FrogBlog — Paragon Kilns

When you are looking for the perfect kiln, you might think there is one out there that does it all, but kilns are made for specific purposes. The perfect ceramic or pottery kiln might be a poor choice for an enamel artist. The best knife oven would not necessarily be great for a glass fuser. In the next few weeks, we are going to take a look at several different categories of kilns and discuss what we think are important features to look for when you are deciding on your next kiln. Let’s start with kilns for clay artists!  ...

We all know that the pandemic has hit all of the manufacturing industries pretty hard and it is just taking longer to get anything these days. Try going out and finding a washer and dryer that isn’t going to take weeks for delivery! The kiln industry has been hit pretty hard, too. Some kiln manufacturers went from taking a few weeks to taking several months to get a kiln built and ready to ship!WHEN YOU NEED IT - YOU NEED IT!NOW… NO WAITING FOR A KILN!The Paragon Ready-to-Ship kilns leave the factory in 3-5 business days from the time of order. They’re equipped with the...

      Have you visited the Kiln Frog Kiln Academy?  If you haven’t, you probably have no idea how much information is on our website.  Just about anything you could ever want to know about using a kiln and how they work is contained in these pages.  Let’s take a quick overview to help you get some ideas on where you might want to start exploring.     Ask Arnold – Arnold Howard is our kiln guru.  He knows so much about kilns, and he has graciously committed to answering your questions about kilns and how they work.  Arnold was a long-time employee at Paragon...

    Kiln Pointer from Paragon: Arnold's Firebrick Repair Toolbox ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contents A Firebrick Repair Toolbox Book Recommendation: "Clay: A Studio Handbook" Reader Response Firebrick Repair Toolbox -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------      A Firebrick Repair Toolbox Ever since I left Paragon and became an independent kiln technician, hunting for tools has been my biggest waste of time. So I have sorted my kiln tools into four tool boxes (along with a vacuum cleaner and air compressor). Recently I put all of my firebrick tools into one box where I can find them instantly. Here they are, going clockwise from left to right in the...

You may have noticed that some of our kilns have elements wrapped around ceramic rods or encased in quartz tubes in the lids.  These design features add a lot of value to the design of the kiln in different ways.  Here is a quick breakdown of how these different materials enhance the function of the kiln environment.  Ceramic Rods Some kilns have elements in the lid that are wrapped around ceramic rods.  The main benefit for using this building technique is to keep the elements from dropping or sagging.  As elements age they sometimes lose their shape.  When they are...