Kiln Building like a girl.

This page is currently under construction, as is the kiln.

In April of 2024, after taking apart brick by brick my previous wood-fired kiln, which I had built in 2001 as a temporary ‘starter’, I embarked on the construction of a new kiln, larger and more dynamic in layout. I had been thinking of the design for a couple of years. My first little kiln had worked great, but I had begun to feel its limitations and wanted to try something new. As time allows, I will add some more information about that kiln too, which served me well.

The new kiln project began with the making of several 1/12 scale models out of clay. Next, the existing slab had to be extended to accommodate a longer footprint. I kept and expanded the main kiln pad from the previous kiln, and it became the stepped up base for the kiln chamber.

In May new apprentice, Tori Nicoletti, arrived and has been a help every step of the way. Together we have laid every brick, thought through design challenges, and proceeded with careful consideration.

My husband, Mark Saxe, continues to contribute invaluable expertise gained from his decades-long career as a stone mason, and I have been referring at critical junctures to several of his books as well as to The Kiln Book by Fred Olsen. My teacher in Japan, Yutaka Ohashi, sent images of his recently reconfigured kiln, with which my design shares a basic profile (firebox, kiln chamber, collection box, chimney). The bricks themselves came either from my old kiln or were new bricks from a refractory supplier (via Southwest Stoneworks) and some second-hand bricks courtesy of Djann Hoffmann in Medanales, NM. Ralph Scala was a help with suggestions and tips.

More photos and details to come soon.

Looking through the stoke port, through the kiln chamber, into the exit flues. For the exit flues, I decided on corbelling the flues and then spanning them with a relieving arch, such that if the exit flues ever need to be modified, they are not load

Looking through the stoke port, through the kiln chamber, into the exit flues. For the exit flues, I decided on corbelling the flues and then spanning them with a relieving arch, such that if the exit flues ever need to be modified, they are not load bearing and can be removed.

The firebox chamber, looking toward the stoke port outward, with individual grate bars over a central row of bricks, notched into the structure on either side. This design allows for individual grate bars to be removed and replaced as their structura

The firebox chamber, looking toward the stoke port outward, with individual grate bars over a central row of bricks, notched into the structure on either side. This design allows for individual grate bars to be removed and replaced as their structural integrity declines. Each piece is 1" bar stock.

The firebox arch with buttress walls under construction. The front wall includes stoke port at a convenient stoking height, and two air inlet ports below the grate area that can be cleaned out easily.

The firebox arch with buttress walls under construction. The front wall includes stoke port at a convenient stoking height, and two air inlet ports below the grate area that can be cleaned out easily.