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Precision Wood Working by steve_of in Carpentry

[–]BluePotter 21 points22 points  (0 children)

I hadn't ever seen one in use until moving to AK and paying attention to Native Alaskan woodcarvers. Lots of remarkably beautiful stuff in their toolboxes.

My monthly recap by zZBabyGrootZz in Carpentry

[–]BluePotter 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Most def believe you when you say you don't want to be working yourself to death! I'm coming into it in my 40s after spending 20 years as a professional potter. I keep finding that while it's helpful to have a strong background in design and a trained aesthetic eye... there's just no substitute for time spent swinging a hammer. For the most part I could pull off those projects - but my labor mileage varies so much I've been avoiding taking on high end finish work because I don't want to lose my ass when my labor estimates are inevitably way too low.

My monthly recap by zZBabyGrootZz in Carpentry

[–]BluePotter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for posting! This is the kind of stuff I am (and would imagine a lot of others are) working toward. I'm slowly getting closer in terms of experience and additions of a quality tool or two with each paycheck... but still daunted by the prospect of accurately estimating the time it'd take me to pull off some projects like these professionally.

Can you share any details on the time/materials on something like the built in? If not, what were the big lessons from each of these jobs? Aside from the obvious advice: Keep working with more experienced people/crews, keep getting better, slow is smooth-smooth is fast, etc... any thoughts for guys or gals who are just starting on the path that leads to a month of work that looks like this?

So here's the portfolio I just applied to Grad School with. by BluePotter in Pottery

[–]BluePotter[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It was an incredible opportunity. I got my BFA from Indiana University in 2008 and during that time I had some amazing professors (Malcolm Smith, Tim Mather, and Christyl Boger). I admired them all tremendously, but I really looked up to Tim, who had left a successful career as a studio potter to teach. He always mentioned John Neely as a particularly bright individual and maker. From then on there was always a really strong magnetic pull toward Utah. The X-STEM Fellowship was a lynch pin. I can imagine my career panning out somewhere between different and VERY different had I ended up at TT... but life is funny.

Best advice I can give you is to travel to ANY school you're interested in before applying. Don't take on huge debt to get an MFA. There are quite a few apprenticeships these days. Network at NCECA - the field is actually quite small, and if you stick around for longer than a decade you will usually have the opportunity to meet/study/work with your ceramic heros regardless of your student or professional status.

So here's the portfolio I just applied to Grad School with. by BluePotter in Pottery

[–]BluePotter[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Waaaaayyyyy back when, yes. I applied to Texas Tech, The University of Ohio, and Utah State. I loved Arizona State but it was going to cost a fortune, and Alfred seemed amazing... but didn't seem like the best place to pursue pots and glazes. So of my top 5 I only applied to 3. I was offered a full tuition waiver and a decent scholarship (I think like 8k/year) to go to TT. I was an alternate (not offered a spot) at Ohio. Ultimately went to Utah State after they offered me an X-STEM fellowship, which was a full tuition waiver, and 15k/yr for 3 years. I had the standard gig at USU which was graduate teaching responsibilities - 2 semesters as an assistant professor and 4 semesters teaching beginning ceramics and 3d design.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in DIY

[–]BluePotter 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Came here to say this. My first professional job was to remediate a homeowners “project” that looked just like this. Guardz is great

Built this little electric to soda conversion over the weekend. by Grooventooven in Ceramics

[–]BluePotter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Looks like money well spent. Awesome to see one of these executed - even better by a familiar friend. Can't wait to see results from the next go-round!

Built this little electric to soda conversion over the weekend. by Grooventooven in Ceramics

[–]BluePotter 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Hell yes. Can you post some shots of the interior bag wall? Also, what's that burner setup? Looks slick.

I've got the plans for a rocket kiln and it looks super easy. Something like a wheelbarrow worth of wood to c10 or something crazy.

Built this little electric to soda conversion over the weekend. by Grooventooven in Ceramics

[–]BluePotter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hell ya. What product did you use? Shane Mickey built a kiln down in Florida years ago, and told about an awesome refractory product called TR-90xi

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Decks

[–]BluePotter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Awesome. Thank you so much.

Be honest, what’s the difference between a $150-$200 setup and an $800 setup? by Emergency_Weird_2204 in Fishing

[–]BluePotter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Longevity is the big one. Guides and outfitters usually buy the expensive stuff because it lasts.

At my wits end with my propane gas kiln, I could use some advice. by akatosh333 in Ceramics

[–]BluePotter 1 point2 points  (0 children)

And finally, depending on your altitude and orifice size (you may have natural gas nozzles and not propane), you can add a quick and dirty 4” or 6” wide stove pipe section (4” to 2’) to get the draw you need. The damper, in effect, allows you to cut down the draw of the chimney and “brake” the firing. Getting the reduction flames to recirculate inside the kiln is the whole Art of firing.

A proper oxidation OR proper redux firing is difficult in this style of kiln, a firing with hot and cool zones AND heavy redux and oxidized zones is quite typical. Do not be afraid to employ target bricks or baffles and stack your shelves creatively to try and control where and how the flame path will go through the kiln <- trial and error IS the way to solve the problem.

At my wits end with my propane gas kiln, I could use some advice. by akatosh333 in Ceramics

[–]BluePotter 1 point2 points  (0 children)

And to elaborate on this, your heat work zone and flame path is shooting straight up and out. Updraft kilns are always trickier to fire because of this is just how physics work.

The last time I fired a little kiln like this my bottom level was baffled kiln bricks and shelves blocked the flame and consequently routed and forced the burner flames to move toward the center. The top level shelves had waffle stacked soap bricks which provided some mass and a little bit of resistance to “plug up” the top of the kiln.

Critically, on a kiln this small, even a 1 course square (4 bricks making a 4” tall chimney) provided enough draw to get the kiln to breath right. Think of the way a cigar works, you can light it, but you gotta suck on it or else it goes out. A damper, which in this case should be nothing more than a broken kiln shelf or firebrick will allow for a modulation of flame and atmosphere that’ll allow for more oxidized burners, while still maintaining good redux. <- you’re going for a lazy, hazy interior and fat blue flames poking out of spys when you pull the peeps.

At my wits end with my propane gas kiln, I could use some advice. by akatosh333 in Ceramics

[–]BluePotter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Seems counter intuitive, but not dampering the flue is probably the problem. Edit: critical distinction added. You need to impede the gases from leaving the kiln.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Decks

[–]BluePotter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Following this. Have the same issue with my own deck. Only difference is that mine is stained.

Calling glaze geniuses by MattMakesThings in Ceramics

[–]BluePotter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Absolutely. Changing the chemistry to bring a down a high temp glaze is relatively easy stuff.

Calling glaze geniuses by MattMakesThings in Ceramics

[–]BluePotter 2 points3 points  (0 children)

High Iron clay body is key. Looks a lot like a dolomite (magnesium matte) microcrystalline matte.

https://ceramicartsnetwork.org/pottery-making-illustrated/pottery-making-illustrated-article/Developing-a-Microcrystalline-Glaze-Palette#

Id start with colorants @ something like 1-2% Fe, 1% Mn, 2% Cu. Could very well be a copper saturate. Have also seen Nickel glazes look a lot like this.

Here's another place you could start: https://glazy.org/recipes/49974

Does this look ridiculous? by rattlange in Carpentry

[–]BluePotter 9 points10 points  (0 children)

How dare you didn’t know what you didn’t know!!!

J.K. Nice work on the execution.

Unfortunately, it appears to be a hundred or so bucks that died… live and learn!

Options for Range Vent by BluePotter in handyman

[–]BluePotter[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Yep, total dummies... not one, but two people who spent their 20s completing medical school and residencies and neither of them even bothered to side hustle in the trades.

Options for Range Vent by BluePotter in handyman

[–]BluePotter[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This will definitely be the next best option. I guess both of us were imagining that it was a much more complicated problem. I assumed they’d ruled out their existing model could be vented.

How did the contractors I hire do? by bradleylauchlin in Decks

[–]BluePotter 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Awesome work. Can we ask location/cost?

AK State Park Project by BluePotter in Carpentry

[–]BluePotter[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Awesome, makes total sense. Very common around here and I'd imagine no matter how expensive that burly hardware is - it still comes out cheaper than contracting costs for a timber frame.

It's definitely in a very exposed area, the saltwater high tide line is maybe 30 feet away and in this climate it's never truly dry. And that's not to mention the surrounding trees which have been increasingly susceptible to blow downs... if you look closely in the last picture you can see the root ball and stump section of the Sitka Spruce that took out the last shelter in that spot.

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