Firing clay is the essential step that transforms dirt to stone. The earth's elements are changed to beautiful glass (glaze) with the application of a lot of heat.
The Four common temperatures that we use are:
We use electric kilns because they are convenient all are computer controlled and very reliable.
Gas kilns need to be monitored for the whole firing. And can be used where a lot of electricity is not available.
Olympic Kilns began manufacturing kilns in Seattle, Washington and derives its name from the Olympic Mountains. As the company grew so did its product lines to include electric, gas and glass kilns for the hobbyist, production artist and manufacturer of finished fired ware.
Olympic Kilns moved in 1982 to Georgia to be near its raw materials, insulating firebrick, to eliminate excess costs both to the company and its customers. Today the company resides in Flowery Branch, Georgia, located 45 miles northeast of Atlanta and provides more models, styles and types of kilns than any other kiln manufacturer today.
We have evolved from a small company to an international business by adding multiple designs of kilns, offering electric and gas as power sources, and working with new markets requiring heat-treating furnaces. The designs and engineering of our kilns are built to be structurally sound, high-end performing machines, and styled to meet multiple-sized piece requirements.
We continue to maintain our small business values both to our employees and our customers. A dedicated team of individuals who strive to provide superb products and customer service make up the workforce at Olympic. Leading the company is Bob Haugen, whose vision and design expertise fosters a spirit of excellence in workmanship, quality and service throughout the company. Rob Haugen, following in his father's "kiln footsteps", grew up with Olympic Kilns and has developed a hands-on understanding of the ceramic and glass firing heat-treating furnaces industry.
Manufacturing kilns is a unique business and the opportunity to learn from our customers creates a drive and urgency to deliver the necessary requirements requested by our customers for heat-treating furnaces. We have direct contact with customers so we can determine new market demands and troubleshoot questions or problems as they occur.
We are excited about the kilns we offer today and the ones we will build in the future and we will continue to invest our profits in the creation and innovation of building kilns.
Gas kilns are necessary for cone ten, as they don't wear out. Reduction effect and flashing make cone 10 pottery special.
Raku Kilns make the craft of Raku possible. In Raku you glaze a piece of bisque, quickly fire up to cone 06 or until the glaze melts. Open the kiln when it is red hot and put the glowing pot in a trash can of flammable paper or leaves. The resulting combustion reduces the metals copper and iron to the metallic form; creating cool effects. The smoke also colors any bare clay black and accents any cracks in the glaze as black crackle pattern.
Parts for general repair, Skutt, Paragon and Duncan kilns.
We have: elements, switches, relays, high temp wire, transformers, Skutt touchpads, bartlet boards and sentry 2 from orton.
Bricks, mortar, insulation, burners that kind of thing.
Build your own raku kiln or fix your gas kiln with new brick, Kaowool, pyrometers, cement and more.
Paragon kilns are drop-shipped from Mesquite Texas, they carry so many different models nobody could stock them all!
The Skutt Envirovent is great at removing odors from the kiln room.
Posts, shelves, cones, stilts, kiln wash and more!