Raku Kiln Construction

I'd suggest picking up a copy of Raku: A Practical Approach by Steven Branfman and/or Raku Pottery by Piepenburg. Both include plans.

deg

We've had success with Durox blocks. No need for fire cement or anything like that. The size of kiln we used needed two burners to achieve a decent temperature so it's not going to be as thermally efficient as some, but it would get to 950C fairly easily.

and a couple of pictures. It was easy to drill a hole for a thermocouple(also visible in the second pic). Inside are three firebricks with a kilnshelf on top. The burners can be seen going in low at the bottom, adjustthe gap between the two blocks forming the lid to give good burnerperformance and airflow. The kiln in the picture has survived numerous firings so far, the inner surface of the blocks does degrade, especially those in the direct heat, but it's still there and still works over a year later.

Dave

similar but for reduction tell me some more about the Durox blocks cost and where to acquire Amber

I don't remember what they cost but it wasn't that much. They are just standard building materials bought from the local building supplies store. Other types of block may work, it depends on whether they'll run to 1000C or not without melting and without excessive heat loss. I'm not sure they are suitable for reduction either, I suspect they won't survive to the right temperature and you'd need to fill in all the gaps between bricks with fire cement to stop excess air getting in. You can't easily seal all the ports as you can with a proper kiln.

Searching for Durox on Google throws up almost all UK hits so I suspect it might be specific to the UK (and was acquired by Tarmac in 2002 so the old website doesn't work). If that's the case then you may well have to experiment with alternatives. Another search term to try is "aircrete" to see what else is available.

Dave

a bunch of us here in southern california are using the "portable" raku kilns and propane gas burners. a metal frame with cloth insulation - burner with flex line to the 5 gallon bar-b-q proane tank. they are light weight and travel well to various "raku party" sites.

we make the kilns from basically a chicken wire screen and line the inside with the fiber cloth you can usually buy at your pottery supplier. the cloth is held up inside the metal fencing via bisqueware buttons. the buttons are held to the frame with nichrome wire. cut a small hole in the side and a small hole on top somewhere. the burner shoots in the side, and the top is the low budget flew hole.

put it on the ground and maybe have the pieces stacked on a kiln shelf. when the pieces are ready you pick the kiln up by hand and move it aside. (really! don't wear shorts or flip flops though...).

they work VERY well and i build mine complete for about $100 total.

see ya

steve

steve graber

You mean you didn't find it necessary to spend $50 and buy plans off the internet? :-)

I probably spent about $100 for mine as well, though the fence pipe and pulleys used to make a frame to lift the kiln may have cost me an extra $20 or so. Building a raku kiln isn't rocket science. Shoot, it's not even something that requires that you graduated from grammer school. Do wear a mask when messing with ceramic fiber, make the exhaust hole 1.5 times bigger in area than the burner hole, and, while it looks cool to have flames shooting out the top, you really don't want more than a few inches of flames coming out. Gas that burns outside the kiln doesn't help heat your ware.

deg

follow the links for DIY Kilns and Flatpack Kiln. Plans and information, all for free.

In article , mark writes

In article , Steve Mills writes

Yes indeed! I followed Steve's recommendations and built a small kiln, but I used an old stainless steel beer barrel instead of an oil drum. (Look round the back of any pub: there's usually a heap of empty barrels, of all sizes.)

Best of luck

Jake Loddington, POULTON-LE-FYLDE, Lancs. UK