Why build a homemade wood fired pottery kiln?
Building your own wood fired backyard kiln is easy, fun, and inexpensive.
Humans have fired clay to ceramic in woodfired kilns since ancient times, join a proud tradition and one of the oldest crafts on earth. It’s also a skill for sustainable living; off-grid and bushcraft if that’s your thing, or as urban as a city backyard. Where electric kilns simplify the burning process to a point where you don’t really need to give it much thought, and kilns that burn diesel, oil, or gas are harmful to the environment.
The wood-fired kiln offers a clean, renewable energy source. And it’s rewarding to control the inferno of fire with planning, manual work, and know-how. It’s easy to start up with wood firing and get some results, but really master it, read the firing process and control everything takes years of practice. Read about the wood firing historic roots and human superstition
A woodfired kiln can burn as hot as any other type of kiln, it can deliver whatever an electric kiln can give you, and it even has some unique features you can’t achieve elsewhere.
All ceramic kilns from this webpage are Homemade and DIY, they do not require special equipment, advanced building skills, or crafts like welding. Several of the kilns are just built by laying bricks on top of other bricks. You don’t need big investments either, maybe you have access to some planks or leftover wood, a backyard, and some old house-bricks? Red terracotta bricks are stable up to 1100 degrees Celsius, perfect for building low-fired ceramic kilns. Or you can do like me; I bought used, cheap Firebricks from someone demolishing a 40-year-old baker’s kiln.
Here on this webpage I build, test, and describe:
– Low-cost ceramic kilns
– Small-size ceramic kilns
– Easy-to-build ceramic kilns
– Fired-by-one-person ceramic kilns
– Burned-for-maximum-12-hours ceramic kilns
Go on and try it yourself, it’s fun!
Yamamoto: The most beautiful part is the back of the pot – it is “the wrap of the flame” effect.
From the book “The Art of Firing”.
Blogposts:
- Our fascination for flames and the dawn of man
When firing pottery in an electric kiln makes the potter’s life so easy. Why continue to fire with wood? Our fascination for flames was made hundred of thousands of years ago … Continue readingOur fascination for flames and the dawn of man - My New Kiln!
My new kiln! Or not much of a kiln yet, but here it comes! I just need to flatten this - Make A Simple Tin Can Pottery Kiln – Fire It To 1100 °C
Make A Simple Tin Can Pottery Kiln And Fire It To 1100 °C – Burning ceramics and glazing pottery … Continue readingMake A Simple Tin Can Pottery Kiln – Fire It To 1100 °C - Minigama – Coil Building the New Mini Kiln
The coil built Minigama can reach 1200C in about 3 hours, its a experimental mini test kiln … Continue readingMinigama – Coil Building the New Mini Kiln - How to build a wood fired pottery kiln books
Summary of all the books describing wood fired pottery kilns, – design and building technics … Continue readingHow to build a wood fired pottery kiln books - How to burn consistently in a wood-fired pottery kiln
To reach high temperatures in a woodfired kiln you need a schedule, and some understand of he combustion process … Continue readingHow to burn consistently in a wood-fired pottery kiln - How to build a wood fired ceramic kilnHow to build a wood fired ceramic kiln. This is a classic wood fired brick-kiln design, and also a good starter kiln … Continue readingHow to build a wood fired ceramic kiln
- How to burn the sawdust kiln
The sawdust kiln is for bisque fire ceramic. Build it with 18-20 stones, pack it with sawdust and ignite. … Continue readingHow to burn the sawdust kiln - How to build a wood kiln for ceramics – With an oil-barrel
Rebuild an oil barrel to an as an ceramic kiln is done with tree simple hand tools … Continue readingHow to build a wood kiln for ceramics – With an oil-barrel - Fire ceramic in a wood stove – its easyMany say you can’t fire ceramic in a wood stove, but between the logs is more than hot enough. … Continue readingFire ceramic in a wood stove – its easy
Resources from the Internet:
https://exarc.net/issue-2023-2/ea/experimenting-ancient-greek-pottery-production-process
https://robertcomptonpottery.com/index.php/kilns/building-kilns/
https://ancientpottery.how/how-to-make-a-pottery-kiln-at-home/
https://www.homesteadpottery.com/articles-homestead-pottery/building-a-wood-fired-kiln/
