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pizza oven becomes a kiln

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  • pizza oven becomes a kiln

    I am building a stoneware kiln using my cast oven design.I have cast a cylinder in three interlocking pieces atop a two piece floor. There is 50mm of calcium silicate board and one inch of perllite/fireclay under the floor. I had difficulty obtaining a lightweight castable so decided to make my own using a dense castable with an aggregate that would burn out. My initial tests using 50/50 dense castable (with ss needles) and sawdust proved way too weak, so tried 50/50 rice, castable(with ss needles) which was just as bad. ended up using 50/50 crushed firebrick, castable, with ss needle reinforcing, which worked really well. The walls are only 35mm thick as the objective is high temp (1200 C plus) and economical fuel use. A dome in the same brew will sit on top. This is a downdraft design with the exit at floor level. The burner entry is from under the floor. I will cast three lightweight castable pieces for the door, to be placed each time the kiln is loaded, gaps sealed with a 50/50 sand, clay mix. I plan on a 5" diam. ss flue with damper.The kiln size will be 4 ft3 fired with a single LPG burner.
    Last edited by david s; 11-08-2011, 04:58 AM. Reason: I thought of more, didn't I
    Kindled with zeal and fired with passion.

  • #2
    Re: pizza oven becomes a kiln

    Have mortared the walls and dome in position and one layer of blanket. Having trouble finding the time there is so much else to do.
    Kindled with zeal and fired with passion.

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    • #3
      Re: pizza oven becomes a kiln

      Davids
      Will the oven be insulated like a pizza oven? And the heat source? fired by gas? Know nothing about kilns...so I'm watching with interest. The position of the chimney is an eye opener.

      Regards Dave
      Measure twice
      Cut once
      Fit in position with largest hammer

      My Build
      http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f51/...ild-14444.html
      My Door
      http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f28/...ock-17190.html

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      • #4
        Re: pizza oven becomes a kiln

        Originally posted by cobblerdave View Post
        Davids
        Will the oven be insulated like a pizza oven? And the heat source? fired by gas? Know nothing about kilns...so I'm watching with interest. The position of the chimney is an eye opener.

        Regards Dave
        Yes, it will be insulated. A few more layers of blanket, then perl/vermicrete and a rendered concrete outer shell. It is a downdraft design so the flue entry is at the bottom. And yes LPG fired with a single burner.
        Kindled with zeal and fired with passion.

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        • #5
          Re: pizza oven becomes a kiln

          Blanket and first layer of vermicrete started. My fingertips are a bit raw so I'll leave it for a few days. Actually that's a bit of an excuse, it's really because it's 34 C here now and the aircon is a more attractive option. After two weeks in sub zero temps in Japan the tropical summer heat is a shock to my old body.
          Kindled with zeal and fired with passion.

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          • #6
            Re: pizza oven becomes a kiln

            Very interesting build! Mahaloz for sharing... what will you be using the kiln for? I wonder if anyone on the site has built a kiln for drying wood...

            Karl

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            • #7
              Re: pizza oven becomes a kiln

              I will be using the kiln for firing reduced stoneware pottery.
              Kindled with zeal and fired with passion.

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              • #8
                Re: pizza oven becomes a kiln

                Got a little more done on the kiln. Have now finished the first layer of vermicrete. It is so wet here ATM. Some rain every day and constantly , hot, overcast and humid, not good conditions for trying to dry vermicrete.
                Kindled with zeal and fired with passion.

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                • #9
                  Re: pizza oven becomes a kiln

                  It's getting close to 2 years since I last posted on this thread, been way too busy with other priorities.The kiln had its first successful firing last night. I cut the kiln shelves earlier this week and fired it up (furniture only) with a part filled 9 Kg gas bottle on Wed. The gas ran out at around 700 C. With a fresh bottle connected I took it to 1020 C last night over 14 hrs. with a few things to be fired included. Biscuit firings must be taken slow and also because it was the first time firing the castable, it needs to be ramped up slowly. Plenty of power in the burner, I hope to be able to take it to stoneware temps (1200 C+) Pics show the pyrometer, flue damper and door panels.
                  Still have some more vermicrete tidying to do and the final render layer.
                  Last edited by david s; 12-13-2013, 01:21 AM.
                  Kindled with zeal and fired with passion.

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                  • #10
                    Re: pizza oven becomes a kiln

                    Looks good
                    Do you have a shot of the door and the gas flame /jet inside the unit?

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                    • #11
                      Re: pizza oven becomes a kiln

                      No, but I'll try and do that next time I fire it. I find kilns really exciting to fire. The burner roars the higher the temp goes the wares inside glow yellow and the power of the fire is amazing. You think pizza temps in a WFO are exciting? Try a kiln.
                      Kindled with zeal and fired with passion.

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                      • #12
                        Re: pizza oven becomes a kiln

                        You don't use wood? My wife and I took a pottery course for 6 months in CT some time ago, by an outgoing apprentice of a world class master potter. The kiln they use is a massive, walk in barrel vault...and it was fired by scrap from a local timber mill. Very impressive to see it in action, we saw a couple firings when we were in class. You are right describing it as exciting, and we have been talking about getting into pottery again. It would be a cool project to build a kiln.
                        Old World Stone & Garden

                        Current WFO build - Dry Stone Base & Gothic Vault

                        When we build, let us think that we build for ever.
                        John Ruskin

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                        • #13
                          Re: pizza oven becomes a kiln

                          I have built wood fired kilns, but the main problem is that they require constant attention to stoke and monitor the fire. With gas you can meter the fuel precisely and only need to turn up the burner every two or three hours giving you much more constant and controlled temp rise.It's also a much cleaner fuel.Wood creates some pretty wild temp fluctuations that are much harder to control.
                          I hope i'm not breaking the forum rules here, talking about gas. It's not a WFO and I run a burner with a flame failure device so I guess it's ok.
                          Kindled with zeal and fired with passion.

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                          • #14
                            Re: pizza oven becomes a kiln

                            David,

                            Never knew about your interest in building a kiln for stoneware. I was a ceramic major in school a long time ago (40 years) and have built various type of experimental kilns ranging from Raku kilns to dung fired Navaho Indian kilns for doing burnished black pottery. Do you do both wheel thrown and hand work and typically what cone do you fire too?
                            Russell
                            Google Photo Album [https://photos.google.com/share/AF1Q...JneXVXc3hVNHd3/]

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                            • #15
                              Re: pizza oven becomes a kiln

                              Originally posted by UtahBeehiver View Post
                              David,

                              Never knew about your interest in building a kiln for stoneware. I was a ceramic major in school a long time ago (40 years) and have built various type of experimental kilns ranging from Raku kilns to dung fired Navaho Indian kilns for doing burnished black pottery. Do you do both wheel thrown and hand work and typically what cone do you fire too?
                              Hi Russell,

                              I'm a Visual Arts teacher and have built half a dozen kilns over the years, this one will be no.7. I do wheel thrown stuff, slip casting and hand built work, used also to do porcelain jewelery. I'm hoping to be able to get to stoneware temps in this kiln around cone 6. More recently, the last 15 years, have only had access to an electric kiln at our school so have been only doing earthenware firings, so I'm excited to get back to high temps again.

                              Dave
                              Kindled with zeal and fired with passion.

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