Mark C.

I bought this from 3 different suppliers over a 800 mile area during my travels. There is now new all brown bags (not blue) of custar that are from Pacer. I bought some for one of my customers from Laguna On another note EPK is again back in operation and the material is now on most supopliers shelves

I have never liked cone drive wheels-they always feel stiff to me in use. I will add to always disengage the pedal to avoid flat spots on the cone. They are solid and last forever but better wheels have been made since cone drives roamed the earth long ago.

I use my VPM 20 and VMP30 like Jeff describes. I also put the first log back in for next time about 1/2 the time if it funky .You can get the machine to such clay back into mixing chamber easy(put the cap back on when the clay goes past nozzel end into chamber. On a more curous note what are the vacuum tests that they mentioned ?

So in my brief 50 years in functional sales I decieded after about 15 years into it (1985) my favorite colors (toasty matt browns) did not sell as well as all my shiny crow pots porcelains (crows swoop down and pick up shiny objects) So I switched to shiny all porcelain pottery with bright colors (not my favorites) Since then I sold very well. I have also noticed that in a few areas I traveled to earthtone browns still sold well-not as well as shiny but geographical location does pay a part in this (yes that will take one decades to refine that knowledge ) I sell bright rutile glazes over other colors best (they are a bear to work with and pit and run and one must master all that ) I like a huge variety of colors and that gives my customers lots of choices from matts to shiny from blacks to blues (blue is my least fav but sells)

I often choose THHN when wiring here are some types of differeances on some charts The coating decates the use and temps https://www.wireandcableyourway.com/blog/choosing-between-thhn-xhhw-wire/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAqY6tBhAtEiwAHeRopQ5ofpUdnQbzmOLVCFhn9H-0HVO55GKrZTS6HYB0_BJq2iKmCCMSLRoCiUkQAvD_BwE

I could help better by seeing a burner photo in reguard to burner type

For me its functional cone 10 porcelain (durable) and the forms are the ones one would use the most. Mugs ,Bowls ,sponge holders ,glasses things one uses everyday.

60 feet is a long run .It may work just fine. 1 inch is not overbuilt. The burners will tell the story. My soft brick small 12 cubic foot kiln with 6 burners hardley uses any gas. You may be fine -I'm assuming the kiln is all soft brick as well. Updraft? details would help again-photos of kiln burners etc less bends in piping if you can will aid is flow. I went back and found your kiln photos-it a what I call trash can kiln -My guess is its smaller than 15CF. (no burner photos). I think the 1 inch will work for that small kiln

Pipe sizing is very important at low gas presures. Missed talking about that. Since all my supply is 2 inch from the meter. If you have a long run the size is very important. My Geil needs 1 inch for example . How long is the pipe run? Most homes are 3/4 inch ,as Bill said we need more info on the spec plate of kiln or siome info on kiln burners and size of kiln?

No problem Neil just every kiln I have or have installed works on 1/4 lb pressure-a Geil-west coast,homemade ,olympic and a few others as I noted you can crank up the main house regulator if you have a manometer (I have the water type manometer)

Most natural gas presures for the home are 1/4 pound or 7 inchs on a manometer . That works fine for gas kilns as well. Just hook it up and start firing If you ever needed more pressure you would turn up the pressure at the main meter (which you will NOT need to do). The devices in your home stove ,water heater ,furnace etc all have presure devices built in, they regulate the presure to 1/4 lb. You do not need any other device. Now propand is a whole different anamal.

For 33 year I had used my 3,00 lbs of Kingman feldspar that ran out in 2023 just when The Custar shortage (mine is in bankruptcy and will reopen in future) hit. I had 4 bags stashed so it was not an issue yet but in last two months I picked up this stash and now will last my lifetime (1,000lbs in total) I traded a some moblilezer wax to an old potter friend for a new old stock bag real spodume from 20 years ago (white bag in photo) I'm back to being ok with a potash feldspar and its one less thing to consider.

photo would help as well as the rib brand name?

walk away fast-scam

We watched last night -well worth a look. Good flick

I am now a hold the gas kiln at cone 10 for 15 minutes to lessen pitting in rutile reduction glazes -its a life saver right now-I turn the kiln down and adjust damper to keep reduction the same so it does not keep climbing tem wise and the reduction is a constant. Really has helps but it a poain in the butt but worth it right now for me.

I suggest a east coast slip shop as shipping will be way cheaper. I knew of a portland shop once but they stopped doing custom work

Sunbrella is what I have on my boats covers ,also on my Tee Top. Its extra heavy and waterproof (I spray it every few years) to keep it that way. In terms of work surface for clay slabs it depends on what they are used for-if its going say into a baking dish plaster form I rough cut them on the slab roller paper (slab Matt) with a plastic tool (so its gental on slab matt) if say I am cutting the details of a wall fish I drop the semi dried slab on a paper covered plywood piece to cut with a sharp clay cutter as I do not care about the paper or wood to cut on I wedge clay on a 4 inch thick plaster table that is built into shop since 1973 but never cut on it. That table weighs to much to move and its part of the built in stuff in shop.

Helmer works great as a flashing slip so I would just keep it on the outside myself where its seen and it costs more than epk

With slip/clay shrinkage precision is very hard-lots of factors to work through to get to a known point. I'm pretty new to ceramics ,only have a bit over 50 years under my belt and still do not know what ( "Normal pottery equipment" ) is? How about a metal casting process its much more precise.

True Cornwall has been gone for a long time The Laguna cornwall blend has been around a long time as well -its breakdown is here https://www.axner.com/cornwall-stone-laguna-substitute.aspx

Those blanks look exactly like the XIEM ones

As a tungsten carbide user for deacdes now I'll give this a try. Yes the green wheel will do the outside and a diamand Dremel could do the inside. That said I never have never sharpened one as I only use the smaller size (like a R-2 Kemper )I like a squre end and a smaller rounder end on same tool for trimming I wear them out over time and there is no reason to sharpen team as they hold the edge until worn out. Sharping one just wears them out sooner I have used a few kinds Bison custom ($$$) as well as the XEIM which dropped they line (they had replaceable tips)

Jeff (They fired it, however, in a nitrogen fueled "kiln" and fired them to 3000 degrees) this is how recrystallized silicone carbide is made in a Nitrogen rich oxyegen free environment .Often electric arc furnace. All my kiln shelves are made from this process (advancers or Baileys). I have a pile of soap bricks (like a while brick cut in half the long ways) made from same material. Its the stongest material at high temp and never warps at say 2400 (cone 11 ) and keeps warm a long time and glaze will not stick to the surface as its smooth and not porous. You can look it up say on Alibaba and see some interesting forms made in China same way. By the way that nitrogen rich 3,000 degree furnace costs an arm and leg to fire and maintain . There are very few of them around. the globe. Saint Gobain headquatered in France is one of the older doing this (they make Advancers) the Bailey clay ones come from Germany and now China has a few plants as well. This is the feild of industrial ceramic engineering. Way above my pay grade.I have a funny story about one of these guys-maybe another time-they made electric arc furance lids for the tops of crucibles.

I used these from Euclids when I rewired my electric -brass and stainless -I added some copper coat as well to insure great long term corrosion free connection https://euclids.com/products/element-connector-large-2-screw?pr_prod_strat=e5_desc&pr_rec_id=82bd0e954&pr_rec_pid=5133891010605&pr_ref_pid=5133812236333&pr_seq=uniform