[Clayart] Death by kiln?

[d jungle]

Kiln explosion stories...
Hmm, I can recall an explosion during a raku firing way back in my early
days in pottery.  It was in a pottery club/community center setting.  I've
assisted in several successful raku firings already but this one weekend, I
was busy and a bit lazy, so I didn't go in early to setup.  By the time I
got there, a couple of well intentioned older folks had it set up and had
it firing already.  I wasn't too pleased as they skimped on prepping the
base and just put some kiln shelves and bricks on the ground.  They've seen
it done before, but were a bit hasty or lazy in prepping the base.   Well,
it didn't take long before, BOOM, the kiln exploded with hot shards of
pottery flying all over the place.  I would hate to see what would have
happen if they were in the process of lifting the kiln when it went.  After
shutting off the gas and checking if everyone was alright, the barrel kiln
with fibrefax was inspected.  Well, the kiln didn't explode, neither was it
the shelves or any of the pottery...the cement pad in the ground did.  The
heat from the kiln going through the bricks and shelves was enough to boil
the moisture in the cement pad and create quite an explosion.  Be careful
out there and don't be lazy.


        -----------------------------------------From: "Roxanne Hunnicutt"
To: clayart at lists.clayartworld.com
Cc:
Sent: Thursday May 12 2022 7:35:56AM
Subject: [Clayart] Death by kiln?

 >
 > durable outdoor planters

 Oh Vince, I fear to ask, can you substantiate ?life-threatening injury??
 I buy ?destroy the kiln! ? But life threatening seems over blown, no?

 Let?s go to there? And deaths by kiln you?ve heard of?

 ?Here's another example of how stubborn that impacted water can be.
You
 have no doubt heard about people trying to re-fire a low-porosity
vitrified  form after it has been in use. A good example would be a teapot
that  someone has been using every day, but then they decide that the glaze
would  benefit from refiring. In the firing, such a form can explode from
the  impacted moisture, and it can destroy the kiln or even cause
life-threatening injury.?

 roxanne in Oregon where April and May have been like winter. Which is
great  because WE WILL BURN IN SUMMER! And need any moisture at all!

 >
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