Gaynor Reeve on sun 7 jun 98
Having fired in an electric 6.7cuft kiln for 10 years I'm now
ready to build or buy a larger kiln. Gas or Electric!!!
I fancy trying gas, but many say, Oh No!! don't touch gas!!
too complicated!! risky etc..
I've got the room and a willing partner to help build, if the savings are worth
So is Gas as difficult as they say and if so, Why..
All help and advice gratefully received.
Gaynor.
Marcia Selsor on mon 8 jun 98
I have never considered gas to be difficult. It does require vigilance
during the firing. I just think it can provide more variation and in depth
glaze surfaces that electric doesn't give you. If you want that, then that is
what you need- a gas kiln. Electric kilns are far easier to fire and less
hassles with the gas companies, fire dept.s insurance companies, etc.
Marcia in Montana
Gaynor Reeve wrote:
>
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> Having fired in an electric 6.7cuft kiln for 10 years I'm now
> ready to build or buy a larger kiln. Gas or Electric!!!
>
> I fancy trying gas, but many say, Oh No!! don't touch gas!!
> too complicated!! risky etc..
>
> I've got the room and a willing partner to help build, if the savings are wort
>
> So is Gas as difficult as they say and if so, Why..
>
> All help and advice gratefully received.
>
> Gaynor.
Talbott on mon 8 jun 98
Gaynor...
I can tell you once you go gas you will never go back to electric
firing. The "magic" of firing gas so far exceeds electric kiln firings
that you just will never turn back.
Good Potting... Marshall
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Having fired in an electric 6.7cuft kiln for 10 years I'm now
>ready to build or buy a larger kiln. Gas or Electric!!!
>
>I fancy trying gas, but many say, Oh No!! don't touch gas!!
>too complicated!! risky etc..
>
>I've got the room and a willing partner to help build, if the savings are worth
>
>So is Gas as difficult as they say and if so, Why..
>
>All help and advice gratefully received.
>
>Gaynor.
http://www.PotteryInfo.com
101 CLAYART MUGS (Summer 1998)
2ND ANNUAL CLAYARTERS' GALLERY - NAPLES, MAINE (Summer 1998)
E-MAIL ME FOR APPLICATIONS
Celia & Marshall Talbott, Pottery By Celia, Route 114, P O Box 4116,
Naples, Maine 04055-4116,(207)693-6100 voice and fax,(call first)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
rcarlton@valylink.net.au on tue 9 jun 98
Hi gaynor, A gas kiln will open up a whole new world of glazing for you
however don't be too surprised if the glazes you are used to in electric
firing come out of your new gas kiln radically different
At 09:39 08/06/98 EDT, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Gaynor...
> I can tell you once you go gas you will never go back to electric
>firing. The "magic" of firing gas so far exceeds electric kiln firings
>that you just will never turn back.
>
>Good Potting... Marshall
>
>>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>>Having fired in an electric 6.7cuft kiln for 10 years I'm now
>>ready to build or buy a larger kiln. Gas or Electric!!!
>>
>>I fancy trying gas, but many say, Oh No!! don't touch gas!!
>>too complicated!! risky etc..
>>
>>I've got the room and a willing partner to help build, if the savings are
worth
>>
>>So is Gas as difficult as they say and if so, Why..
>>
>>All help and advice gratefully received.
>>
>>Gaynor.
>
> http://www.PotteryInfo.com
>
> 101 CLAYART MUGS (Summer 1998)
> 2ND ANNUAL CLAYARTERS' GALLERY - NAPLES, MAINE (Summer 1998)
> E-MAIL ME FOR APPLICATIONS
>
> Celia & Marshall Talbott, Pottery By Celia, Route 114, P O Box 4116,
> Naples, Maine 04055-4116,(207)693-6100 voice and fax,(call first)
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
cheers :) Ray Carlton
McMahons Creek Victoria Australia
Paul Lewing on tue 9 jun 98
Gaynor,
I say don't let economics drive this decision for you. Gas and
electric firings produce different looking results- that's what you
should focus on. Decide which look you like the best, and do that.
They each have their advantages and their disadvantages. And each is
easy in some ways and hard in some ways. One will probably fit your
personality better than the other, too. What matters here is your
happiness. Let's face it, there is no other reason to choose an art
career than your happiness. Within reason, the cost of making art
should never be taken into consideration.
I did cone 10 reduction for 20 years and I've now done cone 5
oxidation for 12 years. For what I'm doing now I prefer the
oxidation. I don't think it's necessarily true, as Marshall Talbott
said, that once you've used gas you'll never go back to electric. I do
mis some of those wonderful reduction effects, but I'll trade them for
consistency and brighter colors right now. And it's just a
coincidence that here in Seattle, electricity is MUCH cheaper than
gas. It's true that gas firings require closer monitoring, but I find
the oxidation glazes to be much less forgiving and harder to handle.
Although this may be as much due to the temperature difference as the
atmosphere difference.
There really is an animate being inside every gas kiln, but an
electric kiln is also much more than a giant toaster-oven.
Paul Lewing, Seattle
Wes Handrow on tue 9 jun 98
Gas is much cheaper as a fuel compared to electricity. True you will
need to have a chimney that if used in your home will need to be up to
code. The types of glaze effects that can be done in oxidation or
reduction have a different look than those that are obtained in an
electric fired kiln but in my opinion are better looking, my taste maybe
not yours. Having built and used gas fired kilns for years after using
electric fired kilns I do not find that gas is that much harder to use
and there is not much risk in using either electric or gas if you
consistently follow a set of safety rules. Given a choice I would use
gas without question.
Tim Lynch on wed 10 jun 98
Another blanket statement that just isn't true. I live in Douglas County,
Washington State, "the buckle of the power belt of the great Northwest,"
reputed to having the cheapest electricity rates in the country. I am
paying just over 2 cents a kilowatt hour for electricity. It takes me
about 12 hours to fire my Skutt. How does that compare with gas?
Tim
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Gas is much cheaper as a fuel compared to electricity. True you will
>need to have a chimney that if used in your home will need to be up to
>code. The types of glaze effects that can be done in oxidation or
>reduction have a different look than those that are obtained in an
>electric fired kiln but in my opinion are better looking, my taste maybe
>not yours. Having built and used gas fired kilns for years after using
>electric fired kilns I do not find that gas is that much harder to use
>and there is not much risk in using either electric or gas if you
>consistently follow a set of safety rules. Given a choice I would use
>gas without question.
Tim Lynch
The Clay Man
748 Highline Drive
East Wenatchee, WA 98802-5606
509-884-8303
clayman@internet.wsd.wednet.edu
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Museum/1613
Theresa L. Jones on thu 11 jun 98
Since energy conversion to create electricity is a very inefficient process
(I remember hearing estimates of 10%, including line losses, by the time it
is used), direct combustion of gas to fire a kiln should be a more energy
efficient process and also burns relatively clean (compared to coal). So,
gas is more Earth-friendly. Something to consider when making these
decisions. (Of course, I fire electric so what a little hypocrit I am. I
do have a slab for a gas kiln ... one day).
>
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> Another blanket statement that just isn't true. I live in Douglas County,
> Washington State, "the buckle of the power belt of the great Northwest,"
> reputed to having the cheapest electricity rates in the country. I am
> paying just over 2 cents a kilowatt hour for electricity. It takes me
> about 12 hours to fire my Skutt. How does that compare with gas?
>
> Tim
>
> >----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> >Gas is much cheaper as a fuel compared to electricity. True you will
> >need to have a chimney that if used in your home will need to be up to
> >code. The types of glaze effects that can be done in oxidation or
> >reduction have a different look than those that are obtained in an
> >electric fired kiln but in my opinion are better looking, my taste maybe
> >not yours. Having built and used gas fired kilns for years after using
> >electric fired kilns I do not find that gas is that much harder to use
> >and there is not much risk in using either electric or gas if you
> >consistently follow a set of safety rules. Given a choice I would use
> >gas without question.
>
>
>
>
> Tim Lynch
> The Clay Man
> 748 Highline Drive
> East Wenatchee, WA 98802-5606
> 509-884-8303
> clayman@internet.wsd.wednet.edu
> http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Museum/1613
Theresa L. Jones
tljones@flash.net
Tony Hansen on fri 12 jun 98
I don't agree that gas firing is the holy grail of pottery.
I started with gas and now I am moving more and more toward
electric. Better control. Glazes with better application qualities
and more consistent. I can get the same silky mattes at cone 6.
Lots more color. Cone 6 stoneware is also way stronger than
cone 10 iron ware bodies. Cone 6 vitrified porcelains are
just as strong also.
--
T o n y H a n s e n thansen@digitalfire.com
Don't fight the dragon alone http://digitalfire.com
Calculation/Database Software for Ceramic Industry
Tom Buck on fri 12 jun 98
Well, TL Jones, someone led you astray... most fossil-fueled power
generators have a thermal efficiency of 40+%, ie, of the total chemical
energy in the fuel (coal, oil, gas, wood), at least 40% becomes
electricity, and line losses (the current squared times resistance)
moving the electricty a few hundred miles are almost negligible because
high voltages (and very low currents) are involved.
One can compare gas and electrical costs only on a local basis
since these costs vary widely across North America and on other
continents. Just the other day a potter in Seattle (WA) cited 2 UScents
per kwh whereas I pay 5.5 UScents/kwh. My medium-sized electric kiln
requires approx. 12 kwh/cubic foot to go to 1200 C (C6), or 66 UScents/cf.
A local college natural gas kiln, 60 cf, going to C10 has firing costs of
90 UScents/cf, sometimes higher if the wind blows in the wrong direction.
For urban potters in a non-commercial setting, it is easier to win
approvals for an electrical kiln than ones for a fossil-fueled fired kiln.
So electrics dominate among city potters. For many potters, electrics are
more easily controlled, so they choose that even when thay have access to
natural gas (or a propane truck comes by).
Which is best? Environmentally, the systems average out.
Gas-firing makes greenhouse gases locally whereas electricity from coal
does it somewhere else. The choice for each potter becomes one of costs
and convenience, coupled to a specific preference in pottery styles. There
is(are) no absolute(s) involved in this debate.
Tom Buck ) tel: 905-389-2339 & snailmail: 373 East
43rd St. Hamilton ON L8T 3E1 Canada (westend Lake Ontario, province of
Ontario, Canada).
Kim Marie on tue 16 jun 98
Would you have a food safe matte base glaze recipe that I could test with
different colorants? I fire cone 5 or 6 with electric. tia.
kim
At 09:26 AM 6/12/98 EDT, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>I don't agree that gas firing is the holy grail of pottery.
>I started with gas and now I am moving more and more toward
>electric. Better control. Glazes with better application qualities
>and more consistent. I can get the same silky mattes at cone 6.
>Lots more color. Cone 6 stoneware is also way stronger than
>cone 10 iron ware bodies. Cone 6 vitrified porcelains are
>just as strong also.
>
>--
>T o n y H a n s e n thansen@digitalfire.com
>Don't fight the dragon alone http://digitalfire.com
>Calculation/Database Software for Ceramic Industry
>
>
Penny Hosler on wed 17 jun 98
Kim,
Tony's Digitalfire.com has everything you'll ever need, IMHO. For the matt
specifically,
http://www.digitalfire.com/education/glaze/g1214z.htm
Penny
pshosler@olypen.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Kim Marie
To: Multiple recipients of list CLAYART
Date: Tuesday, June 16, 1998 7:00 AM
Subject: Re: Which should I use??? Gas or Electric
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Would you have a food safe matte base glaze recipe that I could test with
different colorants? I fire cone 5 or 6 with electric. tia.
kim
At 09:26 AM 6/12/98 EDT, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>I don't agree that gas firing is the holy grail of pottery.
>I started with gas and now I am moving more and more toward
>electric. Better control. Glazes with better application qualities
>and more consistent. I can get the same silky mattes at cone 6.
>Lots more color. Cone 6 stoneware is also way stronger than
>cone 10 iron ware bodies. Cone 6 vitrified porcelains are
>just as strong also.
>
>--
>T o n y H a n s e n thansen@digitalfire.com
>Don't fight the dragon alone http://digitalfire.com
>Calculation/Database Software for Ceramic Industry
>
>
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