I've been taking ceramics at high school this semester, and it has me very interested in pottery as a hobby (and a small business). However, a decent-sized clay kiln costs a fortune, and I'm sure there's a way to make a propane-burning kiln myself for much cheaper.

Does anyone have experience building a kiln for home use? I would need to have decent control over the temperature, from 1000 to 2500 degrees Fahrenheit. And like I said before, I would prefer if it ran off propane, as it's easy to work with and I wouldn't have to do any plumbing or wiring to the house.

- Tom

You can just use a big ass fire.

No, you cannot. It will heat up and cool down far too quickly, leaving you with cracked pots at best, and shattered fragments at worst. Not to mention the lack of heat control putting a severe damper on glazing.

I'd do some research on google. I'm sure it's been done. It probably involves heating elements and some sort of temperature control circuit. The structure itself wouldn't be too difficult to build.

Potters have used large fires, but it is much more complex than making a big bonfire over your pottery. You can read up on that if you want to.

Raku is an option, and is supposed to be pretty great if you can get tons of free saw dust/chips... But its kinda weird. Meh.

Generally you cast some refractory cement of some kind into the shape of the kiln or use pre-cast refractory cement bricks... For heating something up... to slowly cool it down over hours... I suppose you could just slow down the propane flow.

http://seattlepotterysupply.com/

I have ordered ceramic fiber "paper" from them before along with other things, seems to be pretty reasonable prices.

You should be able to order a fair amount of refractory bricks from there to make a very small kiln/furnace... Or you could always try to convince the art teacher to put a few on her next order and pass them on to you...

You really want to do some more research though as to what refractory bricks and/or cement is right for your application...

For instance, Mizzou Castable refractory cement is good up to around 3000F... And resistant to molten aluminum and such... Awesome... BUT the shit has too high a thermal conductivity for pottery firing kiln use...you would be bleeding alot of your heat away through the refractory...

http://www.budgetcastingsupply.com/

Everything you need.

^^ no, not really.

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http://frittsartglass.com/marbles/articles/Crucible.html
good article with a spot on temperature control circuitry

http://toblerglasscreations.com/fuji/
more kiln controller stuff

http://www.freakyacres.com/wood_fired_kiln
wood fired kiln

http://www.ceramicstoday.com/articles/061697.htm

this crazy beard man who made pottery on the the show 'dirty jobs' mike rowe made his own kiln.

it looks like a little brick shed, where he puts in wood, overnight allows it to heat up for a while.
and by morning it is done.

http://www.meaderspottery.org/

there