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2022 Furnace ('Phoenix') and Lehr at Quarley - Repairs to Phoenix after Firing Five (Summer 2022)

Projects: 2019 Onwards   Wood Gathering and Processing   Phoenix Firing Three   Repairs after Firing Three   Phoenix Firing Four

Phoenix Firing Five   The New Shelter Floor   The Electric Kiln   Rebuilding the Lehr   Etna Build and Firings   General Photos

Vesuvius Firepit Build   Vesuvius Superstructure Build   Vesuvius Firings   Repairs after Firing Five   Phoenix Firing Six

Phoenix Firing Five Clean-up

After Phoenix Firings Four and Five, the shelves looked a mess, but the sand had prevented most of the glass spillages from reaching the kiln batts, making them very easy to clean and tidy up with an angle grinder. The low daub walls had broken, but had largely prevented the sand from falling into the firepit.

The upturned pots that were used as sieges had not broken, so could all be re-used to hold glass if necessary.

We lost some of the collars, notably the wide one in front of the left-hand side gathering hole.

Most of the normal cracks on both the hot face and the cold face had opened up, so once again would have to be filled with high temperature sealant before giving the hot face another coat of zircon silicate slip.

We lost two of the small brackets for the shelf support tubes, which we had to retrieve from the ashes in the firepit.

The firepit cleaned up well, although there were a few small splashes of molten glass, which was only to be expected.

The right-hand side gathering hole The left-hand side gathering hole
Upturned pots used as sieges Upturned pots used as sieges
The protective layer of sand The protective layer of sand
One of the upturned pots One of the upturned pots
The final siege pot has been removed The sand has been removed
The sand has been removed The shelves with their walls
Cracks in the hotface Cracks in the hotface

Preparations for Firing Six

After cleaning and tidying up the firing and melting chambers, it was just a case of filling the cracks with high temperature sealant and fire cement, before repainting where necessary with a coat of zircon silicate slip.

We replaced the shelves, using two sets, ready for Phoenix Firing Six, built a new low daub wall around each shelf and filled the space with sand.

We also glued the two small brackets back into place, using fire cement.

Cleaned and ready for filling the cracks
Cleaned and ready for filling the cracks The sand sieved for re-use
The shelves with new walls put back The shelves with new walls put back
The shelves with new walls put back The shelves with new walls put back

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