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olympic/cracks

updated sat 15 nov 03

 

mel jacobson on thu 13 nov 03


another balancing act.

i spoke several years ago with an engineer
from a.p. greene about some bricks that
were not square...they had a slight taper, and
it made us all crazy while building a flat top kiln.

he said.

so they crack a bit, so there are not perfect. SO?

in industry, a cracked brick just gets mortared in the wall.
one that is not perfect, just gets a bit more mortar.

i have gone over this for years.
cracks in brick, lids, walls are just normal for
kilns. does it affect the firing. NOT A BIT.

I HAVE GOTTEN OVER IT.
i just stack them in, fire the damn thing.
if it falls in, then you complain big time.
they don't fall in. or, at least not very often.
i doubt an olympic kiln roof will fall in.

rob said he would take care of it.
so, discussion is over.

potters buy one tenth, of one percent, of the bricks
produced by a.p. greene. potters account for about
90 percent of the complaints about brick. (1985 stats.)
just the way it is.
mel

From:
Minnetonka, Minnesota, U.S.A.
web site: my.pclink.com/~melpots
or try: http://www.pclink.com/melpots
new/ http://www.rid-a-tick.com

Hendrix, Taylor J. on thu 13 nov 03


I'd give my left brick to have a kiln with a crack in it.
Oh wait, that's "to save country music" ain't it? Yuck.

Because of the encouragement I have received on this list=20
I would know just what to do with that crack too. Fear
not--ask, fix, fire it up!

Taylor, in Waco

p.s. I will fix ball mills for clay and kiln space. Call
BR 549 and ask for Rabbit.

-----Original Message-----
From: mel jacobson [mailto:melpots@PCLINK.COM]=20
Sent: Thursday, November 13, 2003 4:35 PM
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: olympic/cracks


another balancing act.

i spoke several years ago with an engineer
from a.p. greene about some bricks that
were not square...they had a slight taper, and
it made us all crazy while building a flat top kiln.

he said.

so they crack a bit, so there are not perfect. SO?

...

william schran on fri 14 nov 03


Mel wrote:> have gone over this for years.
cracks in brick, lids, walls are just normal for
kilns. does it affect the firing. NOT A BIT.<

I have fired, maintained, built and re-built several gas & electric
kilns over the years. Found cracked IFB in every single one of them.
I certainly would expect a great deal of stress on a material exposed
to over 2000=B0F on one side & whatever the air temperature is on the
other side. Have a larger (29" diam.) sectional kiln at school -
can't remember how many years - great big cracks in lid and bottom -
run all the way across lid - have not tightened lid band - still
works fine.
Bill

dalecochoy on fri 14 nov 03


----- Original Message -----
From: "mel jacobson"
To:
Sent: Thursday, November 13, 2003 5:35 PM
Subject: olympic/cracks
> i have gone over this for years.
> cracks in brick, lids, walls are just normal for
> kilns. does it affect the firing. NOT A BIT.
>
> I HAVE GOTTEN OVER IT.
> i just stack them in, fire the damn thing.
> if it falls in, then you complain big time.
> they don't fall in. or, at least not very often.
> i doubt an olympic kiln roof will fall in.
>
> rob said he would take care of it.
> so, discussion is over.
>
> mel

OK, Mel says the discussion is over...so...I guess it is!
Regards,
Dale