by Jarn

Created on: May 15, 2008   Last Updated: April 06, 2012

When working with pottery you will always have need of a kiln to fire and harden your wares. Without a kiln you've got little more than soggy clay. over the years many different types of kilns have been invented, each with their own particular use. Here is a guide on most of the kilns a potter is likely to encounter and their uses.

• Portable Kiln

The term portable does not mean that a kiln can be picked up and carried around, but merely that it was manufactured in a factory and shipped in one piece. The manufacturers of such kilns have illustrated catalogues with complete technical information about burners, blowers, and other features. This is the most diverse of kilns given the huge numbers of companies that build and ship their own.

• Updraft Kiln

An updraft kiln is made up of essentially two pieces; a firebox in which the heat and flame is concentrated and contained, and a flue damper system by which the heat and flame is controlled. The placement of the burner can be from the bottom or on the sides, but the flame and heat is designed to flow and rise upward from the bottom of the firebox. This is a very simple system where the burner produces heat at a steady rate and the flue in the top can be widened, narrowed, or cut off completely. Because of its simplicity, relying on air flow to distribute heat, this model can rarely produce heats much higher than 1,940 degrees Fahrenheit, which is barely enough to mature earthenware and nowhere close to maturing stoneware or porcelain.

• Muffle Kiln

A muffle is a chamber made of refractory material into which ware is placed for firing. Between the muffle and the outer wall of the kiln is a space through which flames circulate, entering at the bottom, passing all around the muffle, and leaving through a flue at the top. In some muffle kilns, the wall of the muffle contains passage for the flames; in others, the flames travel in tubes just inside the muffle itself. Muffle kilns protect ware from contact with the flame, an important factor in most glazed work. They do not used fuel economically; however, as too much heat escapes up the chimney

• Down Draft Kiln

A down draft kiln has no muffle. The flames enter from the front or sides near the bottom corners of the kiln, pass over a baffle or bag wall, and reach the ware at the top. They are then drawn down through openings in the floor into a flue connected to a chimney. In their passage through the kiln the flames come in direct

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