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joyce and my wood kiln

updated sat 5 apr 08

 

Elizabeth Priddy on wed 2 apr 08


Joyce,

Seriously, come fire it.

It will cost about 500 firebrick to build it and about
6 shelves.

I salvaged all the shelves I needed. The design is
an english cross-draft, so evolved from the original
design of Steven Mills that I will indeed take credit
for the kiln design, but he makes a very cool project kiln.

His is built out of regular housebrick and is intended
to fire and be deconstructed, moved, and fired again.
It was the jump off point for mine. I had researched his
in my designing of a moveable gas kiln, and that is how
I found it. For that kiln, the moveable gas one, I will
need about $2000 to build the prototype, as I do not
weld, but I have a manufacturer sreced out and it is on
hold for a while while I play with this one.

Mine is different in the use of more durable brick, the
use of kaowool slip slurry instead of wadding, the structure
and size of the stack, the firing schedule. There is no bagwall.
The size is bigger. I use insulative fiber on the top when firing.
The firebox entries are covered with fiber doors.

The draft system in the floor is all mine.
The way you clean the ash as it accumulates
in the firebox is awesome and absolutely inspired. It is the
most super-sweet part of the kiln design.

The primary air comes from the whole floor of the kiln through
a system of tunnels and outlets in the firebox floor that can be
cleaned while firing with a long 2x4, creating a very hot box that
draws oxygen from across the whole floor, so no cold spots in
the firebox. This may be meaningful to someone, but I think there
are not a lot of people that it will excite. It does what a fast
Freddy is doing by having two firebox stokes. But with only one.
That is speculation, I want to fire a fast freddy and see it in
comparison. I looked at a friend's old one that they were taking
down while I was planning this one, but I haven't fired one.

I have fired very large gas car kilns, all manner of electric, pit,
raku, and anagama types. All of them had issues that the one
I built sovle for me.

Oh yeah, no welding, no mortar, no arch. The kiln remains able
to be reconfigured easily as I see a need to tweak it. I had a
metal stack that I planned to replace every third firing for about
5 dollars at the Habitat resale store, but I went ahaead and gave
it a permanent stack this past firing and it is great. I am seeing
one stress point at the base of the stack interior that I have
relieved to prevent future stress, but I may take down the stack
and replace that brick just for aesthetic reasons. Not a high priority.

The crossdraft is what makes it different than a train.
It is not a true train, it just looks like one. A train is like a
tunnel of fire, mine is like a tower in a Z configuration, the
fire starts in the firebox, goes left and up, right and down
across the work, and up through the stack.

So the original flame is moving about 12 feet including
the stack with about 4x2x2.5 of it filled with work.
I salt it with a french salt system of cups and cigars, light and
very specific salt.

When it is firing, I can easily force it to shoot flame about
4 feet out the stack, but that is just an issue of seeing if it
could be done. It is essentially smokeless.

It uses the same cone 7 glazes and clays I use in my electric.

It is like my post to Kelly about criticism, the future of design is
usually in the construction and physics of a thing, not how it looks.

For ash, I use ash slops and glazes, There is a hiding place in the
firebox for small pieces to be fired pit style under the accumulating ash.
Only I get to put work there, and I light the kiln with pampas grass,
very cool looking to start, and great kindling power.

My steel L-braces keep bending under the heat of the firebox, but I
will get that solved. As it is, I just replace them every third firing for
about $12. They are cool to look at and perhaps will make a sculpture
someday, although that might require welding, so it will have to wait.

E

A serious offer to visit and fire it to anyone interested in building one.
I do not have plans drawn out yet, just pictures of it in construction.






Elizabeth Priddy
Beaufort, NC - USA

Natural Instincts Conference Information:
http://downtothepottershouse.com/NaturalInstincts.html
http://www.elizabethpriddy.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7973282@N03/

---------------------------------
You rock. That's why Blockbuster's offering you one month of Blockbuster Total Access, No Cost.

jonathan edward byler on wed 2 apr 08


Elizabeth,

Sometime in the near future I am going to build a wood kiln here with
gary wagoner at auburn. we are waiting on some bricks and a few
other things. Would you be so kind as to send some pictures of your
design? I have modified a design from Euan Craig, which has the flue
in the floor, and two fireboxes under the ware chamber facing the
front of the kiln. I am also looking at having most of the air come
in between the fireboxes and under the flue, so that it can be
preheated. it may be that I need to do a more extensive ducting
design to really make a difference. I think that preheating the air
is one of the best ways to improve the efficiency of any fuel kiln,
and am looking for ways to do that on the soda kiln we are building.
It's something that the blast furnace builders discovered over 100
years ago, and to this day, the studio potter has still not caught
on. I guess it complicates the kiln design a fair bit...

What are you using for shelves in this salt/woodfiring kiln? also is
the interior of this kiln hard or soft brick?

-jon

p.s. I might be coming through that way this summer, and might well
be interested in seeing you kiln, and watching/helping you fire it.

jon byler
3-D Building Coordinator
Art Department
Auburn University, AL 36849



On Apr 2, 2008, at 5:59 PM, Elizabeth Priddy wrote:

> Joyce,
>
> Seriously, come fire it.
>
> It will cost about 500 firebrick to build it and about
> 6 shelves.
>
> I salvaged all the shelves I needed. The design is
> an english cross-draft, so evolved from the original
> design of Steven Mills that I will indeed take credit
> for the kiln design, but he makes a very cool project kiln.
>
> His is built out of regular housebrick and is intended
> to fire and be deconstructed, moved, and fired again.
> It was the jump off point for mine. I had researched his
> in my designing of a moveable gas kiln, and that is how
> I found it. For that kiln, the moveable gas one, I will
> need about $2000 to build the prototype, as I do not
> weld, but I have a manufacturer sreced out and it is on
> hold for a while while I play with this one.
>
> Mine is different in the use of more durable brick, the
> use of kaowool slip slurry instead of wadding, the structure
> and size of the stack, the firing schedule. There is no bagwall.
> The size is bigger. I use insulative fiber on the top when firing.
> The firebox entries are covered with fiber doors.
>
> The draft system in the floor is all mine.
> The way you clean the ash as it accumulates
> in the firebox is awesome and absolutely inspired. It is the
> most super-sweet part of the kiln design.
>
> The primary air comes from the whole floor of the kiln through
> a system of tunnels and outlets in the firebox floor that can be
> cleaned while firing with a long 2x4, creating a very hot box that
> draws oxygen from across the whole floor, so no cold spots in
> the firebox. This may be meaningful to someone, but I think there
> are not a lot of people that it will excite. It does what a fast
> Freddy is doing by having two firebox stokes. But with only one.
> That is speculation, I want to fire a fast freddy and see it in
> comparison. I looked at a friend's old one that they were taking
> down while I was planning this one, but I haven't fired one.
>
> I have fired very large gas car kilns, all manner of electric, pit,
> raku, and anagama types. All of them had issues that the one
> I built sovle for me.
>
> Oh yeah, no welding, no mortar, no arch. The kiln remains able
> to be reconfigured easily as I see a need to tweak it. I had a
> metal stack that I planned to replace every third firing for about
> 5 dollars at the Habitat resale store, but I went ahaead and gave
> it a permanent stack this past firing and it is great. I am seeing
> one stress point at the base of the stack interior that I have
> relieved to prevent future stress, but I may take down the stack
> and replace that brick just for aesthetic reasons. Not a high
> priority.
>
> The crossdraft is what makes it different than a train.
> It is not a true train, it just looks like one. A train is like a
> tunnel of fire, mine is like a tower in a Z configuration, the
> fire starts in the firebox, goes left and up, right and down
> across the work, and up through the stack.
>
> So the original flame is moving about 12 feet including
> the stack with about 4x2x2.5 of it filled with work.
> I salt it with a french salt system of cups and cigars, light and
> very specific salt.
>
> When it is firing, I can easily force it to shoot flame about
> 4 feet out the stack, but that is just an issue of seeing if it
> could be done. It is essentially smokeless.
>
> It uses the same cone 7 glazes and clays I use in my electric.
>
> It is like my post to Kelly about criticism, the future of design is
> usually in the construction and physics of a thing, not how it
> looks.
>
> For ash, I use ash slops and glazes, There is a hiding place in the
> firebox for small pieces to be fired pit style under the
> accumulating ash.
> Only I get to put work there, and I light the kiln with pampas
> grass,
> very cool looking to start, and great kindling power.
>
> My steel L-braces keep bending under the heat of the firebox, but I
> will get that solved. As it is, I just replace them every
> third firing for
> about $12. They are cool to look at and perhaps will make a
> sculpture
> someday, although that might require welding, so it will have to
> wait.
>
> E
>
> A serious offer to visit and fire it to anyone interested in
> building one.
> I do not have plans drawn out yet, just pictures of it in
> construction.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Elizabeth Priddy
> Beaufort, NC - USA
>
> Natural Instincts Conference Information:
> http://downtothepottershouse.com/NaturalInstincts.html
> http://www.elizabethpriddy.com
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/7973282@N03/
>
> ---------------------------------
> You rock. That's why Blockbuster's offering you one month of
> Blockbuster Total Access, No Cost.
>
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Elizabeth Priddy on thu 3 apr 08


The problem with ducts for air is that as soon as
you begin firing, they fill with ash and debris.
So you have to have a way of cleaning it as you fire,
or you lose the air in about an hour. My design
keeps the ducts straight from one end to the
other and pullling air from the sides. It makes
it so that I can run a 2x4 through the channels
every hour or half hour of firing and keep the air
coming the whole time I am firing.

As embers build, theceaning becmes important.
The embers rest underneath the ware, so that
the work is also heated from beneath as well as
from the flame as it passes over.


I am getting the pictures together now.


Elizabeth Priddy
Beaufort, NC - USA

Natural Instincts Conference Information:
http://downtothepottershouse.com/NaturalInstincts.html
http://www.elizabethpriddy.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7973282@N03/

---------------------------------
You rock. That's why Blockbuster's offering you one month of Blockbuster Total Access, No Cost.

Steve Mills on thu 3 apr 08


Dear Elizabeth,

A few small corrections.

My kiln is not a temporary or moving one, there are a few around now and they all stay where they were built and work very hard!
The housebricks used are unusual as they are made from a naturally occuring very refractory clay, cheaper than hard firebrick, and can handle cone 12 wood-salt firings comfortably.

Very best wishes

Steve Mills
Bath
UK

Elizabeth Priddy wrote:
Joyce,

Seriously, come fire it.

It will cost about 500 firebrick to build it and about
6 shelves.

I salvaged all the shelves I needed. The design is
an english cross-draft, so evolved from the original
design of Steven Mills that I will indeed take credit
for the kiln design, but he makes a very cool project kiln.

His is built out of regular housebrick and is intended
to fire and be deconstructed, moved, and fired again.
It was the jump off point for mine.

---------------------------------
You rock. That's why Blockbuster's offering you one month of Blockbuster Total Access, No Cost.

Elizabeth Priddy on fri 4 apr 08


Dear Elizabeth,

A few small corrections.

My kiln is not a temporary or moving one, there are a few around now
and they all stay where they were built and work very hard!
The housebricks used are unusual as they are made from a naturally
occuring very refractory clay, cheaper than hard firebrick, and can
handle cone 12 wood-salt firings comfortably.

Very best wishes

Steve Mills
Bath
UK
_____________________________________________-

Thanks for clearing that up.

In the literature, I understood it differently. I think people should
buy the plans for your kiln and see how they can adapt it to their
needs, as I did.

It is a far cry different from the norm that I have seen and I think it
is the perfect solution for a a one person wood kiln.

THe modifications I made were from expedience and to test some
physics theories. Lucky for me, they worked out.

A friendly helper for my last firing is a naval doctor, but started out
as an engineer. He was very surprised at how much engineering
goes into a kiln design. People need to keep that in mind when they
modify a design. For non-physics minded people, they should stick to
a plan on the first go-round.

E


Elizabeth Priddy
Beaufort, NC - USA

Natural Instincts Conference Information:
http://downtothepottershouse.com/NaturalInstincts.html
http://www.elizabethpriddy.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7973282@N03/

---------------------------------
You rock. That's why Blockbuster's offering you one month of Blockbuster Total Access, No Cost.