Type of wood to fire kiln

[Yanni]

Hello,

what type/kind of wood should I use to fire the kiln? 

Thank you!

[Bill Kielb]

A mixture of soft and hardwood is often used. Soft burns faster, hardwood tends to be more dense and helps form a decent coal bed. If this is your first it likely would be helpful to include someone with prior experience or fire with someone who has experience before you set up your firing. It can require patience and persistence which is hard to understand in a first firing.

[Callie Beller Diesel]

It depends on whether you’re just using it for fuel, or if you’re looking for the ash to provide firing effects. If the first, you can use anything that will combust. We used to use old shipping pallets in school, because they were free and readily available. If you do this, make sure you’re not burning the chemically treated ones (usually they’re blue or green). 

[neilestrick]

Burn what's available to you, and what you can afford. When I was in grad school in Utah we mostly burned pine, because it was readily available and inexpensive. We also burned scrap lumber- 2x4's and such- that we got from a roofing truss company in town. In the midwest here people burn hardwoods because that's what's available. Every type of wood will have a slightly different effect on the final product, as will the area that the trees grew, since they will pick up different minerals and whatnot from the environment. It'll take some practice with your kiln to figure out the best settings for burning different woods, and to figure out what's needed with your clay bodies to get the effects you want. In grad school we had some wood (willow and elm if I remember correctly) that was much higher in potassium than the other wood, and pots would come out of the kiln looking like varnished concrete- gray and ugly. The solution was to use high-iron clay bodies, which made for some beautiful surfaces. Like with all things in ceramics, test, test, test.

[Russ]

Softwoods like pine will fire faster and dare I say hotter than hardwoods. My experience is that hardwoods have a short flame vs softwoods which have a much longer flame. If time is not an issue and ash buildup is preferred  then go hardwood. If you dont want to spend endless hours feeding the kiln and youd like cleaner glazes go with softwoods. ... my honest opinion.  If you dont have a choice burn whatever you can get your hands on.

[Min]

4 hours ago, neilestrick said:

Burn what's available to you

When a friend of mine was in Greece she went to a few old potteries. One of them had massive piles of olive pits that the local olive oil producers would give for free to the potter to fuel her kiln with. 

[Chilly]

Free wood.  

Dry wood.

Wood that is not full of nails.

Wood that is not too big to fit in the firebox.

[neilestrick]

If you've got a saw mill anywhere near you, even a small operation, see if you can get the bark cuts. They're great for the wood kiln.

[Russ]

So Yanni, what types of wood are available to you in Singapore ? Mostly tropical hardwoods? Bamboo? Mahogany ?

[Babs]

On 12/21/2021 at 9:39 AM, Min said:

When a friend of mine was in Greece she went to a few old potteries. One of them had massive piles of olive pits that the local olive oil producers would give for free to the potter to fuel her kiln with. 

Presalted???