Mouse turds and kiln arch

[Adios Pantalones]

I have an insulating firebrick (soft brick) arch that I put on my wood fired pottery kiln that is shedding chunks and needs to be replaced. I'll put in a hard brick roof next, with a modification I've never seen before.

Arch form in place: I have pegs that I bang in between the supports (2x4s) and the arch form to lift the brick arch up for removal.

The arch supports. Notice the glass of melted wood ash and soda. Sodium from soda ash forms sodium silicate when it hits the bricks.

The arch 1/2 removed.

I've had a mouse come out when I fired- here's the nest it had in the insulation. Has it been eating clay? The turds appeared bisque fired. (it gets HOT up there!)

 

[Adios Pantalones]

My idea for the rebuild - a mini firebox on the roof will allow ash and fire from the top, giving pots up to a little more lovin. The orange square to the left is a brick that can be removed to add wood up top, but it doesn't do as much as I'd like. The arrow is just to show fire direction from the new firebox. I will leave spaces between bricks under that firebox to allow in the flame. I'll post more pics after the rebuild.

 

[sbattert]

Beautiful kiln. What kind of thermometer is that?

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Beautiful kiln. What kind of thermometer is that?

That's one of those battery powered Barrett digitals that times out so that you need to hit the reset button all the time. Keeps you awake! k-type thermocouple reads up to 2500F. I had to replace the thermocouple as part of this rebuild.

It was reasonably priced when I got it, but it looks like Bailey's pottery supply is asking over $300 for it now. I should get a recording pyrometer.

After redoing the arch I discovered that the throat bricks over the channels between the firebox and ware chamber were sagging and one was cracked. 2 car jacks, 2x4 scraps, and lots of hammering later they were all replaced this weekend.