your studio looks like the inside of a dust cloud. 
I say this with love and gentle humour: you probably are being neurotic. The purpose of going to the doctor at this point is for them to reassure you better than we can here, but also to get a documented baseline for lung function. It’s one of those sensible precaution things, and it isn’t urgent. 

Nobody I knew got it.  No students no teachers. You need to be exposed for many many years Not-2-3 years. Just forget about it and work smarter.
If you are still worried about it read up on mine workers, they get it after a lifetime of exposure .
Many more things way more dangerous to you like crossing the street or driving 

BOOOOO BOOOOOOOOO! Bad Bill! BAD.

BOOOOO BOOOOOOOOO! Bad Bill! BAD.

BOOOOO BOOOOOOOOO! Bad Bill! BAD.

Might help, my experience as an old guy  - oil burners are pretty old technology so lots of reading if you just  Google oil burners. Some  decent plain English reading here IMO  https://inspectapedia.com/heat/Oil-Burner-Nozzle-Selection-Guide.php#FiringRate. Picking a correct pressure important, used to be no less than 100 psi which has grown to 140 psi for finer droplet size, better aeration. 140000 btu per gallon is how I learned it (no2) and nozzle dispersion critical to cover the firebox without impingement. Anyway, pressure, size, cone angle all contribute significantly and mostly really good filtration to avoid clogged nozzles.

Like Mark said I highly recommend at least 2in of kaowool if not more. It will cut your firing time substantially and will prevent your kiln from cooling too fast which will affect your glazes. IMHO  A single layer of brick is not an issue if its properly insulated.  My  80cubic foot c10 wood fired kiln is a single layered hard brick insulated with kaowool  that is going on its 24th year. The only problem ive had was the door was cast with fireclay vermiculite mix cracked and crumbled. I replaced it 15yrs ago with a factory made castible and its held up like a champ.

I mix my own clay.   Firing with wood is a very harsh environment therefore I need to have a clay body with certain qualities that i doubt i can get out of an off the shelf clay.  I've had to adjust the formula several times over the years as problems pop up most of which are in the mined materials changing causing various problems in the body. The last problem I faced was bloating caused by a grog and too much of one particular clay. Changed that and I'm back on track. .... till the next problem rears its ugly head.  I  dont know if being in control of the clay body is a blessing or a curse. I tend to lean towards the former.

@Russ, I understand your concerns about the aggressiveness of a wood firing, and agree that not many shelf clays would handle that firing.. I live not far from a wood firer who is quite old now, but I am pretty certain in the day he did much of his own clays. I believe now that his clays are manufactured by SC. which gives his name away. 
On another part of your posting, if you look through the last few years of posts about clay there are several times that material suppliers have disappeared or changed mines or some other thing that has disrupted the quality of the clay manufacturers just as it has yours.
 
best,
Pres