Killer dye job on those Matt! 
What did you do in your shop today?
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woodtickgreg
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it would be nice to see some of those in the auction! Very nice Matt.
Thanks, Greg!
I'm hoping to have some blanks ready for the auction, if I can find the time to get some done!
I made things. 
Running a big batch of wood and Cactus Juice through my kiln today:
Spoke with Curtis and he confirmed his recommendation of 185 degrees. The PID controller on this kiln oscillates between 183 and 187 so I'm a happy camper. I have to say that the customer service from TurnTex and Curtis O. Seebeck is phenomenal. He's friendly, helpful and informative not to mention, in my case, patient....
Awesome to run 5 Gallons at a whack. The kiln will take a lot more, so when it adds up, I just run a big batch.
Spoke with Curtis and he confirmed his recommendation of 185 degrees. The PID controller on this kiln oscillates between 183 and 187 so I'm a happy camper. I have to say that the customer service from TurnTex and Curtis O. Seebeck is phenomenal. He's friendly, helpful and informative not to mention, in my case, patient....
Awesome to run 5 Gallons at a whack. The kiln will take a lot more, so when it adds up, I just run a big batch.
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Seebeck, but yeah he is very helpful and reachable. Nice kiln!
Hmmm.... I'll have to look at how low some of those kilns will go. I've got a lady down the street with a couple old ones she wanted to get rid of....
It occurred to me Collin, that using a toaster oven was a waste of good electricity since they don't have any insulation. I was an apprentice to a potter for 3 years back in the late 60's so the kiln just came to mind. I looked on Craig's list and found this one for $150 bucks. Gave the nice woman another $25 for a bunch of kiln furniture.
A lot of the kilns have Bartlett 3K controllers and you can program them any way you want. It is like overkill, considering that a kiln like this will fire up to and over cone 10 (2,500 degrees +/-.) Kilns with a "kiln Sitter" might not go that low. If the model is an L&L Kiln you might just be in luck.
I've found they go from $100 - $250 on Craigslist generally if they have had a lot of use. I have seen some bright shiny ones going for that, but too far away.
The inside of this one is pristine.
This is the way to do large batches of stabilization. I'm so glad I thought of it, sooner than later. Big time money saver. Took a while to figure out just the right program for this application, but I got it.
Thanks Kevin. I feel very fortunate to have found it relatively close by. I also am ever grateful to have come up with the idea for what I'm doing.
At this point, I can rough turn a bowl, run it through the 5 gallon paint pot, then pop it in the kiln and fire it.
Wooden pots. Voila!
Mark - I am a fan of stabilizing some turnings as well.Do you find that it slows down fading? It seems to be an added benefit from what I can tell.
I used my shop floor to sort and file paperwork for the accountant. One of the unglamorous joys of owning your own business.
Did you put an oven thermometer to double check the temp or just go with the kiln's reading??
Worked on three lamps/shades for orders. Made a Indian Rosewood Gavel & Black Walnut strike plate for a honey aviary group meeting.
Ohhh baby that's a sexy little hammer (we are not allowed to use the word "gavel" in Texas - it sounds really sissy sorta like "pail").
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Worked on my husky 365 chainsaw, it puked another coil. the last one I replaced was an oem and it didn't last either. I don't know why but this saw eats coils it seems, lol. I think this is this saws 3rd or 4th coil.
Not sure yet Scott - I feel it's too soon to tell. I'm doing some testing to see what short/long term affects are or will be.
I have several temp readings. Oven thermometer, a dual readout digital unit with a thermocouple embedded in a piece of wood to reflect the core temp of the largest piece. Additionally. I have a few "control" pieces wrapped in foil, that near the end, I check to be sure the batch is cured, which is also Curtis' recommendation. With 3" thick walls, it's amazing how stable the entire kiln is based on equal spacing of the coils. When it reaches the set point, it wants to stay there. The thermocouples I'm using for monitoring go in through the two peep holes, with the plugs shut. Amazingly consistent results with the PID. That Bartlett controller is an amazing piece of gear.
My sister has been a potter since the late 60's- funny she played with clay- i played with plaster-dad was an electronics tech- go figure. Her big kiln is amazingly controllable at a long range of temps. Way to think out of the box Mark!!
Knocked together this little rolling cabinet with plastic bins. This is for all of my leather working dies, small parts and pieces and well yes I guess junk!
http://i1161.Rule #2/albums/q509/neil33ny/Rolling%20Cabinet_zpsdwmhhsdf.jpg
http://i1161.Rule #2/albums/q509/neil33ny/Rolling%20Cabinet_zpsdwmhhsdf.jpg