Russ

Ive used a high fire stoneware or porcelain with very fine grog- bisque fired only and then some cork backing to prevent moisture from reaching furniture.

Ive used a high fire stoneware or porcelain with very fine grog- bisque fired only and then some cork backing to prevent moisture from reaching furniture.

Its plain and simple. You just need a new Dr.

Its plain and simple. You just need a new Dr.

Its plain and simple. You just need a new Dr.

It is not repairable .sell them another-mugs get beat up and customers crack them. Life-you can sell tham another at discount if you feel its your crack?

Hydrogen peroxide works too if you are sensitive to chlorine bleach or don't like the smell of it.
 

Ive used a bit of bleach added to the clay in the pugmill....to kill the bacteria IF it becomes unbearable. On the other hand the bacterial breakdown of organic matter adds plasticity.

They will for the most part BUT as always test test test. Wood firing is such a harsh "dirty" environment and its difficult to control the amount of reduction as each time the kiln is stoked it goes into heavy reduction and then moves to a more neutral stage. this will effect glazes in different ways early inthe firing but more so after the melt. Ive searched for years to get good stable glazes that endure the nature of wood firing. 

looks like bloating to me.-yes you can keep it (do not sell it) but  if you break it open you will know for sure thats it bloating as the inside will have a bubble in it.

Sounds like it's just the air being expelled by the water when you rinsed it. If the red clay is more open than the other clays you are using that could explain why that one makes more sizzle. Cooler the bisqued pots were fired to the more sizzle I would guess.

Sounds like they are vent holes. Kiln cement and brick would be ideal, but really you just need to close them up. You could shove some firebrick or fiber in them, or even just put some clay in them. The clay will shrink, so after the first firing glob some kiln wash in the hole to fill up any voids. It doesn't have to be perfect.

It's my understanding that salt pigs / cellars were originally made of a course earthenware clay called pyg or pygg that was porous. Salt was kept in pyg clay pots which helped keep the salt from clumping by drawing the moisture out of the salt. I've also read that piggy banks were also made from the same pyg clay. I would think that like all spices pepper would be best kept away from heat and sunlight and kept dry also.  Does anyone ever wash inside their salt/pepper shakers? I sure don't.

Water lines are put in at 4ft here in northern NM. Ive seen frozen ground 3ft deep. Cold? Zone 5 so it can and has got down to 20 below zero f.  Dry? Some winters we get plenty of snow others minimal.  Ive seen it snow in December,  rain in January  and back to snow in February  so we have the wackiest of weather.
So Gregg... what type of plants are you using these  collars for?

My pots go into the dishwasher almost daily with no effects-The dinnerware is made in the 70's. The cone 10 work holds up really well either in stoneware or Porcelain . If I was firing cone to cone 6, I would test the heck out of as all have noted.

You want to get up to red heat for the carbon trapping to work well. Too hot and it'll just burn out, though. For horsehair firing we always went up to about 1300F, which should work for this, too.

Ask your supplier how the slip recipe has changed due to talc replacement. Since we don't have the slip recipe this is going to be difficult to spitball a fix for.

I agree with @Russ that bark is essential for developing ash. However, your wood source will depend on what you can get near you, and cheaply. You need a lot of wood, so “cheap and available” are more important than “specific.” 
Wood that is processed to be clean is good for developing heat, but not great at providing ash. I fired several times at a wood kiln that used old pallets as the heat source (very processed wood) so we supplemented it with bark mulch from the hardware store, to create more ash. 

I built the type of cross-draft kiln in Neil's drawing a few messages earlier.  Works really well.  Not always a lot of ash build up, but you can supplement with sprinkled ash prior to firing.  Works really well for glazed wares.  I can fire it in under 10 hours to well over cone 10.  Just fired it yesterday and that will be my last firing until fall.  Not fun to fire in the summer (heat stroke last time I tried) or the winter (10+ hours outside in the cold).   I have fired it about 25 times and getting better results each time.  I just fired it yesterday so waiting for it to cool to see how it went. 
The version I built is about 18-20 cubic feet.  Anything smaller would be very difficult to fire.
There are very specific plans for this published, but I am forgetting to book.  If you are interested I can get the reference. 

One thing to think about is that wood fired kilns are unbearably hot to be around in the warmer months. Mine is fired in the colder months of nov thru mar.  I considered this when I built mine and went with a large size to accommodate a large amount of wares.
About ash buildup. Choose woods with a lot of bark attached . The bark is where most of your fly ash will come from.
PM me José  and Ill send some pictures of mine.

Yes, Skutt used to be Thomas Stuart. The Prodigy is their budget model, lacking in several features like the large splash pan and reversing. However, if you always throw in reverse, you can just switch the leads on the motor. But I don't think it's worth buying a Skutt without getting the big splash pan. Skutt 1/3hp models can handle what most 1hp wheels can handle. They have a ton of torque, and their motors are much larger in physical size than most wheels. I've got 10 of the 1/3hp models, and I've never bogged them down, even centering 25 pounds and working on 50 pound planters. They have better speed control than Brent wheels IMO, and 6 different controller adjustments to dial in how you want the wheel to feel.

Soldner wheels have small motors but lots of power. Something to do with the pedal design. They are very smooth, very nice to throw on. By far the smoothest wheels I've ever used. Pricey, though.
I'm a big fan of Skutt wheels. Lots of power in even the 1/3hp wheels, and the big splash pan keeps the studio much, much cleaner than wheels with small pans.

No way the VL lite can do 20lbs,  you would be lucky to do 10. I can stop it with 5. The Wisper is WAAAAAY better, but even it would probably struggle with 20lbs. You want to use large amounts of clay go with a Skutt. 

A few years back I installed a bathroom vent fan in the wall. It moves a few hundred cubic feet of air per hour and its on when Im doing anything in the studio. It keeps the air fairly clean and I figure its better than nuthin.

i keep my studios pretty clean and i love fresh air.  windows are usually open if the temp is warm enough.  ac is on in the hot summer if i am working.  yes, i use fans, one in the window in the door in florida blows past me and since the space is not large and it is only a 10 inch fan, the air movement is gentle.  i avoid making dust and move anything that produces much of it outside where i work away from any openings into the studios.
i figure it takes 30 years to get sick from silicosis and at 81, i do not care if i get it at age 111.