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penny wise, pound foolish

updated sun 26 oct 03

 

Jan Goodland Metz on fri 24 oct 03


Well, now I'm a little scared. I'm on my way tomorrow to Vermont to
dismantle a "free" gas kiln and bring it back to Rhode Island. I hope it
is worth more than we are "paying" for it. Any advice?

Jan

Jan Goodland Metz, potting in southern (windy cold) RI.


clennell wrote:

>I have just shut down my 125th glaze firing of my Geil kiln that we have
>owned for 4 years. that means there were 125 bisque firings to boot. We
>usually have close to $4000 or more worth of pots in each firing. Yes, i
>have had far too many landfills and that's why I don't have the 1/2 million
>dollars. My fault, not the kilns. Runny ash glazes and careless ways. Why
>do potters skimp on their kilns? Try to save money only to loose money on
>the long haul. Just like my Venco if i put my Geil on the clayart market
>there would be a bidding war.
>When we bought the kiln $12,000- potters said "Oh it must be nice to be
>rich!" Not rich, smart! Our pots are our life, our business and with all
>that can go wrong in this business it's a pleasure to have a dependable
>kiln. If I was a backhoe operator I'd have a late model John Deere.
>Ya git what ya pays fer.
>cheers,
>Tony
>Tony and Sheila Clennell
>Sour Cherry Pottery
>4545 King Street
>Beamsville, Ontario
>CANADA L0R 1B1
>http://www.sourcherrypottery.com
>
>clennell@vaxxine.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.
>
>
>

Laurie Kneppel on fri 24 oct 03


Jan,

I once bought a very used small Cress kiln from an estate sale. The
price was right. It just needed new elements. The new elements cost
more than the kiln did but it was definitely "worth it". I got a lot of
bisque for my raku out of that kiln before I sold it a couple years ago
and my sales paid for the kiln several times over. I have a larger
Skutt kiln now for bisque so I could fire larger work (so far most of
what I make is still small enough to fit the old Cress - ha!) and there
have been a few times I wished I had kept the smaller Cress as well for
that one pot that I needed to fire right away or for testing purposes.

I lucked into a used Geil kiln that came up for sale last year. Even at
the good price it still was a "lot of money" for me to spend at the
time. My first gas kiln, but I jumped at it anyway because I had heard
nothing but good things about Geil kilns. I can say, after several
glaze firings, it was worth it!! It practically fires itself, in spite
of me fussing over it the whole time.

I think what it boils down to is that if you get out of something what
you expect to (or even more than you expected to), then it's worth
whatever you paid for it and probably more.

Good luck with the gas kiln! How exciting.

Laurie
Sacramento, CA
http://rockyraku.com



On Friday, October 24, 2003, at 01:46 PM, Jan Goodland Metz wrote:

> Well, now I'm a little scared. I'm on my way tomorrow to Vermont to
> dismantle a "free" gas kiln and bring it back to Rhode Island. I hope
> it
> is worth more than we are "paying" for it. Any advice?
>
> Jan
>
> Jan Goodland Metz, potting in southern (windy cold) RI.
>
>
> clennell wrote:
>
>> I have just shut down my 125th glaze firing of my Geil kiln that we
>> have
>> owned for 4 years. that means there were 125 bisque firings to boot.
>> We
>> usually have close to $4000 or more worth of pots in each firing.
>> Yes, i
>> have had far too many landfills and that's why I don't have the 1/2
>> million
>> dollars. My fault, not the kilns. Runny ash glazes and careless
>> ways. Why
>> do potters skimp on their kilns? Try to save money only to loose
>> money on
>> the long haul. Just like my Venco if i put my Geil on the clayart
>> market
>> there would be a bidding war.
>> When we bought the kiln $12,000- potters said "Oh it must be nice to
>> be
>> rich!" Not rich, smart! Our pots are our life, our business and with
>> all
>> that can go wrong in this business it's a pleasure to have a
>> dependable
>> kiln. If I was a backhoe operator I'd have a late model John Deere.
>> Ya git what ya pays fer.
>> cheers,
>> Tony
>> Tony and Sheila Clennell
>> Sour Cherry Pottery
>> 4545 King Street
>> Beamsville, Ontario
>> CANADA L0R 1B1
>> http://www.sourcherrypottery.com
>>
>> clennell@vaxxine.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.
>>
>>
>>
>
> _______________________________________________________________________
> _______
> 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.
>

clennell on fri 24 oct 03


I have just shut down my 125th glaze firing of my Geil kiln that we have
owned for 4 years. that means there were 125 bisque firings to boot. We
usually have close to $4000 or more worth of pots in each firing. Yes, i
have had far too many landfills and that's why I don't have the 1/2 million
dollars. My fault, not the kilns. Runny ash glazes and careless ways. Why
do potters skimp on their kilns? Try to save money only to loose money on
the long haul. Just like my Venco if i put my Geil on the clayart market
there would be a bidding war.
When we bought the kiln $12,000- potters said "Oh it must be nice to be
rich!" Not rich, smart! Our pots are our life, our business and with all
that can go wrong in this business it's a pleasure to have a dependable
kiln. If I was a backhoe operator I'd have a late model John Deere.
Ya git what ya pays fer.
cheers,
Tony
Tony and Sheila Clennell
Sour Cherry Pottery
4545 King Street
Beamsville, Ontario
CANADA L0R 1B1
http://www.sourcherrypottery.com

clennell@vaxxine.com

Jan Goodland Metz on sat 25 oct 03


Quoting Laurie Kneppel :


> I think what it boils down to is that if you get out of something what
> you expect to (or even more than you expected to), then it's worth
> whatever you paid for it and probably more.
>
> Good luck with the gas kiln! How exciting.
>
> Laurie
> Sacramento, CA
> http://rockyraku.com


Thanks Laurie for the encouragement, I think you are right. We will get
something out of this even if it is just a road trip. A good excuse to get in
the truck and go for a ride!
Jan