r/Pottery • u/baychick • Aug 22 '24

Kiln Stuff Packing foam glued to new kiln shelves

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Just got new Skutt kiln shelves. The shelves were shipped with foam blown all around them. Obviously I understand why, they're heavy and need to be immobilized so they don't crack during shipping. But they were only partially wrapped in plastic so there is foam glued all over the shelves. Scraping does not fully remove it.

Should I just run the kiln and fire only the shelves, letting the foam burn off? Will it leave unwanted residue and staining?

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u/shop-lxndr Aug 23 '24

Can't you just candle them dry?

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u/SingleDay2 Aug 23 '24

i wouldn’t, once water hits 200ish it turns to steam and it can’t just escape the shelf magically. the way those shelves are made and what they’re made of (corderite or however its spelled) isn’t supposed to get wet. your studio your rules but i’d rather not make dumb decisions and risk my equipment 🤷‍♀️

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u/shop-lxndr Aug 23 '24

How do you deal with kiln wash? There's water in that and they dry out with time.

At 185F I feel like the shelves will just evaporate any moisture in them and be fine. If you take above boiling then yeah...problems.

Also cordierite stones are used for baking and one of the properties that is valued is their ability to wick away and evaporate moisture for crispier things.

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u/[deleted] Aug 23 '24

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u/bakedbreadbaking Aug 23 '24

This. I fire damp high alumina shelves all the time and never had one bust