Retxy

Oh its definitely rugh in there and there are some holes in the drum. There are some reports that the pinholes therein can be loctite sealed which wont last forever but will be sufficient for me for now. The larger holes are going to be an issue. Cant sand blast it for fear of opening more holes honestly. But the auger works a dream and so im going to patch and even if tbis old beauty can last me a few years i will consider it worth it. Looking into barrel replacement but bluebird says they dont make either barrel or auger anymore... does anyone know alternate options if motor is still good? Thanks again to you all!!

@neilestrick perfect. Thank you so much!

@neilestrick Thank you so much! Woukd you recommend a rust halting spray hust to stop/delay the corrosion? Thank you!

I just found a place nearby that can both sandblast and powder coat but if cheaper alternatives exist, I welcome them. Thanks!

And sorry for all the typos!

Hello smart pottery peeps. I found a really old bluebird pugmill for sale. It looks like an a400 but much older version. He issue is its badly corroded with he seller stating there are three pinholes in the barrel and recommending the auger be sand lasted (which of course i dont know how to do.) My rheumatic joints really need this pugmill to work out. Seller assures me little holes are weldable, and this i believe. My cncern is the rust inside the barrel and on the auger blades.... how do i deal with that and can these be relia ly sealed so my immunocompromised handsies dont get the tetanus from rust ending up in my clay? I have seen others paint their pugs but no mention of what paint wont flake with all the moisture involved. Have also looked into rust stopping sprays available at the big boxes but wanted to see if anyone has tried this with successs. Thanks in advamce! Retxy

Min I will and thank you for this awesome advice. I'm super pumped, feel like knowing you can play with clay body chemistry in glazy is going to make a difference. Can't wait to see what kind of explosions I cause bwahahaha

Thank you so much everyone for your help!!

Oooh thanks @Min for the copyright info!! @neilestrick To sub c&c in a recipe do I need to juggle the chemistry of the new body in glazy the way I would for a glaze to make them as similar as possible? Is that a good rule of thumb for experimenting with clay body formulas? Thanks!! D

@glazenerd @High Bridge Pottery @Min @Babs thank you all so so much for the help!!! its got 15 of talc in in it, the majority is om4. Do any of you recommend any resources (already know about digital fire) that can help with tinkering with clay body formation? I understand some of the ballet of these materials in glazes, but absolutely none of the waltz that is clay body formation. I would love to take the Katz class on this, but am p*ss poor. The recipe I'm using is from an old chappelle book, so I'm not sure about posting it here because I don't want the copyright gods to smite me... but it is a throwing body and im firing it to cone 04 and its vitreous! l I really want to mix my own clay as I live in the middle of nowhere and shipping it out here is often more expensive than the clay itself. I appreciate you all and your kind help!

Hi everyone! I have found a clay body that I like that I'm mixing myself but that is listed as a white firing body but is actually coming up rather creamy in color. I have learned that the om4 in the recipe can make it fire that way (thanks to digital fire) but to precipitate out the impurities barium carbonate is suggested and im not a fan. Any thoughts on how I can get it to burn pure white? I've got some glazes that are dulled by the creamy color but look so good on whiter bodies and I'm really enjoying the other properties of the body. Mason stains are too expensive so white body stain is not an option. I also considered a different ball clay, but Tennessee 10 for example was too refractory and I think I will lose the vitrificationof the body with a more refractory ball clay. Is there another ball clay that could work? Recipe is om4, neph sye, talc, and 3269. Thanks in advance, Ret

Thank you Mark C!!

It's a low fire vitreous cone 06 clay from a book I read!! Thank you both!!!!

Oh my. I forgot to add grog to my clay to make it suitable for raku. Can someone tell me if there is any chance of success firing small pieces ( think 4 inch bonsai pot sized) of work that has no grog in it? Thanks!!

I'm a newbie here with glaze formulation constantly on my mind. I noticed some shivering of your glaze where the base rises into the sides of your platter... Are you sure this is not from a glaze fit issue? Does it happen with all your Glazes or just this one? I'm SO sorry, I know your pain.

Thank you so much Callie! One of my nephews is into bonsai, so that's easy but will still require some waterproofing. Made of Australia had a liquid quartz which they claim will make raku waterproof but I can't justify the cost and also can't really see the difference between their liquid silica and plain ole waterglass/ sodium silicate. I'm going to try some of that and see. Thanks for the awesome ideas!!

Aha!! Testing...

Thank you all so much! Im trying to give my afolescent nephews a raku fire show and reallly want them to have something safe they can use daily from the experience like a mug. I see some horsehair raku makers on etsy with lined vessels and thoight maybe its stoneware which is raku'd first then fired to cone with liner after but the description says they are raku'd last. Ugh my poor brains!! Thanks again!!

Thank you so much Mark in theory if one had a thermocouple and the will could liner glaze be used? I have come across some raccoon glazes that go all the way up to 1950 in order to properly work and I think it would be interesting to at least try a liner. maybe to answer my own question this is a test and see if it works situation!!!

Hi smart ceramic friends, Can I get some input as to why liner glazes that are low fire are not used inside Raku pottery? Or is it that they are and I just am behind the ball. I would be interested in making pieces with liner glaze inside in the hopes of potentially keeping the bad stuff on the outside and a good stuff on the inside. Is this a possibility or am I missing something? Thank you so much in advance D

I had three walls in my caldera, which I also boight used, arrive broken as well. I found a lovely guy on youtube who did the following: I didn't need to watch those whole series, but this part was nice and it saved me 350 bucks (shipping). I bought kiln bricks and for mortar the lovely Casey Clark from Great Basin Pottery confirmed a recipe from his predecessor of 50/50 silica/kaolin with a splash of deflocullant such as sodium silicate (I had and therefore used darvan) with enough water to form a paste. Lemme tell you that jazz worked like a charm. I spent 50 bucks on bricks and even though I had to replace one wall entirely and used other pieces to patch the others, I still had three bricks left over. Super stoked. You might want to test the elements individually to make sure everything is electricallly working, and that will help guide you in decision on what to do next. But keep in mind replacing elements is just part of the cost of having a kiln, and you were going to have to anyway, eventually. I spun my own using kanthal wire and it was a PITA but saved me another $300, which made it worth it. Tangent, but i say this to give you hope. So much of this can be done DIY if you are willing to sweat a little. Keep us posted!

@PeterH Hi Peter! Yes I had seen those, especially the article using fusion frit, which for some reason I can't get a hold of anywhere that it doesn't cost a million dollars to ship it. Sigh, it's always something. Thank you for sending me these!!!

@Magnolia Mud ResearchThank you so much I will definitely check that out!! @PeterHhi Peter! my needs: cone 06-04 glazes that don't craze. my hopes and dreams: cone 06-04 glazes that are utilityware safe. my pipe dream in the sky: strike it rich and go back to cone 6 firings so I don't have to worry so much that the body below isn't vitreous. Thanks so much!!

Hi again @Min YES. The ceramic spectrum is exactly what I needed. THANK YOU!

Min that link was EPIC. Thank you so much!!