These are the primary air ports and they were open here to let the maximum amount of air into the firebox to combust the wood efficiently. Every once in a while toward the end of the firing it was important to manage the coals so they would not block these ports.


Here you can see Brian pulling some coals to balance out and level the coal bed.

The wood we got for the firing was difficult to get at first. This firing we were able to buy the wood at a lumberyard that was near by the school and people delivered it to us. The price was reasonable and it was good and dry. The kiln likes the mixture of big, thick, dense wood with thin wood at the end to get the instant btu’s.

The flames were really coming out of the kiln and the chimney was drawing a tremendous amount. It was great.



Josh and Todd took over stoking the firebox. We used all pine wood and it was very dry. The day was also dry and hot. It was a good time for the firing and we got good response from the kiln.

There was a lot of excitement about the Americans and the wood kiln so when it came time to fire there was a celebration. You can see Brian throwing in the first log with many other people looking watching in anticipation. It was a great time. We had a party and a lot of people came by the studio to see the kiln and talk with us.