centa uhalde on thu 23 apr 98
Hi again,
I'm breaking in my used Cress Firemate kiln and am still just learning to
fire the beast. Kiln info seems mostly to address kiln setups which are
either infinite switches or low/med/high deals. The Cress Firemate setup
includes a "thumbwheel" (1-10) that controls the input of power in
increments, automatically if not set to manual. Also, a "speed" control
switch numbered from 10,6,5-1, with 10 being the fastest, and 1, the
slowest speed at which the temp rises. Then there's the kiln sitter with
timer.
My question: I don't really have a sense of what is happening automatically
and I have difficulty sorting out my few results (what is kiln dynamic vs
glaze boo-boos). And I'm not convinced I'm getting accurate readings from
the pyrometer that came with the thing. I believe in the manual mode, you
bypass the use of the speed control altogether and then you are working
basically with an infinite switch, no? I would like to take advantage of
the automatic feature but am not sure how. Someone on clayart recently made
a suggestion for how to perform heat tests in an empty kiln, testing
various settings but I was not clear about it, especially how to apply it
to this kiln.
question: Also, am experimenting with majoilica and it has been suggested
that I soak in the upper end of the firing to attain a specific effect.
I've heard different explanations on soaking. Is it a gradual, controlled
cooling, or is it keeping the temp on high for a designated time then
somehow controlling the cooldown. Or both, depending? How do I soak with
this setup?
Thanks,
Centa, Santa Rosa, CA
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