The answer is — probably, more than likely, yes.
The hybrid Noborigama style kiln we built this last fall was definitely experimental, and we had no idea if it would work at all. The sprung arch was precarious, the base questionable, and the flame needed to travel through some weird pathways. We did end up needing to quickly add another few feet of chimney in the first few hours of the firing, just to help it draw properly!
We found that it was a very sensitive kiln. Any changes to the damper, air intake, wood size, wood type, amount of wood stoked, dampness of wood, or even stoking frequency caused massive stalls and quick temperature rises. I swear it could even tell if we were checking the pyrometer too often. We found ourselves trying every which way of firing a kiln — just to see if it might work. Often we would stoke with multiple small skinny pieces of wood, which the kiln really liked, and it would make it rise 100 degrees in no time. And then, if we got a little too excited and stoked a smidge too early, the kiln would drop 100 degrees over the next 30 minutes. Gah!
Wood firing has a rhythm to it, and often you have to ride that wave and not panic if the temperature drops when you add wood. You might hear "wood is ice" when it comes to firing, because although the fire loves it — it will drop the temperature at first.
Near the end of the firing, when cone 10 was down in the front chamber and in the bottom of the back chamber, we noticed that the flame didn't want to travel all the way up and around the top of the catenary arch (which we sort of predicted). To help it along, we started trying all different frequencies of side stoking, and it seemed to really enjoy being fed every 8 seconds on the dot. Phew!
After spraying soda in the back chamber late into the evening, we called it at around 4 in the morning, closed everything up, and put her to bed. It was about a 68 hour firing, a little longer than we expected. For an experimental kiln built with less-than-perfect bricks and no stucco yet, it wasn't bad at all! Like one of my favorite things Dave says — "Ugly kiln still gets hot."
We got to about cone 12 or 13 in the front, and 10 in the back. A funny kiln, and a firing for the books.
Zeynep Uner is the current kiln and wheel repair apprentice at Bracker’s, working directly with David Sturm (the head tech) on repairs large and small. She has been repairing kilns for approximately 3 years now, and has been absorbing everything she possibly can from David’s 30+ years in the field.
Zeynep enjoys atmospheric firing, taking film photos, and throwing on her old Brent kick wheel.
