The first firing just wrapped up on Tuesday the 24th of September. We fired the kiln for 115 hours and had many scheduling snaffu's. Motto for this firing WORST SCHEDULE EVER. Here are some pictures.

I have many good pictures back from the first firing but have left them at Simon's so I will not be able to post them until I get them back and am able to scan them. If you would like to be notified when I update any of the pages involving the Anagama, please email me here.

Using the existing chimney for the original catenerary arch woodfire kiln, Simon was able to save a lot of time and $. However this added many brain hours of trying to figure out where to start laying the first course of brics for the floor of the Anagama.

That figured out, the bricks were started to be layed.

The stepping interior floor of the anagama.

Early on, Simon measured how far the supports could span with the lath that he had in order to gauge how far appart he would have to place the arch forms.

Having decided how far apart to space the forms, they were calculate based on how wide the kiln was at that point and how high Simon wanted it to be. The catenary arches were then traced using a highly specialized piece of chain that was lying around. These were then screwed together.

Putting the lath on the forms was remarkably simmilar to building a boat.

Once the lath was completed we started laying the brick. Making sure that the inside face was most flush with the curve of the form.

By far, the most difficult area of laying brick was at the peak, where the two sides that were curving in two directions meet. We tried making triple compound miter cuts with the brick saw, but gave up after our brains began leaking out of our ears. Hurrah for Castable Refractory!

Whalah! One shake and bake kiln.

A layer of fireclay slip dipped soft brick was layed up on the outside of the hardbrick for better insulation. And to make it look uglier.

And finally a refactory cement was mixed up and smoothed over the entire contraption.