quinoaclay Posted January 22, 2021 Report Share Posted January 22, 2021 I made a little convection kiln out of brick and adobe mud, with a base for ashes to fall, a wood chamber, and then space for shelves for the pieces. I was wondering if anyone has any experience making shelves for a low-fire wood kiln? I read somewhere that I could mix brick dust with clay and make slabs, has anyone tried it? I was also told only pine wood gets hot enough for a firing, but somehow I doubt this, any suggestions? Thank you, Quinoa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russ Posted January 22, 2021 Report Share Posted January 22, 2021 Soft woods such as Pine releases btu's faster than hardwoods and has a longer flame but for what youre doing any dry wood will do. What types of wood are available to you in Oaxaca? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callie Beller Diesel Posted January 23, 2021 Report Share Posted January 23, 2021 I’ve never really heard of kiln shelves being made successfully, but that could work for saggars, where warping is less of a concern. Is the wood being used for convenience as a fuel, or are you looking for a specific effect? If you’re just using the wood for fuel and ash accumulation on the ware isn’t important, I have fired wood kilns using shipping pallets. I think the composition of those varies, depending on where they’re originally made. If you do this, only use the ones that haven’t been treated with chemicals, or you’ll be breathing in all kinds of bad stuff. The heat treated ones should be pretty easy to find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quinoaclay Posted January 23, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2021 Thank you guys! I'm using the wood out of convenience, not going for any specific effect as of now. Most of the wood available around here is dessert brush... small dry trees and other bushes. Pine is available, but using the scarce pines as firewood/ for construction is pretty seriously devastating the environment, so I wanted to avoid it as much as possible. That and the fact that I'd have to buy it instead of just using people's trash. I can certainly get my hands on loads of shipping pallets to chop up. Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callie Beller Diesel Posted January 23, 2021 Report Share Posted January 23, 2021 They’re a job to break down, and you need to make sure there’s room in the firebox for all the nails. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sorcery Posted January 23, 2021 Report Share Posted January 23, 2021 My dream kiln has a firebox that accepts full pallets. I've been using random wood to stoke my gas kiln. It is definitely important to pay attention to what wood heats how much, or cools for that matter. Got a pyro? My buddy made some shelves for a kiln like this in Wisconsin. They should work. Sorce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted January 23, 2021 Report Share Posted January 23, 2021 You can fire with any type of wood. If you only have small pieces of brush, you'll have to stoke more often, but it could work if it's a small kiln. As for the kiln shelves, there are recipes out there that can be found online, but most of them have very specific ingredients that may or may not be available to you. And they tend to not be anywhere near as durable as a commercially mad kiln shelf. I think Callie's idea of using saggars is a good one. Just stack them up with the pots inside, no shelves necessary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Kielb Posted January 23, 2021 Report Share Posted January 23, 2021 23 hours ago, quinoaclay said: I made a little convection kiln out of brick and adobe mud, After a kiln gets to red heat, convection doesn’t provide much heat, instead radiation (like the warmth from the sun) and conduction, usually from the shelves helps transfer the heat to the wares. Shelves that are insulating, might actually not be the best choice for your situation. Commercial shelves cut to fit seems like the most likely for least hassle to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quinoaclay Posted January 23, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2021 Do Saggars work like wads? like tumble stacking? 2 hours ago, neilestrick said: You can fire with any type of wood. If you only have small pieces of brush, you'll have to stoke more often, but it could work if it's a small kiln. As for the kiln shelves, there are recipes out there that can be found online, but most of them have very specific ingredients that may or may not be available to you. And they tend to not be anywhere near as durable as a commercially mad kiln shelf. I think Callie's idea of using saggars is a good one. Just stack them up with the pots inside, no shelves necessary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted January 23, 2021 Report Share Posted January 23, 2021 18 minutes ago, quinoaclay said: Do Saggars work like wads? like tumble stacking? At low fire temps you're not going to melt the ash, so you don't need wads. But you'll still get effects from flame and vapor. Saggars are just clay cylinders that hold the pots. You can make the saggars so that they stack nicely, where the foot of one sits into a recess on the rim of the one below it. If they're large enough, you can put multiple pots in each one. They were orginally used instead of shelves, and to protect the pieces from the flame, ash and vapor of firing with wood, coal, etc. If you wanted to have more of the effects of the wood, you could put holes in them to allow the flame, ash, and vapor to get inside. You can also put combustibles, salts, etc inside the saggars to create surface effects: HERE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liambesaw Posted January 23, 2021 Report Share Posted January 23, 2021 Kiln shelves are really cheap if you're looking to build your own to save money, it's not even close. In fact my pottery supply place gives their old shelves away for free occasionally. I've seen them free on Craigslist as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quinoaclay Posted January 24, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2021 Cool! Thanks! nielestrick Liambesaw, the problem is kiln shelves aren't available in Oaxaca, only to be ordered from Mexico City, which adds a pretty significant amount to the total cost of the purchase. People here don't use commercial kiln shelves, but they also tend to fire uniform shapes that can be stacked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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