Kiln De-Construction

The next step in building my kiln is to de-construct the Firebox from the old kiln.
Upon removing the bricks from the firebox I have discovered that it had become a habitat for Salamanders over the winter and spring. I unearthed 12 of them and they all ran up into the kiln upon being found....
Maybe the new kiln should be named for the Salamanders...

Roof is up!

My metal finally came in, and the rain held off long enough, so I was finally able to get my metal roof on. Now my work area is out of the weather and I can start on the actual Kiln!!!

A roof for my Kiln

I attended a kiln building workshop in mid march in Mt. Pleasant, PA to gain some needed skills and experience on building kilns. When I came back I was ready to build, but first I needed a roof!

I layed out some basic dimensions for the kiln (and decided to use the hand dug kiln as a smoke trail leading to the same chimney) and built my roof around that. I was able to use some old Chestnut posts that I scavenged with a friend out of an old barn and some Locust posts that were cut by my neighbor. They are not exactly straight, but they got character. I used 2"x6"'s for the roof supports and 2"x4"'s for the purlins. It will receive a metal roof as soon as it comes in (metal locally made at a wheeling-pitt factory and bought through my local hardware store). Once the roof is up then I can focus on the actual Kiln!

You can check out more pictures of the roof construction at http://www.flickr.com/photos/stefflthompson/sets/72157604373310113/