Wood fired Kilns
My wood fire journey. Images of wood fired kilns I have designed and built.
Catenary arch kiln 2006-2007. This kiln was my first successful high temperature kiln. It was built with reclaimed boiler bricks and had a galvanized culvert as a chimney. Prior to this, I built multiple small test kilns that failed to reach higher than 1900 degrees Fahrenheit.
Three chambered kiln 2008-2009. This kiln was built with reclaimed firebricks and from hand made bricks. High temperatures were achieved only in the final chamber. This kiln yeilded some beautiful shino type glazes. I fired the first two chambers to mid range with mediocre results. This kiln was fired multiple times during the cold Minnesota winter.
2009 Tunnel kiln Gwangju South Korea. This tunnel kiln was built for the production of wood fired onggi for Hyang Jong Oh. It was built from a deconstructed train kiln. There was once a climbing kiln on the same site. This kiln was incredibly difficult to fire. The fire box was 9 feet long and could handle large logs. Once the glaze temperature was complete in the front, sidestoking with twigs brought the back to temp. It required constant attention and could easily damage the incredibly thin storage jars. The traditional onggi glaze is quite difficult to fire and can be ruined by over stoking of the kiln. Inspite of this the kiln could be fired front to back to cone 7-8 in less than 20 hours. This kiln was fired 11 times in a month and a half. It was eventually decommissioned back into the train kiln.
Small anagama 2010 - 2013. This kiln was built in a few days with the help from my close friend Matt Van Dusen. It had three side stoke ports and a small firebox. It was built to fire mid range native clays. This kiln was fired many times with many close friends. This was the last kiln that I built and fired at my childhood farm. It was decommissioned in 2013 and rebuilt into a larger anagama.
Anagama 2013 - Present. This kiln was originally built as a two chambered glaze kiln. I wanted to experiment with a corbel style arch. After one mediocre firing I decided to make it into one open chamber. This work was done in the fall of 2013 and I have since fired this kiln many times. The shed and kiln were built with reclaimed materials. In 2019 I back filled all the way around the arch and removed the side stoke door encasing it in old silo concrete staves from our farm. In addition there is a small sutema in the back of the kiln to help with pressure changes in the kiln during firing. This kiln is used for pottery and for sculpture and fires in about 4 days to cone 11. This kiln is super fun to fire but requires many weeks of work to prepare and many hands to make it successful.
Fast fire 2014-2020. This kiln was built to fire glaze-ware. It was a blast to fire. We could reach cone 11 in less than 15 hours. It was built with reclaimed materials including the metal frame which came from an old windmill on our farm. In 2016 I dismantled an anagama kiln that was located near Marshall, MN. I moved about nine thousand old firebrick to our farm in 2016 and have used them for test kilns and brick ovens and masonry heaters.
Fast fire 2020-2022. This small kiln was built for glaze ware. It fired very fast and produced some incredible pottery. I built it to continue to experiement with the fast fire family of kilns. I only intended to fire it a few times and to evenually build a larger version if It worked out. It was a bit uncomfortable to fire and required constant careful stoking to get a gradual rise in temp.
Fast fire 2021-Present. This is my current glaze kiln. It fires in less than 24 hours with about a 1/2 cord of wood and produces beautiful glazed and unglazed work. It was built with reclaimed fire brick.
Anagama 2022-Present. This kiln is currently under construction. The interior is 48” x 48” x 60”. Half of that space will be firebox. It will be used for unglazed works.
