Building a Small Scale Wood Fired Kiln, Steve Mills Backyard Philosophers Kiln , pt1 the Big Picture
Тәжірибелік нұсқаулар және стиль
On the New Moon of February 9th, 2024, I fired up my very own small scale wood fired kiln!
It's been a long held dream of 35 years and, when I finally got up the gumption to go for it, it took almost a full 2 years to collect all the materials, get the pole barn built and to finally construct the kiln.
I was first introduced to wood fired kilns back in the spring of 1989 when we were living in Davenport, CA. I got invited to participate in the firing of pottery legend Daniel Rhodes' two chamber Noborigama. For a variety of reasons, that firing turned out to be a life changing event, establishing my love of wood fired pots and setting me onto the creative, Tending a Handmade Life path I travel today.
The seed was planted ... so I waited and waited and knew when we bought our current little cabin and 7 acres in the mountains of Western North Carolina, this would be the place for my wood fired kiln dreams to come true.
But what would that kiln look like? Pretty much everything I could find online or in books revolved around complex designs and construction. About 3 years ago, I found a link to plans for a small scale wood fired kiln called the Backyard Kiln, designed by the late Steve Mills. Also known as the Philosopher's Kiln, it's a top loading/coffin style, designed to be easily and inexpensively constructed with regular house bricks and to be fired in one day with one or two people.
Amazingly, there was a free PDF with very precise details including a thorough materials list. Turns out the PDF had been turned into a little book as well. Here are links for both:
Free PDF: stevemillsmudslinger.weebly.c...
Book with better pictures and easy to use layout: tinyurl.com/yc6kuvkh
I very much wanted to build my kiln on the cheap, but was reluctant to use house bricks. New fire bricks for even such a small kiln would have run close to $2500 for just the bricks; shipping or driving hours to pick them up added even more to the cost. Feeling like a blessing from the Universe, I am fortunate enough to have a potter friend/benefactor/mentor gift me with all the bricks, a combination of hard and soft brick in a variety of sizes and shapes, as well as the kiln door plus several cordierite shelves for the damper and extra insulation inside the chamber.
The next big hurdle was getting a pole barn constructed. Thankfully, my husband Dave is a pretty decent carpenter. He retired from his full-time job last spring and we finally got to work on the barn last summer. A bigger challenge was finding budget silicon carbide kiln shelves. New ones in the size I needed run about $150 each plus shipping, which is a dicey proposition and very expensive. I scoured FB Marketplace, Craigslist and all other avenues I could think of. I finally connected with a regional FaceBook clay group and found my budget shelves for inside the kiln chamber, the lid and fire box lintels.
With my hodge-podge of bricks and materials, it took quite a bit of trial and error and a lot of angle-grinder cutting to make the best use of everything and configure how to use the handmade kiln door. I got started on building the kiln in mid-December and, after holiday and weather delays, finished the first week of February.
The dimensions from angle iron to angle iron of my little kiln:
- 68" long x 38" wide (includes 5" of insulating bricks) x 44" tall (from base layer to top of chamber)
- Chimney is 78" from base of chamber to top which rises 13" above the metal roof and is approximately 7" above the tallest point of the roofline.
- Chamber dimensions: 45" long, 32" shelf space with 13" opening at end for air, 16" wide x 16" deep. Works out to about 4.7 cu/ft of loading space.
For those of you looking for a lot more specific information, here's the link to Part 2, • Part 2, Building a Sma... . The video is short and most of the specific info is in the written description, but you get a better look at how I put it all together.
There were quite a few other components and expenses involved. In Part 2 of this video series, I have more deets on bricks, shelves, miscellaneous materials and costs, design changes and other specifics to help the next person build their own small scale wood fired Backyard Kiln.
Be sure to check out the great Philosopher's Kiln build, part 2, the details!
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#woodfiredkiln #wildclay #womenwhowoodfire
Пікірлер: 28
Very inspiring, perfect construction
@tendingahandmadelife
24 күн бұрын
Thank you! I had good directions, but a LOT of trial and error.
Sweet. From my own kiln building experience I've tried to use as much stainless steel as possible, and would highly recommend using stainless strap clamps, (a.k.a. hose clamp or worm screw clamp) in place of the galvanized wire. It comes in various lengths, but runs roughly just under a buck per foot or less on Amazon, and surprisingly goes a long ways. I got a 32' coil with 12 clamps for ~$25. It is impervious to corrosion and melts at a ridiculously high temp, somewhere above 2,500F and it's very strong. Stainless steel wire is also available.
@tendingahandmadelife
23 күн бұрын
Excellent info, thank you! I went with the galvanized wire to start, figuring I would upgrade at some point. Will look into your suggestions. 🙏🙏🙏
Very cool. I'm wanting to build a kiln for heat treating and preparing useful chemicals. Look forward to your future videos to see how your kiln is working out😊
@tendingahandmadelife
Ай бұрын
Wow, that sounds very cool! If you’re not doing big volumes, you could build an even smaller version.
Good job!
@tendingahandmadelife
Ай бұрын
Thank you!
This was great! Thank you. Inspiring.
@tendingahandmadelife
2 ай бұрын
It’s totally doable!!!
Like you I'm a potter, but unlike you I'm still dreaming. Honestly shed tears seeing this. Reminsing myself to be patient as im sure this accomplishment was woth the wait. Congratulations. Whishing you the best with your kiln and looking forward to seeing some of your creations!
@tendingahandmadelife
2 ай бұрын
Thirty years for it to all come together, but absolutely worth the wait. Firing it up for real in two weeks! Best of luck in your own clay journey. Thanks so much for taking the time to watch and comment. 🙏💙
Thank you for the link to backyard kilns! You're definitely living a version of a future i want, now if only i could get out of an apartment so i could actually get to work on building it instead of dreaming. Hope this works out well for you!!
@tendingahandmadelife
Ай бұрын
Oof, boy howdy do I know how you feel. Having the right space to build my kiln has been my biggest obstacle. Once I got to a property to build it, I was afraid the cost would squash my dream ... but miracles happened and my dream came true. Hold on and keep dreaming ... you'll get there!
I was with you the moment you said "pretty much everything on this Kiln got put up and taken down and put up and taken down multiple times". Planning is good, but even the best plan on paper (or computer) can fall flat without allowing for trial and error as it steps off the page and into the real world. Love this build, and looking forward to your next video.
@tendingahandmadelife
Ай бұрын
Thanks so much! I had considered inviting potter friends to help, but wisely decided against it. I learned so much by the back and forth and ups and downs. Hoping to light her up again early to mid June and film it this time.
I am in. Really good vid
@tendingahandmadelife
3 ай бұрын
Thanks! Working on part two now with all details of costs, materials and options.
@tendingahandmadelife
3 ай бұрын
Just uploaded Pt 2. All the specifics are in the written description.
I just watched your first video. Looking forward to seeing what else you have in the future. Good luck to you.
@tendingahandmadelife
Ай бұрын
Thanks so much for tuning in and saying HI! There’s for sure more wild clay and wood firing to come and no idea what else … time will tell. 🙏🙏🙏
Love it! I am presently in year 1 of the same dream of building this exact kiln. Maybe i will get to where you are at some day. :) Congrats!!
@tendingahandmadelife
2 ай бұрын
I’m firing it up for real on April 22nd. Video will follow. Best of luck to you on your own kiln building journey. 🙏💙
Wow, I’m trying to build a kiln. That’s thousands and thousands of dollars worth of materials and labor to build the structure and then the kiln.
@tendingahandmadelife
3 ай бұрын
It can be a chunk of change for sure, but there are options. The pole barn was the most money, but our choice was to make it nicer rather than cheap. I’m working on the second video with all the specifics of cost and materials and options therein. Hope to have it uploaded later this week.
@twestgard2
3 ай бұрын
@@tendingahandmadelife cool, that sounds very interesting.
@tendingahandmadelife
3 ай бұрын
Just uploaded Pt 2. All the specifics are in the written description.
@twestgard2
3 ай бұрын
@@tendingahandmadelife thanks for the heads up!