Fast Fired Wood Kiln

All enquiries to jamieson@c-pac.net

BROADWOOD HALL WOOD KILN

The long awaited first firing of the fast fired wood kiln took place at Broadwood Hall,
Allendale, a few weeks ago. The construction of the kiln was started 12 months ago and built by Andrew Pentland from Newcastle College and Steph Jamieson, , with help from Ron Jamieson and Lorraine Clay, a ceramicist from the Hearth Studios at Horsley. Although the kiln building took only a few weeks to complete, tracking down an 18� dia 20ft reinforced steel chimney was more of a challenge. This was finally lifted into position a couple of days before the firing. The 40 cu ft kiln was filled with pots from several potters and work from ceramic students on the degree course at Newcastle College.

The first of the kilns two fire boxes was lit at 7.15 am and the temperature carefully
monitored up to 400 C when the second fire box was lit. Under Andrew�s direction a group of helpers stoked the fireboxes alternately, gradually raising the temperature to 1000 C. From this point some of the cones inside the kiln (positioned to show when a particular temperature has been reached) began to melt. They showed that the temperature inside the kiln was hotter on the right side than the left. To even this out, the holes in the firebox were closed and the dampers blocked. Reduction (which cuts off the oxygen to the kiln causing a carbon or reducing atmosphere) began at about 3.00 pm. By approx. 7.00 pm firing was completed. The whole process took about 12 hours, reached a temperature of approx 1270 C and used much less wood than was expected. On completion, the kiln was closed off and left to cool.

On Monday morning, the kiln entrance was unbricked and its treasures revealed. It proved to be a successful first firing, apart from a few unremarkable pieces in the cool part of the kiln, two cracked pots and one that was knocked over. Andrew and Steph are making slight adjustments to the kiln before the next firing in a couple of months