mel jacobson on sat 21 dec 96
without question the decision to built a kiln...any kiln, is determined by
your location, fuel availabilty, smoke laws, and the amount of people
you have to help fire.
we have built a small wood fired kiln at our farm in wisconsin..the decision
to do this was based on a saw mill 5 miles from us..with slab wood for $7.00
for a double cord. we also can get cedar, pine, and oak as choices. we
must haul it our selves..but not a problem. when we fire it, often we
have perhaps 10 people available to stoke. it becomes group activity and
and shared learning. i would not want to do all alone.
I am working on some writing as we speak about doubling fuels for small
kilns.. we like to fire with gas in the wood kiln to 1800F or so..then start
the wood.. if we run into a severe stall, or need rest, or have bad weather
we simply turn on the gas. this also allows for gas firing with almost any
scrap, burnable or throw away fuel including saw dust or wood chips.
the decision to build any kiln is very important..but what the fuel is going
to be...and can you always get it is even more important...i really think
having a good relationship with a propane dealer is paramount if you are
rural...and knowing about natural gas and doing some study is very important
if you are in the city. FUEL and understanding it is the first basic of
firing... just like the post on electric kiln questions... always know the
amps, volts and firing amounts when you buy a kiln... a three phase kiln is
no bargain if you live in a house. alert your garbage man that he will have
a big load coming.
in wisconsin "butch" at the saw mill, and "craig" who drives the propane
truck are very important to us. we take good care of them... and the same
becomes a reality in reverse. mel jacobson/ spent three hours with nils
this week, talking fast and sharing ideas... he is one terrific person.
every potter in the world owes him "thanks nils, nice going, glad you are
smart and am i glad you share that stuff with us". (we sort of had an
airport date. he was between planes in minneapolis and our living room is
comfy.)
Don Sanami on sun 22 dec 96
I would agree with Mel J. for the most part. A few extra comments:
Because of pollution we no longer fire with wood after many years of
operating Ana-gama. Cedar is a dirty,oily wood and we avoided it its use.
Hardwoods never appealed to us because of the short flame which is
undesirable in long kilns. Too much of the heating takes place early and
too near the front of the kiln. For a time,we used a Corona oil-burner
for the primary heat,switching to soft-wood scrap above dull red. Thge
Corona was an excellent small,portable burner...extremely economical of
fuel. don &Isao MorrillOn Sat, 21 Dec 1996, mel jacobson wrote:
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> without question the decision to built a kiln...any kiln, is determined by
> your location, fuel availabilty, smoke laws, and the amount of people
> you have to help fire.
> we have built a small wood fired kiln at our farm in wisconsin..the decision
> to do this was based on a saw mill 5 miles from us..with slab wood for $7.00
> for a double cord. we also can get cedar, pine, and oak as choices. we
> must haul it our selves..but not a problem. when we fire it, often we
> have perhaps 10 people available to stoke. it becomes group activity and
> and shared learning. i would not want to do all alone.
> I am working on some writing as we speak about doubling fuels for small
> kilns.. we like to fire with gas in the wood kiln to 1800F or so..then start
> the wood.. if we run into a severe stall, or need rest, or have bad weather
> we simply turn on the gas. this also allows for gas firing with almost any
> scrap, burnable or throw away fuel including saw dust or wood chips.
> the decision to build any kiln is very important..but what the fuel is going
> to be...and can you always get it is even more important...i really think
> having a good relationship with a propane dealer is paramount if you are
> rural...and knowing about natural gas and doing some study is very important
> if you are in the city. FUEL and understanding it is the first basic of
> firing... just like the post on electric kiln questions... always know the
> amps, volts and firing amounts when you buy a kiln... a three phase kiln is
> no bargain if you live in a house. alert your garbage man that he will have
> a big load coming.
> in wisconsin "butch" at the saw mill, and "craig" who drives the propane
> truck are very important to us. we take good care of them... and the same
> becomes a reality in reverse. mel jacobson/ spent three hours with nils
> this week, talking fast and sharing ideas... he is one terrific person.
> every potter in the world owes him "thanks nils, nice going, glad you are
> smart and am i glad you share that stuff with us". (we sort of had an
> airport date. he was between planes in minneapolis and our living room is
> comfy.)
>
mel jacobson on thu 19 dec 02
wood fired kilns have many purposes.
make sure the purpose has been chosen. i know others
have mentioned this, but it bears repeating.
if you just want heat, fire cone 10 reduction...do
the bourry, fast fire construction. you know, cone
10 in 10 hours. that is it.
if you want ash and flash, long firings, then some
sort of anagama will be best. 80 hours of firing.
make sure all are on the same page, know what you
want, how many people will `always` be there to help
fire. and, what is the source of fuel.
it is like the course in kiln building that a friend took
at the u of minnesota. they talked construction for
10 weeks. bricks, styles etc. not once was fuel talked
about. or, how to get it, how it works, what is propane, how
much does it cost?
gathering wood can be the biggest pain in the ass in the world.
who has the splitter, who has a `stihl` chainsaw. ???
who can use them? is the source of wood a ten year source...not
one year. cutting down trees, splitting and stacking and waiting
two years to dry is a hard way to learn about wood fuel.
chart these things.
write them down...check off how it is all going to work.
write the work details in blood.
mel
`hey, i would love to help with the wood, but have
to get the hound dog in for shots...coon hunting is comin
up fast, but make sure my 80 pots are stacked in there
in the best place, i have a show coming up.`
From:
Minnetonka, Minnesota, U.S.A.
web site: my.pclink.com/~melpots
or try: http://www.pclink.com/melpots
Lee Love on thu 19 dec 02
----- Original Message -----
From: "mel jacobson"
> gathering wood can be the biggest pain in the ass in the world.
I thought I'd have to spend $2.50 to $3.00 a bundled for wood here in
Japan. But my Austrailian friend and Sempai, Euan Craig, informed me of a
place to obtain "waste wood" like we used back home. This wood comes dry and
requires no splitter or chainsaw. A circular or table saw is handy to cut
widths narrow enough to break them on your knee.
I got four bundles of chipboard (imported from Canada) for the cost
of delivery. I'm building Euan's kiln design, which is a sort of modified
Phoenix fast fire. It will fire quickly and makes more ash than I really want
(I like glazed ware.) Using the Canadian waste wood makes a glaze firing
cost about 12 bucks a firing (stoking slowly, you can make a glaze firing last
12 or 14 hours.)
Euan is in Austrailia until the middle of February, but when he gets back,
I'll ask him if I can share his kiln plans.
--
Lee Love
Mashiko JAPAN Ikiru@hachiko.com
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Diane Mead on fri 20 dec 02
Mel's sage advice comes from knowing those pitfalls of
"group" efforts---But hopefully I will have enough students
that depend on their building, etc for a "GRADE!" I hope.
John Kimpton Dellow on sat 21 dec 02
mel jacobson wrote:
>
> wood fired kilns have many purposes.
>
> make sure the purpose has been chosen. i know others
> have mentioned this, but it bears repeating.
>
> if you just want heat, fire cone 10 reduction...do
> the bourry, fast fire construction. you know, cone
> 10 in 10 hours. that is it.
>
> if you want ash and flash, long firings, then some
> sort of anagama will be best. 80 hours of firing.
>
Not the case . An extended bourry box will give better ash
coverage than an
annagamma according to Steven Harrison.
John Dellow "the flower pot man"
Home Page http://www.welcome.to/jkdellow
http://digitalfire.com/education/people/dellow/
mel jacobson on tue 22 apr 03
thanks lee, and good luck (skill) on your up coming show.
i am not considered a wood firing potter.
kurt and i built a train, but, we fire it only
a few times a year...and, it is a small one.
it is about a good time with friends...not serious
wood firing.
we have had enough experience to know that
wood firing can be daunting. weather is one factor..
and keeping wood dry and covered is the other.
stacking, getting, hauling, trailers, trucks...saws,
splitting....it all takes a toll. a potters time is precious and getting
help is always an issue.
you may have a source for wood, but few folks just
drop it off for you, stack it under a shelter, age it
for you...and make sure rain does not get to it.
that is all for you to do.
or, as in our case...bob ran short of wood for his stove
this winter, so he used about two cords of dry ready stacked
wood for our first summer firing. `now, who goes and gets
more?` kurt and i do. `oh, were you guys going to use that
wood? i thought it was just left over stuff...` you get the
picture.
and this is just the tip of the ice-lump.
mel
From:
Minnetonka, Minnesota, U.S.A.
web site: my.pclink.com/~melpots
or try: http://www.pclink.com/melpots
new/ http://www.TICK-ATTACK.COM
Lee Love on tue 22 apr 03
I wonder if Marvin Windows would be a source for cut off wood?
The other place I get my wood is from the Grape Grower's daughters. In
Jean's thursday evening English conversation class, that meets in our home, she
has two sisters as students who are college educated, but work on the family
grape farm. The grapes they grow aren't what we are used to back home.
These are all grown under netting and when the grapes are done blossoming, each
bunch is covered with a paper bag, to protect them from the insects or what ever
birds that might find their way through the netting. These grapes are "eating
grapes." Each one is the size of a plum and are as sweet as any you've ever
tasted. I have a photo of them somewhere on my hard drive. You have to see
them to believe it.
Mostly, the wood I get from them, that they clean out of the vineyards
and their woods, I use in my woodstove in the studio. I'll probably use some
in the woodkiln, in the begining of the firing, because it is bigger stuff and
burns more slowly than the cutoff wood.
Craig Edwards? Do you use the same old pallet wood in the new Anagama?
Lee in Mashiko
"The lyfe so short, the craft so long to learne." - Geoffrey Chaucer (c.
1340-1400).-
._____________________________________________
| Lee Love ^/(o\| Practice before theory. |
| Ikiru@hachiko.com |\o)/v - Sotetsu Yanagi - |
`~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~'
"All weaves one fabric; all things give
Power unto all things to work and live." - Goethe -
Roger Korn on tue 22 apr 03
mel jacobson wrote:
> ...
>
> stacking, getting, hauling, trailers, trucks...saws,
> splitting....it all takes a toll. a potters time is precious and getting
> help is always an issue.
>
> ...
> and this is just the tip of the ice-lump.
> mel
"It takes a village", and they gotta' have pickups and chain saws and be
thinkin' about the next couple years wood requirements. Mill owners that
collect wood-fire pots are also handy, particularly when they bundle
edger trims and deliver them to the kiln, with the strapping spaced so
that you can cut the bundles into 'side wood' for the anagama.
Roger
>
>
> From:
> Minnetonka, Minnesota, U.S.A.
> web site: my.pclink.com/~melpots
> or try: http://www.pclink.com/melpots
> new/ http://www.TICK-ATTACK.COM
>
> ______________________________________________________________________________
>
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
> melpots@pclink.com.
>
--
Roger Korn
McKay Creek Ceramics
In AZ: PO Box 463
4215 Culpepper Ranch Rd
Rimrock, AZ 86335
928-567-5699 <-
In OR: PO Box 436
31330 NW Pacific Ave.
North Plains, OR 97133
503-647-5464
Craig Edwards on wed 23 apr 03
Hello Lee and others:Wood, Wood and more wood,-- yes if you have a woodfire
you are in the wood business in a serious way. Yes Lee, the pallet wood is
still available but because of the nails in the wood I don't use it. There
is a sawmill in Long Pairie-- about 50 miles north of New London that I get
slab wood from. This is mostly oak. There is a fellow there that makes pine
panelling, so I get some nice pine from him. The wood that I sidestoke with
is stripping from a cabinet shop- it burns real fast, all surface area! I
also side stroke to built up embers. I do this when the front gets to about
cone 10-11. I'll stoke small pieces of wood that come from local cabinets
shops into the sidestoke holes. This builds up ember beds- sometimes
covering the pots with embers. This leaves a nice gunmetal surface with
pink rivelets and a nice ash flash about it. It also helps to keep the kiln
in a reducing state-- I seem to have problems with this the kiln oxidizing
in longer firings of three or four days.
I'm planing on firing later in May. It should be an interesting load. Svend
Bayer stopped by and made some of his large pots- real hummers. Mei-Gun Gu
and Guangzhen Zhou are coming by to make some teapots. There will be
cultural diverisity if nothing else!
Peace;
Craig Edwards
New London MN
>From: Lee Love
>Reply-To: Lee Love
>To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
>Subject: Re: wood kilns
>Date: Tue, 22 Apr 2003 23:15:00 +0900
>
> I wonder if Marvin Windows would be a source for cut off wood?
>
> The other place I get my wood is from the Grape Grower's daughters.
>In
>Jean's thursday evening English conversation class, that meets in our home,
>she
>has two sisters as students who are college educated, but work on the
>family
>grape farm. The grapes they grow aren't what we are used to back home.
>These are all grown under netting and when the grapes are done blossoming,
>each
>bunch is covered with a paper bag, to protect them from the insects or what
>ever
>birds that might find their way through the netting. These grapes are
>"eating
>grapes." Each one is the size of a plum and are as sweet as any you've
>ever
>tasted. I have a photo of them somewhere on my hard drive. You have to
>see
>them to believe it.
>
> Mostly, the wood I get from them, that they clean out of the
>vineyards
>and their woods, I use in my woodstove in the studio. I'll probably use
>some
>in the woodkiln, in the begining of the firing, because it is bigger stuff
>and
>burns more slowly than the cutoff wood.
>
> Craig Edwards? Do you use the same old pallet wood in the new
>Anagama?
>
> Lee in Mashiko
>
> "The lyfe so short, the craft so long to learne." - Geoffrey
>Chaucer (c.
>1340-1400).-
> ._____________________________________________
> | Lee Love ^/(o\| Practice before theory.
> |
> | Ikiru@hachiko.com |\o)/v - Sotetsu Yanagi - |
> `~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~'
> "All weaves one fabric; all things give
> Power unto all things to work and live." - Goethe -
>
>______________________________________________________________________________
>Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
>You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
>settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
>Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
>melpots@pclink.com.
_________________________________________________________________
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mel jacobson on mon 5 mar 12
by the way, just for the record, i own a very
nice wood fired kiln. (medium size, 200+pots
per firing) i love it very much.
and, get to fire it whenever i have strong
young folks to help me. it sits on my farm
in clear lake, wisconsin. rural. very rural.
we have 60 acres of mixed wood trees, with
enough downed trees each winter to fire this
kiln into the next generation. self sustaining.
and, the farm, houses, barn, kilns are all paid
for, and have been for years.
we are building a new salt soda kiln too. tim
frederich will be in charge of that construction. donovan palmquist
will be in charge of the design. hard brick.
i think wood firing is a great system, and should
be preserved forever.
mel
as i sit here, there is an A+++ beautiful wood fired
piece by nils lou sitting on my shelf. i adore that pot.
and, for a goofy old man, nils is adored too.
hay creek is changing fast. bob holman is very ill, kurt has died,
our space is very limited. we are pulling things in.
http://www.visi.com/~melpots/
clayart page below:
http://www.visi.com/~melpots/clayart.html
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