HUN Chapter 18: Kiln and Pottery Testing

"Guys, here's my plan. We need to fire clay bricks for the furnace, so the first step is to find suitable clay and build an earthen kiln!"

Lin Yu'an picked up the camera, brought along his logging axe and a sharp wooden spear, and began his soil-hunting journey.

When he was fishing earlier, he had noticed that the lake water flowed toward the north bank of the river. Such areas, due to water erosion and sedimentation, often form fine clay layers more easily.

Sure enough, on the inner side of a river bend, he discovered a patch of fine-textured, reddish-colored soil.

He dug out a piece and kneaded it in his hands.

"This clay has excellent malleability, and there are almost no sand or stone impurities. With a little processing, it would be perfect raw material for pottery making!"

After finding the clay, the next step was to select a site for building the kiln. He chose an open area about a hundred meters from the river bend, on slightly elevated and relatively flat ground.

This location was convenient for gathering firewood and collecting clay. Lin Yu'an used his wooden spear to roughly outline the kiln's contours on the ground, already having a clear blueprint in mind.

While clearing a flat circular area about one meter in diameter, he explained to the audience.

"I plan to build the firebox and kiln chamber directly on the ground, constructing an updraft earthen kiln where flames rise from the bottom upward."

With the blueprint completed, Lin Yu'an didn't hesitate any longer and immediately threw himself into intensive labor.

Before officially starting to build the kiln, he needed to first test whether the clay here could successfully fire pottery.

On a reasonably flat stone, Lin Yu'an repeatedly kneaded and pounded a piece of clay like making dough.

After several hours and multiple failed attempts at shaping, finally a rough circular 'grate' gradually took form in his hands! Lin Yu'an set it aside to air dry naturally.

The wind was rather strong today, but by evening the wind died down, and the grate had turned somewhat white, appearing ready for firing.

Lin Yu'an started a fire in the U-shaped fire pit surrounded by stones. The flames immediately danced among the dry wood, crackling loudly.

He carefully picked up the air-dried circular clay grate and gently placed it above the fire pit, resting it flat on the stones on both sides.

"Now I'm starting to fire this grate! If it can successfully fire into pottery, then we'll have the key component for our furnace!"

Although the open fire pit couldn't reach the high temperatures of an earthen kiln, it was sufficient to sinter this type of individual pottery piece that didn't require high precision.

The fire gradually grew stronger. Lin Yu'an continuously added dry kindling to the fire pit, letting the flames evenly lick the bottom of the grate.

He didn't dare let the fire get too intense at once, worried that a sudden temperature rise would cause the grate to crack.

He explained to the camera, "The first step in firing pottery is to slowly remove residual moisture. Although this grate has air-dried, there's still trace amounts of dampness inside."

Time passed bit by bit, and under the flames' roasting, the grate's color began to change subtly.

Lin Yu'an observed intently, occasionally stirring the firewood in the pit to ensure the grate heated evenly.

After about two hours, he judged that the residual moisture inside the grate should have mostly evaporated.

He began gradually increasing the fire intensity, adding more and thicker wood to the fire pit.

The flames leaped upward more fiercely, enveloping the entire grate within them, the warm red firelight reflecting on Lin Yu'an's face.

He could smell a distinctive odor of scorched earth, a signal that the clay was undergoing chemical changes under high temperature.

This was a critical stage where minerals in the clay would melt and recrystallize under high heat, forming a hard ceramic structure.

Lin Yu'an needed to maintain this high temperature state for as long as possible to ensure the grate could fully sinter. Conservatively, this would need to continue until tomorrow morning.

He had already managed his expectations and didn't expect to succeed on the first try. He just wanted to experiment with whether this clay could fire into pottery, even if it only produced pottery shards.

After continuously adding firewood for nearly two hours, the flames in the fire pit remained vigorous. Fortunately, he had prepared plenty of dry wood, enough to last until tomorrow morning.

Night had completely fallen.

The flames in the fire pit became the only dancing light source in the darkness.

Lin Yu'an would occasionally stand up to stretch his somewhat stiff limbs, then sit back by the fire pit, selecting appropriately sized dry wood from the mountain of firewood beside him and carefully adding it to the fire.

With each addition of wood, he would carefully observe the flame's condition, ensuring it was neither too fierce, which might crack the pottery blank, nor too weak, which would affect the temperature.

Time slipped away quietly in the crackling of the firewood.

From midnight to early morning, then to the pale light of dawn breaking on the horizon, Lin Yu'an had barely closed his eyes, constantly watching the fire pit.

His stored dry wood had been consumed by more than half, and the woodpile stacked nearby was obviously shorter by a section.

Lin Yu'an's voice was full of anticipation, "It's dawn, I think it's almost ready."

"To ensure thorough firing, I plan to push a bit harder and fire until noon."

He added wood several more times, keeping the fire at a moderate level.

Around noon, Lin Yu'an stopped adding wood. Since yesterday evening, this pottery grate had been calcining in continuous high heat for over fifteen to sixteen hours.

This duration should be sufficient for a single pottery piece fired in a fire pit to fully sinter.

Lin Yu'an announced, "Alright, the high-temperature calcining stage is finished!"

He didn't immediately remove the grate from the flames, but let the remaining wood in the fire pit burn out naturally, turning into a pile of glowing charcoal.

This charcoal would continue providing stable residual heat, allowing the pottery grate to cool down in a relatively slow process, a key step in preventing it from cracking due to sudden temperature changes.

He stretched wearily. A sleepless night plus continuous physical exertion left him feeling somewhat drained.

He returned to the stone shelter and had a good sleep.

Lin Yu'an slept particularly deeply this time, the fatigue from the sleepless night drowning him like a tide.

After sleeping for about three hours, he was awakened by a chill.

He sat up abruptly, shook his somewhat confused head, and his first thought was of the pottery grate still cooling!

Rubbing his sleepy eyes, he quickly walked toward last night's fire pit.

After most of the day's natural wind cooling, the thick layer of charcoal ash that had originally covered the pottery grate had become cool.

Lin Yu'an crouched down and carefully used a wooden stick to brush away the surface wood ash. As the ash was gradually swept away, the pottery grate buried underneath gradually revealed itself.

When the entire pottery grate was completely exposed to the air, Lin Yu'an's eyes instantly burst with delighted light! The pottery grate before him far exceeded his expectations!

This pottery grate not only maintained its form quite intact, without the serious cracking or deformation he had worried about.

Although it was far from as bright as modern glazed pottery, that refined rough texture indeed belonged to the realm of pottery!

Lin Yu'an carefully lifted the pottery grate from the ashes. It was more solid than he had imagined. He lightly tapped the grate's surface with his knuckles.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

The clear, pleasant sound it produced undoubtedly proved it had achieved an extremely high degree of sintering!

"This is unbelievable! Success on the first try!"

Lin Yu'an excitedly held up the pottery grate and said to the camera, "Did you see that? It not only verified that pottery could be made, but this complete texture far exceeded my expectations!"

"Originally I was just doing an experiment, just wanting to confirm whether pottery could be made, and I was completely prepared for it to crack and break."

"I never expected it would form so completely! What a huge surprise!"

He carefully stored away this precious pottery grate, preparing to put it to use when building the kiln.

This successfully fired pottery grate not only confirmed the feasibility of firing clay bricks, but also greatly boosted Lin Yu'an's confidence in completing this major project!

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