Kiln Building

The new kiln is built around a recycled wooden form.

Once the walls are up the wooden form is removed to make room for the arch's form (which has been used to build several past kilns at The Poddery). Rob Podd is seen on the ladder placing the arch bricks on top of the wooden arch form.

The arch is cemented with a special high-temperature mortar.


The custom welded metal frame for the door is placed on it's track. This door will slide into place before each firing - this is a new feature, in the past the kiln door was stacked by hand brick by brick before each firing (usually by me - it was my least favorite task).

I bricked up the new door (hopefully for the first and last time).

Jason Podd had to weld the kiln door's hanging mechanism over again because the weight of the bricks changed the center of gravity of the door and the door didn't hang straight anymore.

I finished stacking the door today and Rob Podd added the extra layer of insulation on top of the kiln, so now it's pretty much ready to fire for the first time!