mel jacobson on sun 29 aug 99
i have always used the number 5.5 to 6.0 for normal reduction
using the oxyprobe...have never moved to 7 or above. (when i did the
firing of pete's red only, used 5.8 for the entire firing. and man, was
it red.)
it seems, and i mean seams to me that if you are getting
mottled green/red that your kiln has very mixed reduction..and
that may be due to loading, or blocking reduction.
make sure you have a nice gap between shelves. never let them
touch or be at the same level. make sure the flow of gases and heat can
move about the kiln. (remember the denver kiln we fixed...that was
a big problem.)
also, let us know where you have your probe located...that is very
important....obviously you have the probe in a reduction sensitive area.
you may need to change it.
this is one of those tough calls, when we are not there to see
the kiln fire.
we may need dannon to `smell your kiln`....she is great at using
her nose. (seriously)
over the years, i have found any reduction number on the probe
that is under six...and over 5 to be a nice place to reduce.
but, i do not have blowers..and mine just seems to hang at six
during the last 2 hours...cannot get it into neutral without pulling
the damper way out, and turning the gas nearly off.
and yet, after saying that.... when the kiln gets a funny loading,
i can get bland pots near the flue. as nils says in his new book...
`overloading is not a good thing. give the pots and shelves room
and you will have better firings`. (i feel this is true for electric
firings too.)
i have stopped putting pots in the back lower area of my kiln...it is too
risky. why waste 10 good pots in an inconsistent area....i fire bricks
there...they
don't ever care. when you add up 10 potsx60 bucks...well that is 600 dollars..
(great at math.) i just save them for the next firing.
on occasion i have loaded my kiln with a row of very thin shelves in the
center...take out the normal shelves...i have 5 shelves that came from
`god only knows`...that are 5 inches wide and 19 inches long.
they are handy when i fire sets of dishes....opens the kiln up a great deal.
and, all the mugs go on the thin shelves. those shelves have saved my
bacon several times. (mmm, bacon, eggs, and cornbread from joyce, the
principal that bakes sorta bread, sounds good.)
mel/mn
http://www.pclink.com/melpots
from minnetonka, minnesota, u.s.a.
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