WOODFIRING
JASPER BRINTON KILN
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a large woodfiring kiln made out
of solid castable. We knew this
was going to be a difficult job
and it had to start with tearing
off the existing bourry box.
create the floor and
walls for the hybrid
firebox extension.
the walls,
banding, and the
roof were added.
and wire was
applied. Then a
home made
castable mix was
trowled on the kiln.
coated it was ready fire.
is a sculptor and these a
a couple of pictures of
him and his work in the
first chamber of the kiln.
Greg Pitts in 1993. This kiln is a two chamber catenary arch woodkiln. The outer layer consists of a
light insulating castable, while the inner core is a heavy duty castable mix able to withstand very high
temperatures and the introduction of salt or soda. The original design had a Bourry box for the main
fire box and smaller fire boxes for each chamber. The back end of the kiln uses a collection box prior
to the main chimney stack which stands approximately 20ft high.
We were asked to incorporate a larger 8 foot anagama style firebox with a step grate system to the
existing kiln structure. To do this we removed the previous Bourry box and made the addition a
seamless fit into the castable structure using super duty brick and castable. To make this fit seamless,
we used castable to bind the brick into the main structure.
The new fire box was then covered with insulating fibre followed by wire attached to the fibre. We then
coated the new section of the kiln with a hand made castable coating for more insulation. Of course,
the new section was banded all around as it is a sprung arch roof. Shown above are some sample
pictures of the kiln, construction and firing of Jasper's sculpture. We would like to thank Jasper for his
ongoing help over the years and his great generosity. It is rare to find a man of his generous spirit and
humble nature. It was Jasper Brinton and Suzanne Kent from the Chester Springs Studio who got us
started woodfiring many years ago. We would suggest that anyone who is serious about woodfiring
look up the Chester Springs web site as they have a resident artist program there with a strong
emphasis on woodfiring. The Chester Springs web site can be found on our contact/links page.