Design Notes

I would like to say right off that I have never done this before. Before I started laying the first bricks this project loomed so large and daunting that it was hard to imagine how to start, let alone see it through to completion. What I did have was a pretty good idea of what I wanted. I have fired large kilns for the last four years and they are what I am most comfortable with. I also feel that if one is going to fire with wood it is more economical to fire a large kiln three times a year than a small kiln six or seven. I have fired five larger kilns and this kiln that is mid construction below is simply a fusion of all the things I liked most about those kilns, hopefully none of the bad, and a few small design modifications of my own. It is my own design but nothing complicated and nothing shocking.

Below is an early study on the steps. I ended up settling on something close to the middle. The steps are not one foot up as in the drawing below but eight inches meaning the kiln rises a total of sixteen inches from hearth to chimney.




I had not given much thought to the secondary airports until this morning. Mark Hewitt's kiln has some and I was looking at some pictures of David Stumpfle's new kiln and remembered that he had put in a few and after a subsequent conversation with David I popped out the bricks on the floor course before I covered them up, cut out a six inch hole and used some big eighteens to stretch the gap. They are spaced to come in right below the side stoking ports and will be used in the crash cool as well as a precautionary measure should to many ashes build up during side stoking.

I was originally not going bring the side walls in at the door but when staring at the five and a half feet of open space and thinking about bricking up the door the large space seemed excessive so I turned a right angle and now the door will be 4 feet which seems to be a bit more manageable. Because of the angle that the is is kicked in at it will also help to keep the door locked into place during the firing when the tendency is for the door to be pushed out. By canting the outside bricks of the door slightly outwards it locks the door in place. This is a trick the Daniel Johnston told me after finding out for himself somewhat serendipitously.



The fire wall is made of larger bricks called Arcade B's They turn a radius as you can see and will help hold the fire wall in place, acting in the same way that an arch does in resisting the pull of gravity. The tendency of the fire wall is always to move forward. It is also notched into the side wall and will then be buttressed from the outside. Even with all this in mind is was built in such a way that replacement will not be too hard.




It is slow going but over all the process is more intuitive than I would have thought. As Daniel said, there really is not much to it. Its just a big pile of bricks. Tomorrow morning I have chores to do around the land.. fix the pig fence...move the chickens...bush hog and mow... but maybe by the afternoon Connie and I can be back at it and lay a few more courses. The goal of the week is to finish the side walls all the way back to the chimney by Friday and have the arch forms going up by the end of the weekend.