Well researched newbie here. Hoping for some advice...

Good morning Arnie.

Thanks for the reply to my first posting!  You have provided some very good information...  I have read a number of your posts over the last two years and appreciate your knowledge level!!

I did a quick search on the nitride-bonded silicon carbide shelves that Axner sells and they seem pretty decent.  The one thing that does concern me is that they state those shelves are hard to manufacture flat and that they try not to sell shelves that are more than one half of one percent out of flat as measured across the largest distance of the shelf.  I will be buying 26" shelves so unless my math is wrong, they could be more than 1/8" out of flat and still be considered not defective by the seller.  I think that part will be a deal breaker for me.  1/8" could add up to a lot of wobbles with multiple layers of shelves.  Too bad!  You are correct, they are less than half the cost of the Advancers.

I think I will call kilnshelf.com on Monday and get a little more information from them regarding the Advancer shelves.  It sounds like there are no issues with flatness with them and I would like their opinion on half versus full shelves also.  Are you aware of a company that sells the Advancers cheaper?  If so, please let me know...

Regarding full shelves versus half shelves, I hope that others will weigh in on that...  I do plan on using a full shelf for the bottom one and perhaps the top, but am questioning what to do for the levels in between those.  I am wondering if there is an advantage other than some flexibility in loading various height ceramic pieces.  Would temperature be more evenly distributed as a result of better air circulation inside the kiln?  I do have a downdraft kiln vent, so that needs to be considered as part of the equation...  

Are there other advantages to using half shelves?  Obviously they weigh less and will be easier to load and unload, but I will likely be going with the Advancers so the weight will not be of much concern.  

Is anyone using triangular posts?  It is my understanding that Laguna sells them in the 2" size but they need to be asked for as they are not listed on their website.  I am thinking the triangular posts would help keep wobbles to a minimum and give some additional clearance around wares but again, I am hoping for the more experienced to give their opinions on this...

I am really excited to be starting with all of this.  It has been a two year process saving up enough money for the equipment and building a studio.  I can only imagine how exciting it will be to unload my first set of wares.  Even if the initial results are less than outstanding...  

With all that said, I would really appreciate any feedback I receive from the members of this forum.  I have been reading posts on here for about two years and have learned a lot.  Thanks to all of you for sharing your knowledge with myself and others!!

Sincerely,
Abel

Hi Abel,

I am also looking into upgrading to a larger kiln, and I have been wondering if there is a less expensive alternative to advancers that work really well.

Right now, I use advancer shelves. I have had them for about 10 years, and just like Arnie said, they still work perfectly. I will probably go with advancers again because they are outstanding. I never use all of the shelves in a shelf kit all at one time. For me,two wholes and one half shelf is all I need.

I have noticed that the porcelain will stick to them, but since most of what I do is fired on a glaze catcher, it does not cause me problems. When I fire things like platters that sit directly on the shelf, I add a bit of alumina oxide to the shelf and carefully spread it out with a wide paintbrush. I do this dry, and it's like powdering a breadboard with flour. I don't use any liquid kiln wash because I'm worried about explosions! The alumina oxide provides a thin barrier between the piece and the shelf and allows the piece to expand and contract smoothly during the fire. I only use the alumina oxide on my bottom shelf so it won't matter if some dust gets knocked down while loading the kiln.

I personally use a half shelf a lot of the time. I plan to order one for my next kiln. I normally load my shortest pots toward the bottom of the kiln, and then my talls higher up. If I only have a few talls in a fire, I'll use the half shelf to maximize the space. Does this make sense?

As far as the kiln posts go, I have both square and triangular. I think if I was to order new ones, I'd go with triangular because the pots seem to fit better around them. Both shapes will hold up your shelves just fine.

I have noticed that my kiln posts stick to the advancer shelves. I alleviate this by dipping both ends of each post into kiln wash and letting it dry before using them. Come to think of it, my posts could probably use a refresher of kiln wash for the new year.

Cheers,
Marie

I have used corelite shelves since day one, and have nothing really to compare them to up until recently, my wife purchased ONE advancer shelf a year ago. I feel like, if you can take care of your shelves and the price is a big deal, between the two the corelite would be the way to go. They do warp but if you stack your posts on top of each other and flip the shelves from time to time it stays minimal and can be kept in check. Obviously this means taking care of your shelves. Do what you can to keep glaze drip minimal. Kiln Wash them regularly! If you don't wash them regularly and glaze gets on them it's a mess, and will lead to cracking eventually. Talking about cracking, They don't really crack unless (again) not taken care of. This means also not using four posts to hold up a full round shelf. Use only three. They have a grain, and can crack just from using four posts because it's like a square instead of a triangle.

I personally really like half shelves. Usually I only need one or two at most but occasionally things get crazy and we have like 4 or 5 and they all get stacked in there at weird angles and stuff. For the corelite shelves we only have one full shelf (for our bigger kiln).

One thing I LOVE about the corelite shelves is they are super easy to cut. I've cut full shelves in half to get two half shelves at a much lower cost. I've cut messed up shelves into quarter shelves, odd shaped shelves for those rare times you need, square shelves and smaller full shelves for the medium and smaller kiln.

That being said, I hate having to kiln wash my shelves all the time. The advancer shelf, while still fairly new to us (a year?), has been great. I have not washed it. Glaze is not always super easy to get off, but it still comes off. They are super thin which has definitely helped a few times. No cracks yet. Yes, porcelain does stick to them but since pretty much everything we throw in porcelain has a glaze catcher it hasn't been too big a deal.

Going forth, we will buy advancer shelves. But that is not to say I am replacing all my corelite shelves. I still like having them around, and maybe a little mix is what I like best. I like the advancers a lot better, but like having the corelite's as sort of a "disposable" shelf in ways. All in all if you don't mind putting in the extra time and care to keep your shelves in top shape and money is an issue the corelite's aren't a bad choice but if you have a little extra to spend or don't want to deal with the maintenance go advancer!

As for the posts, I prefer the triangular ones as well like Marie, over the square ones, because it is easier to fit stuff around them. There are two sized diameters for both square and triangle... I was unsure about the smaller diameter triangle posts at first but had to get a few because there were no other options and so far they have worked just fine, and even give a little more space then the larger diameter triangle ones. I do not use the square ones unless I run out of triangle ones.

G

ps morgan - replied

Hi Abel -
quick note - I don't think you want to take your kiln above cone 11 often - very hard on the elements. And the 1 1/3 inch triangular posts do fine with the Advancers - wider ones just add more heat work and take away loadable space. More later.

Arnie

Jim

I don't suppose you would share the recipe for the body that you use for those kiln shelves?

Bill Campbell

Hi All,

I have been working on this too. I just purchased a new Skutt KM1027-3 with all the upgrades that I wanted – 3inch brick, Type S thermocouple, mercury relays, and APM elements. It is a big upgrade, and I am very happy to have it at the house.

However, I bought shelves that Skutt sold with the kiln….. when I saw them I was pretty disappointed. I knew they were mullite, but did not know they were only 5/8 of an inch.

The mullite shelves I have been using are much thicker – maybe 7/8 of an inch... I sent back the thin ones. Because this kiln has 3 inch brick, advancer and other shelves will not fit my new kiln – they would have to be cut down… in a special shop. It became very expensive; I don’t fire very often so I decided it was not worth getting the advancers.

I believe I am grabbing shelves that will fit the kiln in mullite that are the appropriate thickness. I have always used thick mullite shelves and never had an issue. My supplier has some here that are relatively cheap. I would rather have a thinner shelf – but with cost and size issues, I think this is my best choice. But maybe I should follow Greg’s lead and cut down some corelite shelves – I did not realize you could cut those. I'll have to think about it... I appreciate the info and link for the triangle posts because my square posts are ridiculously huge.

Thanks,
Tracey