mel jacobson on thu 4 aug 05
that one is very tricky...i think the most difficult
for vendor and buyer.
if they are smashed into pieces we all know it.
but, what happens when the shelf cracks on the third firing?
and then four more go on the fourth firing.
then six go on the tenth firing?????????????????????????
who pays.???? you just paid 2000 bucks for those shelves.
and,you lost three firings in your kiln. tumble stack on the
bottom.
the good vendors just bite the bullet and send more.
that is why they cost 100 bucks a piece.
you open the crate...inspect...tap them...listen
...all seems just peachy.
then they start to snap in a later firing....why, who, when do you
get new ones????
often you get the round robin. vendor, shipper, manufacturer.
they all say..
`hey, they were perfect when they left my place.`
and the merry go round starts.
i do feel for the vendor...who are you to believe?
the shipper got a perfect/ok signed by the buyer.
the factory sent good shelves.
i think it is the unseen, unknown bump. the pallet jack
that slips. wham, an 80 pound crate hits the concrete.
very small cracks...it becomes a big one after a few firings.
i am lucky...i pick up the shelves....inspect them...tap them.
one at a time...smith sharpe. they are local.
i would hate to order shelves via any trucker. i have done it
three times. only once did i get perfect shelves.
(and ironically they arrived in 1962...20 of them. now they
are used in the wood fired kiln at the farm...still going strong.
a bit warped, but work well...12 of them.) a few died in the salt kiln.
mel
from mel/minnetonka.mn.usa
website: http://www.pclink.com/melpots
http://home.comcast.net/~figglywig/clayart.htm
for gail's year book.
Richard Aerni on thu 4 aug 05
On Thu, 4 Aug 2005 17:16:39 -0500, mel jacobson wrote:
>that one is very tricky...i think the most difficult
>for vendor and buyer.
>
>if they are smashed into pieces we all know it.
>
>but, what happens when the shelf cracks on the third firing?
>and then four more go on the fourth firing.
>then six go on the tenth firing?????????????????????????
>who pays.???? you just paid 2000 bucks for those shelves.
>and,you lost three firings in your kiln. tumble stack on the
>bottom.
>
>the good vendors just bite the bullet and send more.
>that is why they cost 100 bucks a piece.
I had an interesting situation back in the early 80s when my pottery had a
very large architectural commission. We ordered about 60 new 14x 28 silicon
carbide shelves from Ferro, who were one of the major manufacturers at the
time. First firing, about 45 of them broke. Fell in half, all of them.
Major weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. Multiple calls to and from
Ferro. Upshot is, they replaced them all. Sent some silicone carbide, but
the majority were replaced with dry pressed high alumina shelves. Both
types performed well, but the high alumina shelves are still going strong,
hundreds of cone 10 firings later. What I now know (and what the engineer
at Ferro patiently tried to tell me, bless him) was that silicon carbide
shelves are less resistant to thermal shock and thermal stress. The fact
that we were firing 12 1/2 inch by 12/ 1/2 inch tiles, two per shelf, was
stressing the carbide shelves too much. The tiles tend to heat from the
outside in, and that means the shelves were heating unevenly, leading to
major thermal stress. Ferro treated us great. I wonder if I were in their
place whether I would have replaced the shelves, when it must have been
clear to them that we were maxing them out. That is why they replaced most
with the high alumina shelves.
I guess the moral of my story is that the cause may not be cracking on the
truck, or in the factory. It may be some other cause, one which you may not
have been aware of previously. I know that I have fired cracked carbide
shelves many dozens of times without the cracks widening of giving way. So,
think carefully before you cast blame willy-nilly. Perhaps you'll be as
fortunate as I was and talk to someone who won't make you feel like an idiot
for not knowing as much as he/she does.
Good luck,
Richard Aerni
Rochester, NY
mel jacobson on fri 14 jul 06
it sure will cost you more than a replacement.
a few years back i lost a bottom shelf, in a stack
of six.
it tumbled the entire firing.
i lost two thousand dollars worth of pots. a set of dishes for
a commission.
an entire firing.
sure, i got new shelves. nothing for the ruined firing.
but, it happened with three different shelves over
three years.
the last time i got so upset i threw up.
that was a law suit that i won in small claims court.
the shipper blamed the factory, the factory blamed the vendor,
the vendor blamed the shipper and it went round and round
for a year. the court stopped the round robin.
i got 24 brand new shelves. all of them are still in perfect shape.
about 12 of my old ones are still firing at the farm from my first shelves
i bought in 1960.
i now have new advancers 12x24...they are wonderful.
well worth the dollar value.
every potter that use silicon carbide shelves should get a new
set of advancers for your 65th birthday. can you believe, putting
that last shelf in a stack of 8 in with one hand.
from: mel/minnetonka.mn.usa
website: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/
Clayart page link: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/clayart.html
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