Beth O on wed 9 apr 08
Thanks to everyone who replied to my question about "How Cool is Cool
Enough?". I now have a very lovely and somewhat ambiguous sense about
when I can open my kiln.
I put my new sense to the test tonight. I had a small load of handbuilt
vases in the kiln for a glaze firing. These vases are some samples for a
class that I am hoping to teach at a local art center this summer.
So . . . at 300+ degrees I peeked (just briefly). Then at 200 degrees I
looked a bit longer (three nice vases, one "What the heck happened to that
one?"). I showed great self-discipline (and I had to go to an evening
meeting so I was away from home). I finally opened the kiln at 120
degrees and took everything out with my bare hands (no pinging sounds).
In some ways it was easier with the kiln sitter. Without knowing what was
going on with the temperature inside I just resigned myself and waited a
long time until everything seemed cool. However, with the computer
controller I now know that it only took about 13 hours in our early spring
cold weather to go from 1900+ to 120 degrees. I used to wait for 24
hours "just to be sure".
Thanks again for all of your help and suggestions - this is a great list!
Beth in Oregon
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