Hulk

Thornton's article lists three Boron Magnesium eutectics; this is the lower temperature one (last column is °C) MgO·B2O3 Magnesium oxide and boric oxide MgO 36.6, B2O3 63.4 988 If I'm reading right, the Boron melts much much earlier. If I'm reading right ii, my low COE liner glaze has enough boron to melt with the MgO... My low COA liner glaze looked clear to me - before I started adding Zircopax to it. Now I'm curious and interested (again); what's melting the seventy + moles of Silicon? almost eight moles of Alumina? I'm not getting the maths. P.S. Hope the dinner was smashing Min! ...was just trying to remember the last time we had that many guests

I had the same question. The lid's hinge has an adjustment for expansion/lifting, which needs to be adjusted properly to avoid undue stress to the lid? The rod wasn't quite down tight like the image above; when re-assembling, I bumped it up (the bracket thing) a bit beyond where it was (will find out how that works soon!). I sure like the notebook L&L provides (documentation), also the online articles and vids. Good-oh!

Hi Debbee, Welcome to the Forum! Just wanted to add, please be sure that lid opens all the way - comes to rest in the open position without leaning against that wall. If the lid were to fall shut, well, could be bad.

Tony Hansen discusses some mid-fire electric options in this article: Reduction Speckle (digitalfire.com) There are several commercial glaze products that speckle. I'd tried clay that speckles (Laguna WC403) and liked it very much! The spots appear through the glaze and, bonus, on the raw clay surfaces as well (at glaze temps). A speckle recipe on Glazy calls for a small amount of "granular ilmenite" which may be worth exploring. See also: Ilmenite (digitalfire.com) Manganese Granular (digitalfire.com) Granular Rutile (digitalfire.com) A variation of JohnnyK's suggestion, pick up a small amount of glaze with an ear syringe, hold it such that the glaze is on the verge of dripping out, but not quite, squeeze the bulb to get a spray of fine droplets. ...discovered this by accident, I'd used the syringe to glaze the inside surface of hollow knobs - fill, then suck out the excess, boom. Practice first, as Johnny suggests. Be sure to rinse out the syringe for next time!

Cement tile backer board seemed too rough, although I hadn't considered sanding it off to smooth it some. We're putting up cement siding board at the boy's house, hmm, the back (smooth) side might scuff off smooth enough to make a good bat? It's stiff, should be fine with water and otherwise generally durable. How it holds up to tools, that would seem to be "the rub" - I'm off to try it now. ... That's how wide the planks are (just over eight inches), so diagonal holes work. For medium and smaller wares, np. Here I was ready to go the rib, so, about to cut away that bit of smeared out skirt, which did serve well enough to protect my finger bits from the bat, which is still rough. I used my least favorite wood knife - one I use most, heh; it becoming a nub sooner, that's maybe a drawback. The material is absorbent enough that getting it damp to start is a thing, like plaster, but not nearly as pronounced. I liked it well enough to make some more! The edges need to be cut smooth and clean, err, cut as clean as possible, then cut back and sanded. A few passes with the sander smoothed the surface a lot! It still abrasive though. The other side is embossed with a woodgrain pattern, so I'll consider these one-sided bats. A coat of durable finish of some kind might serve - giving up the absorbency but cutting down on the abrasiveness. Lightweight, very rigid (some of the plastic bats flex, which can wonk a tall ware), flat, thick enough to hide the pins, easy to make. I'll update after a good long test run...

i) Saw a throwing demonstration, wanted to learn how to do that; decades later, enrolled in "Wheel I" then "Wheel II" at local Junior College. ii) Clay and glaze materials bought from pottery supply stores, in person as much as possible ($hipping costs!!); a mix of second hand and brandy new tools and equipment iii) It can be lonely, as others have mentioned. The Studio space in our previous home was almost always very comfortable; the Studio space in our new/current home can be overwhelmingly hot and bitingly cold! I look to have that sorted by next Spring! Both Studio spaces are also bike shops. Some people (me) have too many bikes in the way! In our current home, repair and maintenance projects that aren't pottery or bike have been regulated to the non-Studio side. Hope to have the wall up by next Spring. iv) ...have been thinking about this one! There's surround sound with broadcast radio, streaming radio/podcasts/etc., and library music/podcast options already. I don't mind using the amplifier's remote, also don't mind walking over and getting some clay on the controls; it wipes off ok! I'd like real-time feedback on the work in progress profile, height, width, and thickness on a screen - that could be helpful! I have to bend way over sideways (else pick up the bat) to get a good look at the ware's profile. Hmm, mirror? Stopping to measure the height, width, and diameter of the opening takes a moment. Thickness can be measured, yes, but that takes a moment as well. Although practicing to the point where stopping to gauge the profile and measure the various bits isn't really necessary - just for confirmation - it is possible* - how nice would it be to have feedback on a screen? I'd like that, but not so much that I'd try to develop and test a system... The height and width wouldn't be terribly difficult, nor the profile, but thickness, that might take some doing! *possible for some, not all of us can do repeats within a half millimeter without measuring. I can sometimes repeat without measuring, but not dependably enough, I have a stick, caliper, crossed stick, six inch and fifteen inch rules (w/ metric), hand square, and a few things I'm forgetting as measures.

Looks like Axner has a good per pound price. I'm not seeing that suppliers near me (Northern California) carry it ...Claypeople in Richmond has it.

Hi C Walker, welcome to the Forum! That looks like "bloat" Clay can puff up like that when whatever it is that's gassing/expanding is trapped. At bisque temps, perhaps the bloating part could still "breathe" and hence doesn't show. When I had some bloating, it was more in the thicker parts, however, I also thought there were problem bits here and there in the clay that were at issue. Trimming down the thicker parts and extra time soaking at about 1500°F in the bisque fire seemed to help, and fire to just cone 5 (it was a cone 5 clay). Watching against thick sections might help. Giving a long bisque fire with plenty of oxygen might help - burn out the gassing bits. Firing just up to maturity and no more could also help, and not too fast at the end. Surely you'll get more input, check back after while. Nice colors, pattern, texture Body Bloating (digitalfire.com) Bloating (digitalfire.com)

Good question! My guess is the clay softens just enough to overcome the form, where a cylinder or even an open shape - bowl - has enough structure to resist collapse, your four twisted ribbons of clay cannot, so. Perhaps if the four arms had some arc, and no twists, they would stay upright. You might try using a prop - a narrow cylinder - to hold the form upright, where the interface isn't glazed and has a bit of kiln wash or somewhat to prevent sticking. Even so, the twisted ribbons may still sag. Good luck! I'm curious to know how your project comes out.

Good question! I don't have an answer, mainly just wanted to give your thread a "bump"... ...and suggest trying your insurance company again, as you might get another person on the line. As for the building department, my guess would be that permits and inspections for any alterations/additions (electrical, plumbing, etc.) would be of interest to them. Meanwhile, for your consideration: new smoke and CO detectors; functional primary and secondary ventilation*; correct wiring, including proper fusing/breakers; commitment to attending throughout each firing - the entire time the kiln is over 451°F; placing new/serviceable fire extinguishers at the kiln and all approaches to the kiln. *primary: powered kiln vent that pulls a tiny stream of superheated kiln atmosphere from the bottom of the kiln and pushes it outside via a dedicated vent secondary: overhead system that evacuates hundreds of cubic feet per minute via dedicated venting important note for both: provision for "make up air" is critical - air must be allowed "in" to make up for what is being pushed "out" Hope that helps.

Hi Frogesan, Welcome to the Forum! Kiln wiring comes up quite often here. The experts (I'm not an expert...) point out the 125% rule, etc.; try using the built in search using "125%" to find a few, e.g. https://community.ceramicartsdaily.org/topic/31343-skutt-822-wire-gauge-size-vs-breaker-size As for burning down the garage, going with a too small breaker should just result in the breaker tripping, nuisance trips! Running too small a wire with too large a breaker could get hot, I believe (I'm not an expert!). For reasonable run lengths, #6 wire, correct? And for runs much over fifty feet, start looking at the next bigger wire? Any road, the kiln manufacturer's documentation looks correct to me, and it lines up with what the more expert regulars on this Forum say. The wiring for my new 48 amp kiln was recently completed, 60 amp breaker, per specification. I only needed the two hots and a ground, however I ran the neutral (and left it capped off on both ends), just in case someone comes along years from now and needs/wants the 120v, having recently ran into a similar situation with our son's wellhouse (wiring for 240v well pump), where we wanted 120v to run some water treatment equipment...

Most everything like the seven. The glazes I'm using don't move much. The slight groove at the juncture of the wall and foot does serve as a glaze catch, however, I'd started doing that to make it easier to get a sharp glaze edge*. There's a spiral mark between the chatter marking and the edge of the foot, which could help as a glaze catch. The spiral and chatter marks are mainly for interest and to provide a bit of texture for grasping. The foot ring itself provides edges for fingertips, particularly for washing (slippery!)... * I tape the foot ring off with masking tape. Tooling the top edge of the foot ring provides a nice sharp line to tape to. The tape gives me something to hold on to when pushing the ware down into the glaze. I pull the tape whilst the glaze is still damp, much less dust, and a cleaner edge. I'm dipping the outside glaze(s), upside down, hence controlling the glaze layer near the foot ring is straightforward.

I'm not finding any images where I can see how much room there is to work in. Any road, wire wheels and cup brushes might serve? I've used both to restore rusted steel doors, frames, etc., driven by angle grinder, seven inch grinder (careful, that's a dangerous tool), drill motors and Dremel tool. Be sure to wear gloves, eye protection and thick clothes against the flying wire and rust fragments! Protection against the noise and dust would be important as well...

The 1170 °C/2138°F eutectic I'm seeing in Bloomfield* is "Calcia" - the "Magnesia" (MgO) is 2471°F. Any road, very interesting; my first read into anything beyond the general idea**. My low expansion liner glaze clear (clouded with Zircopax, so clear-ish) has .279 MgO, Unity, from talc. Before I started adding Zircopax, it came up clear. The Pottasia, Soda, Lithia and Calcia eutectic temps are all below my Cone 5 target, but the Baria and Magnesia are well above Cone 5. Are there more layers of complexity with multiple eutectic happenings? Looks like it's melting well. Ah, the Thornton article includes a eutectic with MgO and Boric Acid that's below 1000°C, per Min's post. Interesting! *Bloomfield_May17CM.pdf (lindabloomfield.co.uk) **things that melt at a higher temperature by themselves can melt at lower temps when mixed with certain other materials.

The soaking can't hurt! As for the pitting, any chance the clay(s) have changed at all? Do the glaze recipes Laguna do for you include talc? Just curious...

Nice color! From the linked page: "Absorption at cone 06 is 10.8% and at cone 6 it is ≤0.1%" ^ I'm interpreting that as a) cone 06 is the lower end of the bisque range and b) cone 6 is near the upper end of the glaze fire range For functional work, low absorption is better. One percent or less is good, very good.

Hi Summerss, Welcome to the Forum! Could be the recommended bisque fire is 04 and the clay is fully mature at cone 6. Can you provide identification/source of this clay? Expect clay to become fully "closed up" - about as impervious to water as it will get, without starting to slump, melt, bloat, fizz or present any other typical overfired characteristic - at a particular cone. When fired much under the ideal cone, the clay will likely take more water, be less strong... Some clays are more flexible that others in terms maturity range. Some mid-range clays I've tried misbehave when fired much over cone 5; others tolerate a bit over cone 6 without issue. That said, might be best to verify by test. Fire the clay to 04. Is it fairly strong, does it "ring?" Does it take the glaze well - absorbs some water, but not too much? From there, fire to target - try cone 6. Do the glazes come out smooth and shiny, no fizzy bubbles, no pinholes or other defects? Fire some bare bars to test absorption with; weigh the fired bars, soak in water, pat dry, reweigh. Put cones on each level. If part of your kiln fires cool, perhaps cone 5, good place to put more tests. If cone 6 is too much, cone 5 might do. Test! The vendor may be able to provide some guidance.

Vacuum when there's new bits/dust; if I'm careful, that's not often. Sieve every time, unless I'd sieved and used the glaze within the last few weeks, and I'm sure there's no bits/chunks/things dropped in there...

Hi Elena, Welcome to the Forum! The CX (CXC) is top of the line. I remember reading about a date code within the Serial Number, but I'm not finding the reference just now... Brent may be able to answer your question(s); try contacting them? There's contact info on Brent's website. Meanwhile, you might upload a pic of the wheel and a close up of the information tag (model and serial numbers, etc.) to this thread. Several of the regular members know rather a lot about Brent wheels in general...

The software I'm using (Glazemaster) calculates COE 6.52 for that glaze, which, if all things were equal, would craze on some of the clays I've tried (and no longer use...), and maybe craze on one or more that I use now. However, all things aren't equal! My understanding is that: a) calculated COE is especially helpful when adjusting a recipe, where the ingredient ratios are adjusted, and/or a new ingredient is introduced; b) calculated COE is less helpful for comparing glazes that have radically different ingredients/recipes, where a glaze with a lower number may craze more than one with a higher number. My own experience supports both notions. I'd started over several times in my quest for a well-fitting clear. The sodium and potassium were lowered, and lowered again; talc was raised, and raised again; lithium was introduced - via petalite, close, a bit more talc, a smidge more petalite, voila!' I've posted the recipe here somewhere; if you're interested, OP, shout. No guarantee it would work with the clay in question! GlazeMaster calculates COE of 5.31

A kiln that's appropriate for the target temperature(s), that's one consideration, e.g., if you're working in midrange (Cone 5/6), a kiln rated to Cone 10 will last a good long while. If you are working at the upper limit/rating of your kiln, having to replace the elements will come much faster. For your testing, following a firing profile (time and temperature) that's similar to your big/production/main kiln is another consideration. A test/small kiln with a controller makes that much easier, otherwise you're having to hover and flip the switches on and off to replicate the firing profile... Hope that helps! ...mainly, just wanted to "bump" your thread so you might get some responses...

Leaving enough clay at the top rim (but not too much!) to extend in and/or up takes some trials (and errors, in my case, many errors). Judicious use of the rib (I like the flexible metal ones) to remove moisture/slip and thereby arrest softening can help, and so can allowing some time to pass while the clay dries/stiffens a bit afore continuing to narrow and raise the opening. Other thought - keeping the form as narrow as possible while bringing it to initial height, narrowing the opening, then reaching in with a tool to belly out the form leaves one a lot closer in terms of closed up at the top, does that make sense? I have a small wooden tool that's a "knife" at one end and is rounded off like a butter knife handle at the other end - I use the rounded end for bellying out small vases. ^ likely not the shape you're working toward; the opening is small tho'... One more thought, watching video clips, I still see more/different things after some time has passed! Keep circling back to your favorites, you many get some aha moments!

Looks like many options for bright colored glazes in low fire as well.

Hi s6x, welcome to the Forum! Good questions. I don't believe there's chemical considerations, given the clay is nearly the same as it was originally. Thoroughly dry clay absorbs water quickly and turns to mush, even big chunks, total mush. Damp clay bits get mushier on the outside, however, the insides seem to stay about the same for a very long time. I'm storing clay to be reclaimed in two states, totally dry, and slop, nothing in between. Eventually the slop will dry out to become a disc of dry clay at the bottom of the bucket - even with a lid. Any road, to start, I'll put the two together, then add enough water such that the dry stuff turns to mush AND the result is wet enough that my grout mixer (driven by a 1/2" drill motor) can turn it without burning up. I'll run the mixer for a few minutes - not so long that the drill motor gets hot (!!!) - several times/day until the mixture is smooth and uniform. Ah, there's the point! Smooth and uniform mixture! Then I'm scooping out onto plaster slabs for drying to wedgeable consistency. When it gets there, wedge, bag, go. Thoroughly dry, so the clay will absorb water quickly. Mush, wet enough to mix with the drill motor setup. And finally, whatever works for you! With stronger machinery, the reclaim process can be done with less water? With a pugmill, the result can be dialed to target consistency, no drying time required? I believe so. Surely, a small amount of clay can be reclaimed without any mechanical assistance. I like to use the drill powered mixer.