I thought I might also take this opportunity to share how the kiln has fared its first two firings. For the most part I'm quite thrilled. The side walls of the second and third chamber don't seem to have moved at all, the stucco is holding steady, we still need some more bagwall adjusting, but the kiln has been very responsive during the firings. Of course this is the first kiln Christy and I can really call our own, so I imagine even if the kiln looked like it was liable to fall over in a year or two we would be pleased just to own our own kiln.
I'm particularly pleased with our dampers:
The second iteration of the stoke hole plugs are also doing great. I think that the first time around they simply were too fine grained. This time, they didn't warp at all during drying, so they fit quite nicely, and seemed to stay snug, and draft free. I'm pretty pleased with that.
That leaves us with the 'not so good' news:
The most perplexing problem though is the first chamber entrance. The arch is notched in around the entrance which we thought would keep the entrance arch from moving during the firing. It hasn't really worked though. Quite a good size gap opens up during the firings. I don't think it's leaking much air, but it looks kind of bad while you are firing. Unfortunately though we made the mistake of filling the gap in after we finished firing the first chamber and were moving onto the second chamber. Of course filling this gap stopped everything from shrinking back down to where it was before the firing started...
The chamber arch is still sitting firmly on the door arch though, so it's not a major issue in the immediate future. It certainly seems like it could become an issue over the years though. Obviously I'll refrain in the future from cramming the gap full of clay and sand. Maybe if it looks like it's leaking air during the firing I can try and seal it up with newspaper dipped in slip. We'll see, as always I'm open to suggestions.
Joe
1 comment:
Ciao,only a few days we have a blog of pottery. I live in Turin and my name is Filippo Di Giovanni, with my friend Raffaella, three years ago we have opened a studio were we work with ceramica.We have not yet shown around our creations.
I would be pleased your comments on our works. thanks
filippo
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