Canadian Woodfiring: Co-op Kilns Woodfiring Part 2, by Keith Rice-Jones

Two group or co-operatively-run kilns exist
in British Columbia. They are very different
kilns and are operated by very different agencies
on different agendas.

Nanaimo Tozan Kiln

The Tozan kiln in Nanaimo is a remarkable
testament to one man’s vision, incredible
volunteerism and a remarkable tenacity.

‘The original kiln was sited on the grounds
of Malaspina University-College in Nanaimo
and was the brain-child of Les Beardsley. Les
had been in Korea and had experienced wood
firing there. Later, he met Yukio Yamamoto,
in Arizona at a firing of the large Tozan kiln
that Yukio had designed and helped build with
Don Bendell at Flagstaff. When a source of
salvageable bricks, shelves and other materials
became available from the dismantling of
the 350 ft. long tunnel kiln owned by Crane
Industries on North Road in Coquitlam,
Yukio was persuaded to come to Canada from
Himeji in Japan and supervise a team building
the Canadian Tozan and Anagama kilns. Tozan kiln opening.

Les and his son Bruce lived on site at the
Crane plant in a small camper van for months, spearheading the
revolving trickle of volunteers who took out, cleaned and stacked
thousands of bricks that were shipped over to Nanaimo. Eventually
everything was in Nanaimo and with enormous dedication from a
core of volunteers, helped by scores of others for shorter stints, over
the summer of 1995 the dragon grew and settled into the hillside at
Malaspina University-College with piles of split wood to feed it.

What distinguishes the Tozan kiln (Tozan refers to the area near
Himeji where Yukio is from and is a type of Noborigama or climbing
kiln) is the large Dogi or firebox which has stacking space behind the
firebox grate area, before the flames exit into the first chamber.

There are four chambers which are side-stoked. These are about 10 ft.
cubes which makes them a bit wider than the traditional ones from Himej.

As you can see from the picture (below), pollution from the kiln
became an increasing issue with the new highway directly above and
encroaching housing development. At one point, environmental

engineers insisted that a one million B.T.U.
after-burner be positioned at right angles in
the flue half way up the hillside. I was part
of the firing that had to be aborted when
the melted flue bricks began flowing down
towards the chambers!

In the latest part of the Tozan story, the kiln
has been taken apart by many of the same
original stalwarts, though sadly Les Beardsley
is no longer with us. The kiln has been moved
to a new site at the Japanese Tamagawa
College on the other side of Nanaimo. This is
a more rural site and a great fit.

If you want to know more and would like
to be involved with the Tozan Society contact
Gari Whelan at whelan@telus.net.

Shadbolt Ombu Kiln

The Shadbolt Ombu (literally “on my
mother’s back”) kiln was built in 2001 with
millennium grant money from the city and
expands the available kiln options at the
Shadbolt Arts Centre in Burnaby.

A group of potters enrolled in a kiln-
building course worked with the kiln’s
designer, Masakazu Kusakabe from Miharu in Japan. With the
assistance of the gas burners to dry the kiln, the first firing was a
month after construction began. Thanks to donated bricks from a
local cement factory the project came in within budget, even though it
went through three diamond saws and faced the restriction of building
within an existing heritage structure. One of the other caveats is that it
has to be fired without particulate.

‘The kiln has four natural gas burners in each chamber. These can be
used to preheat for a wood/soda firing in both chambers, or the four in

the soda chamber can be used to do a soda firing alone with the wood

chamber blocked off. Most of the 30 plus firings are led by Shadbolt

Continued on Page 5 /Woodfiring

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Building the Ombu kiln with used bricks from a cement factory.

Potters Guild of BC Newsletter - November 2008 4