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It looks like, at long last, I can upgrade to a Skutt electric kiln with all the digital doohickeys I've been craving for so long. (Yay, me!) I'm wondering about what kind of kiln shelves I should consider investing in. The Skutt will go up to cone 10, and though I don't anticipate going to that cone quite yet, I will be, so I want shelves that will endure that kind of heat. I've heard of silicon carbide shelves and that they're lighter and are supposed to be stronger, but I don't know anything else about their durability or performance. Pros and cons of various shelf choices are appreciated! Thanks!

Just wondering if anyone has encountered this issue. I have well tempered core-lite kiln shelves (26" rounds) I use at the base of my kilns. Just recently we started do fast low fire firings to set underglaze. The last two fires we lost the bottom shelf (bottom shelf only). I'm attaching photos. We've been using the same pack pattern for more than 2 years including a 3 post lift to the next shelf without issue. None of the other kilns have manifested the issue, but this is the only one we've been running fast fires to ^05. I'm thinking the speed of the fire has something to do with it, but that's only a theory. We have run fast fires to the same ^05 on the same program in our 18" kiln with 18" full rounds without incident. We've been doing this for more than 2 years. The first time it happened (yesterday), the shelf was older, about 3 years old. I would say approximately 200+ firings on it. My first suspicion was that some sort of fatigue had occurred. So, I replaced it with a kiln that was less than 6 months old and had less than 50 firings on it. On the very first firing the exact same fracture occurred. No shelves above the bottom shelf fractured or cracked. All had the same post layout, and all posts were directly above one another. The first time it happened there were only 2 full shelves above the bottom shelf plus one lightly loaded (3rd shelf). The second time it happened there was one single fully loaded shelf above bottom shelf. The types of pots, loads, and weights per shelve were identical in the two firings. After the first shelf fractured I added four (1) 1.5" x 1.0" posts around the center of the bottom shelf for additional support. If there are any clarifying questions I can respond here, thoughts and suggestions are welcome... Mike

I am trying to make wadding for building up my kiln shelves. I have an electric kiln and normally I would use 50 parts EPK and 50 parts Ball Clay and mix with water till it is a dough and put it between my furniture and my Kiln shelf to act like a glue as I am building up my shelves to make them sturdy. I do not have anymore EPK but I do have a big bag of Kaolinitic Clay (not sure exactly what that is but I do know that Kaolin is in EPK) in powder form and I also have OM4 Ball Clay and some Alumina. Can I mix 50 parts Kaolinitic Clay and 50 parts OM4 Ball Clay and maybe throw in a little alumina to make a wadding for my shelving process? I dont want to use much alumina since it is so expensive. Any advice would be much appreciated

Hi - I am new to firing my own kiln. I have an old manual Cress kiln that I have used 4 times now. I put kiln wash on my shelves each time and I after the last glaze I noticed that there are little dark flecks all over the shelves. Is this glaze that needs to be ground off? Or is this just something I put more kiln wash over? I appreciate your help! Thanks - Anita

I have an old Duncan Kiln that has seen many good years of service. I have had it for 20 of those years I bought it used and have recently replaced the elements in it. The shelves are original and are warping I usually fire to cone 04 for the first firing and then to a cone 6 for the final fire. It is an 15" octagon shelf that is being used. The shelves are 1/2" thick and are a yellowish color. Would appreciate any suggestions as to type and thickness I should be looking at. Don't do a lot of Glaze firing, but some and would like to do more. I recently saw an ad for shelf paper. and am not familiar with this product. Common sense tells me it is a liner to keep you shelves clean from glaze drips and runs. Do you replace it every firing or does it burn out in the firing, If you are familiar with shelf paper what are its pros and cons. Do you need to Kiln wash your shelves prior to using it or can you leave them bare. Thanks in advance for any help. RJ

Help! Our Corelite shelves ( 1" X 18" X 18" ) cracked in half during firing. Not all just a couple. Cone 10 reduction. Anyone have this happen?

I have been working with clay for many years but only firing my own stuff for about 4 years. I have this recurring problem. The kiln wash flakes off after every firing - bisque or glaze. (firing bisque at 04 and glaze at 6 in my electric Vulcan kiln) I am constantly cleaning shelves and it seems to be getting worse the more I use these shelves. I have tried completely removing all the old wash and replaced it with new. I have tried simply removing the stuff that is the loosest and then washing over it and the surrounding areas. I've tried thick and thin applications. I am extremely careful with my shelves and do not allow any greasy or oily contamination. I am using kiln wash that has been mixed for some time (??? years???). I wouldn't think that's the problem, but maybe.... Anyone have some suggestions????