Bill Schell's "BeachWeb" for March  2013            made-with-Nvu-t.png

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04 March (Monday) 2013:

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Wherein Mr. Bill discovers that 5% alcohol by volume is too much for a light-weight-drunk:   Angry Orchard Apple-Ginger 'Hard Cider' really put me on the floor.  I had always considered myself not much for alcoholic beverages, but this stuff tastes really great, but the effect (affect???) on my system was phenomenal!



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This guy came begging at the door over the weekend (notice the snow he's standing on)
it was COLD this past weekend, but, perhaps, not THAT cold!...



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This picture here is very (very) old (like about 6-7 years old) but it is still very good.   It was taken by the lovely and talented Ms. May, in "Kitty Hawk", North Carolina.   This is where we first took Hang Gliding lessons,  which we then completed in Groveland, Florida and did our 'solo' flights there... 


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AND - we had a very good friend send us both some 'new-clothes' - I got a fancy red jacket to use on my tricycle, and Ms. May got some new socks!


AND - here's Mr. Bill's recent challenge, to either build or arrange new 'fireboxes' for the new kiln.  The ones we had failed in several ways.  So - now I'm attempting to learn enough about the failure-modes, and how to remedy them that I'm fast becoming a ceramic engineer.  - We'll see if I learn enough to achieve the desired goal(s) for fireboxes: - 1.) to protect the floor of the kiln from the soda and 2.) to deflect the flame away from the art-work/ pottery.

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this one (lower-left) is not necessarily supposed to look like this ...


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this one is not, either (note the cracks on either side???


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This last picture is a new firebox from a new set of 'molds' it has heavier walls and base, so maybe it won't crack (we hope!)

 I had a lengthy, productive, learning, conversation on 28 February, with a very very knowledgeable 'ceramic-engineer' about all this and I learned a LOT.

AND yet another conversation with this guy again on Monday, 4th.  Things are looking up - we have 'options' now - need to discuss with our 'Kiln Master' and move-forward, we hope.  

One of the items he covered was that I might not even need these 'separate' fireboxes in the future, if everything he says can be implemented, I will cease to be in the 'custom-firebox-casting-business.  I can only hope such good luck befalls me, huh?

I HOPE I'll be able to put that knowledge / wisdom to good use and make a better 'firebox' for the next firing of the kiln...  He's going to be sending me some mortar and some bricks that are mullite rich, they are supposed to have better thermal and chemical resistance values, so we hope they will last longer and do better...


This is a picture of Ms. May's new LP-gas fired kiln, which had it's 'maiden' firing over the Valentine's day weekend...

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a couple of pictures of work out of the kiln:

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this is what the kiln looked-like once we took-down the door on Sunday Morning, 17th...



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this picture is of the bowl that Mr. Bill 'adopted' out of this first firing...


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and - sometimes Mr. Bill does a 'bit' of 'grinding' / 'sanding' / follow-up after a firing - this is Ms. May's art-work after a recent wood-firing...
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None of this talk would be 'complete' without viewing the 'graph' that Mr. Bill built-up about the last few hours of the firing... (for the science-minded, the raw data came from a Fluke 54 II B digital thermometer (and a "K type" thermocouple inserted in the very top of the kiln)).   Some will note that not only is the kiln installed underneath a wooden-roof, but that Mr. Bill was terribly nervous about the temperature of the roof.  However, he's happy (very) to report that the outside of kiln never got above 100F much less did the temperature of the kiln affect the roof more than about 6-8 degrees F.  So Mr. Bill's preconceived notions & fears about the roof were TOTALLY un-warranted...



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on the 'tricycling' front we have seen this, and want-one, but since they come from Europe and are exceedingly 'pricey' (like WAY MORE than the Trike that I now have) - we decided we'll look into 'adapting' the existing trike, and - perhaps cut-up and re-shape one of our existing sailboard sails that we don't use any more?



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and - for those of you 'in the know' - these shorts must be at least 20 years old (if not maybe more) and therefore it's a 'miracle' that I still have them?

You can see this blog-site which may be of more 'value added' if you are looking for Kiln Pictures (and a tiny bit of text?):    http://vikingasia.blogspot.com


Our August web-page:    http://www.vikingasia.org/BeachWeb/BeachWeb2012/Aug12/Aug12.html

Our September web-page:    http://www.vikingasia.org/BeachWeb/BeachWeb2012/Sep12/Sep12.html


Mr. Panda-Bear's web-page:    http://www.vikingasia.org/BeachWeb/PandaBear/PB.html


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and - here's the 'final-result' (well 2 of the 4 walls) of our garage-studio exterior renovation...

AND - if you're at AALLLLLL Interested (and you may not be) - here's a couple of charts that have to do with electronic 'frequency spectrum' that are quite interesting.  This is a Wall Chart for the US Spectrum Allocation from 1 to 300 Gig.  This is a handy 8 1/2" x 11" chart of the ARRL / Amateur radio frequency spectrum for the US Amateur scene.



Archived BeachWeb monthly (and other) site(s):   Click here for a list of the archived months


updated: 18:54 p.m. (USA-EDT)  Thursday, 10 October 2013;  by: Mr._Bill on the Apple Macintosh 'Mac Mini' - revID:  1d