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I found a Amish gentleman who works with 19 guage SS and makes those large dog cage liners and wondered if that gauge is thick enough for a kiln shelf. He said he could make a 1-2 inch lip on the edges. Packing whiting for the bed, would one or two inches be better?

Thank you
Sheree

It will distort in the heat. Stainless steel grows a lot as it heats up, and since you never have perfectly even heating in a kiln, it will twist and buckle in unpredictable ways... Sometimes violently. So, it's probably not a good investment.

Tony

Tony Smith wrote:It will distort in the heat. Stainless steel grows a lot as it heats up, and since you never have perfectly even heating in a kiln, it will twist and buckle in unpredictable ways... Sometimes violently. So, it's probably not a good investment.

Tony

In all my years of looking at industrial kilns, I have seen one with a stainless steel shelf system. They used 420 stainless with the edges bent down and in, The shelves were something like 6" wide and 4' long, and slid into a U channel on the sides. They then had to put down blanket or boards to get a firing surface. It is interesting to note that 420 stainless and float glass have similar expansion characteristics. Thompson makes a line of enamels that fit on both.

Thank you very much, I appreciate your help. I had just read that in England glass painters used them and I would love to do less cold work and not pick up the landscape of the kiln wash. Like this piece , it took several hours to make and I'm not sure if you can see in the photo- it picked up every aspect of the shelf. Perhaps I'm not experienced enough, and this is normal. It looks like the forward pieces are bigger in the photos, they are actually all the same size. As a portrait artist i really wanted to learn the technique to bring my work to glass. I bought "The Diamond Lights of Hampton Hall -tracing highlighting and silver-staining - the essential practices." They reference their SS kiln shelves and packing whiting.
Again, thank-you! -ha! I was excited when I heard their driver say he could maske it even thicker '18 guage" NO I won't get it!
Sheree