Does anybody kiln fire their akadama?

Colorado Josh

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I have some small grain Ryusen Akadama that I got from Eastern Leaf a few months ago. After potting a couple of Japanese maples in it, I'm really surprised how fast it has been breaking down. It's been 2 months, and has never froze. My medium grain has held up better over the past year.

My wife is a ceramacist and we have a kiln that will fire to cone 10. Has anybody ever fired their akadama to a higher temperature than is fired by the manufacturer?
 

TomB

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penumbra

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My wife is a ceramacist and we have a kiln that will fire to cone 10. Has anybody ever fired their akadama to a higher temperature than is fired by the manufacturer?
Your wife knows, as a ceramicist, that if you fire a clay body beyond its maturing temperature you get a meltdown. At the least this ruins kiln hardware and it can destroy the kiln. I worked over 6 years for the Kiln Doctor and I saw several kilns that were ruined by meltdowns.
If I was to attempt this I would be very careful about the temperature range and I would stay within safe parameters that are well established and based upon the fired temperature of the product in question. I would also consider placing the product in a vessel like a sagger to contain it in the event of a meltdown or exploding particles.
I have considering doing this with Turface like products and if I ever do, I will do it outside in my raku kiln.
 

rockm

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I have some small grain Ryusen Akadama that I got from Eastern Leaf a few months ago. After potting a couple of Japanese maples in it, I'm really surprised how fast it has been breaking down. It's been 2 months, and has never froze. My medium grain has held up better over the past year.

My wife is a ceramacist and we have a kiln that will fire to cone 10. Has anybody ever fired their akadama to a higher temperature than is fired by the manufacturer?
Akadama comes in various "hardness" Some of it is MEANT to break down, to accommodate plants finer feeder roots as they grow and for different species. Some of it is high fired, most of it is NOT fired at all. I'd be extremely careful firing it in a kiln yourself. There are a lot of things that might ruin the kiln, or your house...

If you want high fired, durable stuff, you're after the "double red line" look like this:

BTW--a spin through here will give an idea of less expensive, but useful alternatives:
 

Forsoothe!

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I don't know anything about clay materials, but heating cycles usually age materials and accelerate molecular disassociation through internal friction. Rocks, for instance, are pretty stable for billions of years underground and only begin to crumble when exposed to the elements and changing air temperature and moisture. To keep your stuff stable, leave it in the unopened bag!:rolleyes:
 

Adair M

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Akadama is a mined product. It’s not “fired” per se, but it is sometimes heated to sterilize it. I have found bits of roots and other bits of dried wood in some of my akadama that would certainly never have survived a “firing”.

Some akadama is harder than others. The tsunami damaged the best akadama mines, and for several years the akadama we were able to get was substandard.
 

Anthony

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Akadama is clay and pumice.

When fired to around 1000 deg.c it became red and easily crumbled.
We have a small test kiln for doing experiments.

We also have hills of seawater clay, very durable at 5 mm and able to
support the acid Tamarind.
Good Day
Anthony
 

Djtommy

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Fired akadama also doesnt hold water so well, I used it in a mixture with regular akadama for some species but there are other ways to get that effect
 

Colorado Josh

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What brand of akadama is everybody using? What I have says that it's fired to 300c, which I guess isn't that high. Probably to sanitize.

I've been using 8822 for my conifers, because it doesn't seem to break down as quickly during the freeze thaw cycles. And because I 20200423_174046.jpgrepot my conifers less frequently.
 
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