Depends on how many bricks you got.... I built a twin brick skin updraught
using soil betwixt the skins, damn thing was sooooo boring to fire,it just
went up and came down, but took 36 hours to cool (8 hours to heat...)
Hugs
Eddie
"Slgraber" wrote in message
...
once you build a kiln i doubt you'll want to buy one. you can get very
much of
what you want with a home built kiln where one purchased has you
conforming to
what you simply have to use for fire.

i bought one to start with years back - an electric. later i acquired an
old
gas kiln about as big as a coke machine & refurbished it. it fired very
well,
but was small in size for what i tend to throw. i designed and built a
big
thing in my new backyard. then i built a portable cloth raku kiln.

that link you had with a brick kiln might be a fun starting point for
another
kiln. even one slightly larger, and dig around it to dump natural dirt on
top
for better insulation. use it for a salt kiln.

steve





Subject: Kiln building - beginner's questions
From: Stelios Zacharias
Date: 9/30/2004 11:13 PM Pacific Daylight Time
Message-id:

On 01 Oct 2004 03:29:18 GMT, (Slgraber) wrote:

i first held off your question thinking others would respond better or
more
briefly then me. but coming back a few days later you're still asking.

I'm glad you did answer. I just need that little bit of
encouragement to go through with what those around me call my
crazy schemes!


1. i think mortar between the bricks helps keep heat from leaking out,
and
adds to the integrity of the kiln. it also helps even out sloppy bricks
that
you may be using. MEANWHILE i have seen people do wonderful construction
using
dry bricks & no mortar.


OK - thanks for this.


2. you'll certainly reach a good bisque temp, pieces will still leach
thru
the
claybodies. using low fire glazes you'll likely get pieces to hold
water.
i
have used raku coffee mugs ~ they work fine. drink fast!


I'll look into these Raku glazes after a few successful bisques.

3. you can fire the kiln several times. it'll take a few just to learn
how
to
fire it well anyway.

you're building a modern day "low budget" kiln. you should reach temps
equal
or better then what the old timers did. placement of pieces in the kiln
and
your ability to build a good camp fire ~ or smoke fire mess ~ will
determin
the
pot quality.

These temps were good enough for the ancients - they'll be good
enough for me. There's a whole bunch of whacky early bronze age
shapes I intend to mimic, so the end result won't be too far off
my prototypes.

have fun with it! maybe in time you can convert it over to a single or
double
burner propane fired kiln and get higher temps?

I think the next step will probably be to buy a kiln - unless I
get really hooked on the whole wood firing thing. I don't want to
think about running before walking though.

Thanks for your info, Steve.

Cheers,
Stelios




Subject: Kiln building - beginner's questions
From: Stelios Zacharias
Date: 9/27/2004 2:06 AM Pacific Daylight Time
Message-id:


After a pit firing attempt about this time last year which drew
many informative and helpful comments from the group, I think I
am ready to go to the next step.

I am planning to build the kiln shown on this web-page which I
found by googling:

http://www-personal.une.edu.au/~lgru...kiln/kiln.html

Could someone advise on whether mortar in between the bricks is a
must or just helpful. Should I line the inside or outside of the
kiln or neither with the same material I will be using as mortar.
The site advises clay plus sand for the mortar.

What sort of temperatures will I be reaching - would pots come
out able to hold water, without being glazed? I guess this
depends on the clay body I am using - well, I have two clays I
collected recently from fields / road cuttings. One has a grey
colour, the other a reddy-orange colour. I don't know too much
about them, save that the red clay came out of the pit nicely
fired, whereas the grey could have done with more heat probably.

I'll be using mainly olive and a sort of holm oak for the firing
itself.

Would the kiln be able to fire more than once, or is it a
once-only thing? Should I use special bricks or standard bricks?

Thanks for your time.

Stelios
Greece
--

The address in the headers is real and does not need de-mungeing








steve graber

--

The address in the headers is real and does not need de-mungeing








steve graber