Comments on: Building and Firing a Steve Harrison Throat Kiln (Overview)

By: odin

odin — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 22:40:06 +0000

Hi Jeff — my kiln works out to 11.5 cu ft. (15″ high, 22″ wide, 60″ long). I can’t see that it would even be worth the effort to go any smaller, and while it would be easy to make the kiln body taller, I want a low ceiling to keep the flame from getting too diffuse. Furutani taught that low ceilings increase ash glaze, high ceilings limit ash glaze. Anyway, I also have a chimney about 8 or 9 ft tall on the kiln. It smokes like mad. I have a video from the second firing I should put up to demonstrate. Although it smokes like crazy, it fires easily. I laid down cone 11 flat front to back in the second firing. It’s just that with all the smoke, I can’t sit by the kiln while it fires, and this is a big disadvantage when the ambient air temperature is below freezing.

By: Jeff Guin

Jeff Guin — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 19:00:04 +0000

Outstanding Post. I’m buying Steve’s book and plan on building the kiln this spring. One question–I don’t plan on building a 35 cubic foot kiln. I plan on going half that size and perhaps expand later but I will keep the fire box the same dimensions. If I decrease cubic feet inside the kiln can I cut down the height of the chimney?

By: Odin

Odin — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 21:18:19 +0000

Thank you for the info Claudia. Clearly, the problem lies with the fact that my chimney is half the height as yours is. There are two reasons I want a shorter chimney. First, I was hoping for a slower flow of flame and ash in this kiln so that I’d get a glassy side and raw side. In the anagama, the draft is so strong that the flame and ash substantially wraps around the pieces and often leaves no parts unglazed. The other reason is for laziness — I don’t want figure out how to get the bricks up that high and I also worry about stability in high winds because my chimney is dry stacked and unbraced. Seems though, I will have to accept some kind of compromise.

By: Claudia MacPhee

Claudia MacPhee — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 03:38:21 +0000

I have one of these kilns. Bought Steve’s book and really liked the look and ease of it. Mine NEVER smoked! The draft is awesome, just pulls the fire. My chimney is only 15 ft. Hard brick to the damper (I fire with it open). Then some red house brick. My kiln is 35 cu. ft.
I admit to messing around with the flues when I built it. Gradually plugging it. What I have left works good. I fire 15-20 hrs. and sidestoke after about 4 hrs. Get my wood from an old sawmill site, one good pick up load does it.
This is a great design, I love mine!
Email if you want to talk about firing it.