Traditional 50:50 kaolin:silica kiln wash can be a real nuisance. The raw kaolin shrinks during drying and firing, encouraging cracking and flaking, while the silica can react with glaze spills and contribute to sticking and plucking. Shelves therefore need frequent scraping and recoating. Here is what makes the L4001 recipe different:
#1 No raw clay. Calcined kaolin has already undergone its major firing shrinkage, so it produces a coating that dries and fires with much less cracking.
#2 No silica. Zircon or calcined alumina makes up 80% of the recipe. Both are highly refractory and generally less reactive with glaze spills than silica.
#3 CMC gum supplies the binding power. It makes possible a high-solids slurry containing no raw clay, gives it excellent brushing and rolling properties, and slows drying on absorbent cordierite and alumina shelves. It also enables an even coating that dries without cracking on silicon-carbide shelves. This really does behave more like paint than conventional kiln wash.
We cannot have everything: the dense zircon or alumina particles do settle, so the wash must be stirred thoroughly before and during use. Apply thin coats by brush or roller and keep it off shelf edges and undersides. This is not a commercial product—I like the recipe so much that I made a label for it!

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It is 5 mm thick (compared to the 17mm of the cordierite one). It weighs 650 grams (vs. 1700 grams). It will perform at any temperature that my test kiln can do, and far in excess of that. It is made from a body I slurry up (80% Zircopax Plus, 16.5% 60-80 Molochite grog, 3.5% Veegum T). The body is plastic and easy to roll and had 4.2% drying shrinkage at 15.3% water. The shelf warped slightly during drying (I should have dried it between sheets of plasterboard). Firing at cone 4 yielded a shrinkage of 1%. Notice that cone on the shelf: It has not stuck even though no kiln wash was used! Zircopax is super refractory! This is sinter bonded, so the higher the temperature you can fire the stronger it will be. Although it would be very hard to make full 18 or 22-inch shelves for larger kilns, smaller ones designed to "network" would enable a tighter load of ware with a much lower shelf-to-ware weight ratio (especially using my own lightweight posts). Like alumina, this does not have the thermal shock resistance of cordierite, uneven heating can crack these.

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The shelf on the right has been fired multiple times. It has the traditional kaolin:silica kiln wash. It dries instantly when painted onto porous kiln shelves, so the brush actually sticks (and it is very difficult to get an even covering). Because it contains raw clay it can start flaking on drying. And much more on the first firing. Sticking to the feet of ware (plucking) is a real aggravation when firing porcelaineous bodies or those containing soluble salts.
The shelf on the left has also been fired multiple times. The kiln wash is L4001, it is perfectly even and in a thinner layer. This is because it dries slowly, like paint. It doesn't shrink and crack when dried or fired because it contains no raw clay.
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