QotW: How did you learn how to fire and maintain your kiln.

[Pres]

Lots of questions lately about how to fire a kiln, and take care of it. Makes me remember the first experience I had with kilns during my first Ceramics class where we loaded pots into the gas kiln. It wasn't very big, as I remember especially compared to the kilns at PSU, but it worked. We didn't fire it, the prof did. Later, I had a chance to load an electric that was in the same studio. I fired it with another student, and it had a kiln setter on it. That was my first experience at actually firing one. When I started teaching HS, there was one other teacher there that was teaching a ceramics class, first year it was taught. I helped him load and fire the kiln, but started doing a lot of reading about kilns, firing, and maintenance. I took over the class the next year and taught it until I retired which was 35 years teaching ceramics. Learned a lot by doing, and when I bought my own kiln from L&L I had to go through a lot to get them to sell it to me without a setter! I wanted to be able to fire up, and down. I fired that kiln for 30 years and maintained it myself replacing elements, leads, insulators, bricks and pig tails. Great kiln.

QotW: How did you learn how to fire and maintain your kiln. If you don't fire a kiln where does your work get fired?

best,

Pres

[Roberta12]

well, the kiln at the community studio was fired by a few others, not me.  And there weren't any nuances, simply push start and go. 

I was fortunate enough to buy a brand new L&L in 2012.  It has a great instruction manual, plus phone and email support.  When we were getting the kiln set up, the electrical inspector insisted that we hardwire the kiln, rather than plug it in.  I emailed L&L to see if that was usual and Stephen Lewecki called me.  He is the president of L&L.  (I love this company!)   So, how did I learn to fire my kiln?  On the shoulders of others and lots of trial and error.  12 years later, I have almost 1000 firings on this kiln, my husband and I now know how to replace elements, bricks, channels, thermocouples, harnesses, wires.  I can, with the help of the manual, program Vary Fire programs.  I help out with the kilns at the community college.  So doing equates to learning!

[Denice]

I bought my first kiln in 1974.  my husband and I had purchased our first house.  Everyone  buys a new sofa or bed for a new home,  I bought a used Paragon kiln.  my husband wired it in.   I had never fired a kiln before  but I can learn anything from a book.  Couldn't help my high school pottery teacher he fired on weekends and a young girl shouldn't be around him all alone.   A few years after I graduated he divorced his wife and married a student.   After 50 years of use it was too old and crumbly to put new elements in it.  When we took the rings and stainless steel wrap off of it the bricks turned into dust.    Denice

[Hulk]

Watched instructor and lab techs loading and unloading the kilns at local Junior College ceramic lab whilst attending Wheel I&II classes.
Read up here, digitalfire.com, and a few books loaned by the instructor and County library, found a used kiln, then Learn By Doing*!

Ooops, overfired; oops, crushed an entire load, dropping a shelf; oops, overfired again ...then pretty close, then closer yet - dense pack in the middle, sparser top and bottom...

Keeping detailed notes (log books**) have helped.

Maintenance - both kilns, the vendors have extensive documentation and excellent Support.
I've found assembly, troubleshooting, and repairs/maintenance to be rather straightforward, so far...

* "doing" - well, that includes successes and mistakes/failures.
:|
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo motto: Learn By Doing
My dad was a graduate, circa 1953

** The firing book includes times and temps, furniture arrangement, cone positions/results, and more
The glaze book includes recipe adjustment, application notes, specific gravity and thixotropy, results, and more
More is good.

[Russ]

My education on firing came from the School of Hard Knocks aka trial and error. After 25yrs with this kiln Im still learning. With my type of kiln about 50% is people wrangling.

[grackle]

Someone else always ran the kiln in college.  Then graduated, got my own skutt kiln with a kiln setter.  i ended up, after some experimenting, loading, then turning the bottom third on low for an hour with one vent open.  then closed vent, and turned on the second tier on low.  An hour later, the top tier on low.  Then the same  with medium, bottom, second and third tier, one hour apart, then the same with high until the kiln setter shut things down.  it seemed to work pretty well.

got busy with other things, and ended up selling my wheel and kiln--no time for ceramics.

retired, and had a little money, bought a new wheel and L and L easy fire kiln (too small, but living with it) with a genesis control system.  I would have been happy with the kiln setter, but they talked me out of it.  first time I fired it, cone 6, I knew it was too hot, ware was obviously a bit over fired, so now use a cone 5 and it works well.  I want to learn how to set up an auto program, but have not had time for that, just use the standard programs, mostly the medium speed.  Still working part time, and that is my excuse.

Did not have the first one long enough to need to rewire, maybe will with this one.  My husband, I think, would love the challenge though.

[Mark C.]

I learned in collage as I bought a used electric then (for the electric side)  but first In Junior collage the art department needed gas kilns build and I laerned to make catanary arch kilns there by building them ,. I know already how to throw as I bought a wheel in HS. Later at the university I was the a glaze teck and kiln loader firing and all around kiln grunt-shelve griding etc. Cleaned out the ceramics lab every 1/4 as well. Did that for a few years. That program was cone 06 electric and cone 10 reduction gas. I was late teens and early 20s throuh that time.

Edited Thursday at 04:02 PM by Mark C.

[Min]

22 hours ago, Russ said:

With my type of kiln about 50% is people wrangling.

Huh, I always thought you fired with wood. (my bad but couldn’t help it)

[Russ]

2 hours ago, Min said:

my bad but couldn’t help it

Good one Min... you'd think getting folks to throw wood in the kiln would be simple.  BUT NO!!! Although having lots of good food helps alot.

[davidh4976]

By reading the owners manual.

By reading a Duncan service manual. It's an older manual, but still a good reference. It has some good safety checks. https://eadn-wc04-7751283.nxedge.io/wp-content/uploads/LX_809_Duncan_Kiln_Service_Manual-1.pdf

By firing my own electric kiln. By building my own gas kiln conversion and firing it. By just diving in and doing maintenance on other people's kilns. It doesn't hurt that I have a background in electronics and electrical work.

[Denice]

Marc   You had to clean the shelves!  Everyone had to clean shelves at my school,  they would have a day where every class had to spend class time grinding,  scraping and kiln washing shelves.  The only time I help unload a gas kiln was when the college was making a commercial,   I was working in my area when they grabbed anyone there to unload a very hot gas kiln.  Cameras rolling we were climbing in out of the kiln handing out pots with sweat rolling down our face and arms.   Maybe that is when I decided to go oxidation firing instead of reduction.  Denice

[LeeU]

"I have always depended on the kindness of strangers." Blanche DuBois-Streetcar Named Desire      (What she said.)

[Rae Reich]

I could have learned more at school by hanging out with the lab techs during firings, but I never expected to have my own kiln. I also didn’t understand how observing the firings and their effects could help my work.

Lucky for me, I got a job with more experienced potters who taught me bisque and ^10 firing and how and why to keep logs.

I couldn’t pass up the chance for a kiln of my own after that, so I learned a whole lot more, by trial and error and potter friends and firing partners.

Every kiln is a new adventure. 

[grackle]

Have dreamed about building a gas kiln.  We have something called live oak decline here in the TX Hill Country, and almost every oak tree on our five acres died in the past two years.  So, firewood out the wazoo.  I know we would both enjoy BUILDING a kiln, we love to build things (built our dome house and all the out buildings), but the long hours firing a wood fired kiln are daunting.

That said, both in our seventies, so not likely to happen.  I wish one of my kids was interested, but that has not happened.

[Mark C.]

10 hours ago, Denice said:

Marc   You had to clean the shelves!  Everyone had to clean shelves at my school,  they would have a day where every class had to spend class time grinding,  scraping and kiln washing shelves.  The only time I help unload a gas kiln was when the college was making a commercial,   I was working in my area when they grabbed anyone there to unload a very hot gas kiln.  Cameras rolling we were climbing in out of the kiln handing out pots with sweat rolling down our face and arms.   Maybe that is when I decided to go oxidation firing instead of reduction.  Denice

As a teck I loaded fired and unloaded kilns all week and  some weekends . I was on a student work program for about 1.20 hr or something very low. for a few years part og the school of hard nocks learning. The shelf grinding was done in between quarters on the gas kilns on silicon carbide shelves. Not much glaze running on cone 06 electric shelfs .

Edited 17 hours ago by Mark C.

[Pres]

Never did much grinding over the years. Mostly done with a hand grinder and a dremel tool.  Then a few years back I had to get a hand grinder for some masonry work around the house. Now I use it if needed on shelves. Even then not very often, as I keep the shelves washed. Only time I use the grinder now is when changing sides on the shelves.

 

best,

Pres