Memorial Day

The grill's hot.  Folks are on their way.  We're thankful.

Making The Bourry Box Grate

I started with stainless steel pipe from the scrap metal yard. 1 1/2"  to 2" inside diameter pipe works best with standard firebrick.

Solid stainless bars would be better but that is a rare find. I filled these pipes with Lou cast 3000 and they will do just fine.

Bars are in and ready to go.

Capping

Finally we have started capping the arch. We made the mix from stuff we had laying about: fire clay, crushed soft brick, sand, old recycled castable and sawdust. We used portland at a rate of 1 part to 10 parts other material. 

We start with a layer of mix, then chicken wire and then another layer of mix.

Philip Wiggs and Hunter Smith smoothing the last coat of castable.

Hmm better be getting a roof over this thing soon.

Chimney Going Up

Beautiful late February day, mocking birds everywhere. We are using a lot of older and odd bricks on the chimney, saving the good ones for the door.

This is a better view of the chimney.

Below: Here we are recasting the lintel that spans the firebox door. The previous one was cast from some left over castable that we really didn't know much about. It was spalling after our recent hard freezes. Scrounging for materials is great. Every once in a while there's a surprise but that's just part of it.

A Good Day

Its been about a month with little done on the kiln. Its the holidays and everyone is maxed out. The weather was beautiful. We had some great food, thanks to Vick and Granny. Reinvigorated we finished the arch and removed the form. No matter how often you see those bricks standing by themselves, defying gravity it always seems like a bit of magic.

Building the Arch Form

This Friday morning we had a visit from Anthony Wolking, Cincinnati potter and instructor  most recently at Xavier University. Anthony made several good suggestions, especially on firebox and chimney design.

This is the arch form for the #2 hard brick arch. I drew a baseline on a large piece of paper, measured the length of the firebox when facing the loading door. I then found the center of that line knowing that that would be the high point of the arch. I then arranged my bricks in an arch and drew a line underneath with a marker.
Remember to allow for the thickness of material covering the form. This form will still need a center support.

With the arch form in place its time to start tacking the steel in place. That old Lincoln buzz box is an antique like me.

Compact oil fired kiln plan

H.Norsker "Refractories and Kilns"

This is a nice compact design for an oil fired kiln that has approximately one cubic meter of interior space.  Norsker observed this kiln while on a trip to Africa. He called it a good kiln for 1 or 2 potters. A simple kiln, needing little or no bracing. Tall chimney probably indicates step plate or some other unpowered burners were used. Fireboxes could be easily extended as needed. Note that the entire kiln is on one level.