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Zircon Based Kiln Washes


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I have a bunch of new corelite kiln shelves I need to wash and was planning on doing a 50% aluminum hydrate, 25% EPK, 25% Glomax recipe. But since I am starting fresh I was wondering if there was anything better out there. I hear some good things about zircon based washes and was wondering if anyone here has experience with them and if they like/dislike them compared to something like the more standard recipe I was planning on. Thanks!

Edited by HenryBurlingame
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Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, Russ said:

https://insight-live.com/insight/share.php?z=K5hHzDs2Kr

Ive been using this for several years now in a c10 wood kiln. Way better than traditional kaolin alumina.

That’s the exact recipe I was thinking about too. I’m trying to decide between that and the alumina/epk/calcined epk recipe I posted above.

I won’t be doing any wood firing with them, just electric up to cone 10. But whatever wash is going to give me the best performance/ least hassle is what I’m shooting for :-).

Edited by HenryBurlingame
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I can’t directly address your question, but have some information that may be helpful. I have a little bit of experience with zircon kiln wash, but haven’t used it much as just plain kiln wash. That is, I came into possession of a bunch of zircopax by virtue of buying someone’s raw material supply when they retired. There was no alumina in the lot. I built a soda/wood kiln with mostly soft brick from cast off electric kilns. I dipped the hot face of these in a wash of roughly 70/30 zircopax/kaolin. I’ve done that for the following two rebuilds of the kiln (new brick, k-26, and now the walls are lined with thin kiln shelves). No coating I know of will keep the bricks from spalling, but this one does extend their life. I extrapolate that from how quickly soda decimates places where the coating has come off.

It doesn’t flake or peel easily and fires harder than kaolin/alumina wash. 

Since I had no alumina I also used zircopax/kaolin for wadding and shelf wash the first couple firings. The wash was fine.  Wads not so much. They were very hard and not easy to get off the pots. I wouldn’t do it again. It really showed me how different an animal zircon is from alumina. This is at cone 6-7. 

 I use a mix of 60/40 alumina/kaolin now for shelf wash. Silicon carbide shelves. It doesn’t curl or flake, but I put it on thin and scrape the shelves every firing so it never builds up. For wadding it’s the same but I add some flour to make it easier to shape. 

Edited by Kelly in AK
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