search  current discussion  categories  kilns & firing - bisque 

slow bisque

updated thu 5 jul 07

 

mel jacobson on thu 24 may 01


many of us older potters have moved, at the
insistence of ron roy and hank and others,
to a very slow bisque.

i mean slow. about 12 hours or more.
just leave your kiln on low, after about 5 hours slip
it to medium...leave it for 5 hours.
then hit the high switch...boom, done.

let the junk out of your body. take it easy, slow is the word.
no bloating, clean body...better glaze firings.

hank is my hero, listen to him.
ron is my hero, listen to him.
they know what they speak about.

it costs the same to fire slow, as fast.
how fast does the meter move, that is what
costs.

mel
rain, rain, rain, rain...then ick.
shut off the rain. (please)

from the farm in wisconsin
http://www.pclink.com/melpots

Dave Murphy on thu 31 jan 02


I have been using a controller kiln for the past five years and set my =
own (USER) program for bisquing as follows:

50 F/hr to 212F
Hold for 15 min
180 F/hr to 1063F(quartz inversion)
250 F/hr to 1910

Takes about 12 hours

I like to take it a little around cone 05 as I fire cone 10 reduction. =
I am sure there are many ways to do this but this is my two cents. =
Haven't lost a pot in the bisque for years. (we do lots of beginner =
stuff around here too because we do classes as well). Hope this helps.

Barbara Murphy
Waterloo County Pottery
Waterloo Ontario
Canada

mel jacobson on wed 10 jul 02


several real things to think about:

many things can go wrong when you bisque fire fast.
pots blow up.
gases and crap do not come out of pots when you fire fast.
glaze flaws can occur when you fast bisque.
pots get hair cracks.
bloating comes from fast bisque.
you learn to hate yourself because the pots
do bad things in the glaze firing and are ruined because of fast bisque.
you throw many pots away.
you swear a great deal at your dog.
you sweat more in the summer, and get jock itch when you fast bisque.

nothing goes wrong when you slow bisque.

so, what is the rush?

if ron roy has taught us anything on this list over
the last 7 years, he has taught us to bisque fire
slow.

firing fast either bisque or glaze is for `others` to do.
we fire slow.

it costs the same, takes the same amount of fuel.

think about it.

a kiln on super high for three hours.
a kiln on super low for 8 hours.
same amount of fuel to get to the same place.

i had my kiln on low (electric/bisque/cone 08)
over night. i will turn it, three low in about three minutes.
leave it that way til noon.
then three switches to medium til 3, then all to high.

perfect bisque firing.
enough things can go wrong during a glaze firing...and
i like my pots to be good pots. don't take extra chances.
if you want to rush, be my guest.
i fire slow.
ron will say bad things about me if i fire fast.
and i sure don't want that to happen.
he can be tough on a guy.
melvin lee



From:
Minnetonka, Minnesota, U.S.A.
web site: http://www.pclink.com/melpots

Hildy Licht - Hildy Licht Co. Inc. on wed 10 jul 02


Mel:

So what you are saying is that in an electric kiln, where there is no
apparent movement of air, slowly heating the ware works much better
than just firing it real fast.

In a gas kiln, where there is a flow of air, perhaps it is possible
to bisque "faster" because the flow of air is similar to a wind
blowing to help dry the ware out and remove moisture from the air by
actually removing it from the kiln through the flue.

H

>several real things to think about:
>
>many things can go wrong when you bisque fire fast.
>pots blow up.
>gases and crap do not come out of pots when you fire fast.
>glaze flaws can occur when you fast bisque.
>pots get hair cracks.
>bloating comes from fast bisque.
>you learn to hate yourself because the pots
>do bad things in the glaze firing and are ruined because of fast bisque.
>you throw many pots away.
>you swear a great deal at your dog.
>you sweat more in the summer, and get jock itch when you fast bisque.
>
>nothing goes wrong when you slow bisque.
>
>so, what is the rush?
>
>if ron roy has taught us anything on this list over
>the last 7 years, he has taught us to bisque fire
>slow.
>
>firing fast either bisque or glaze is for `others` to do.
>we fire slow.
>
>it costs the same, takes the same amount of fuel.
>
>think about it.
>
>a kiln on super high for three hours.
>a kiln on super low for 8 hours.
>same amount of fuel to get to the same place.
>
>i had my kiln on low (electric/bisque/cone 08)
>over night. i will turn it, three low in about three minutes.
>leave it that way til noon.
>then three switches to medium til 3, then all to high.
>
>perfect bisque firing.
>enough things can go wrong during a glaze firing...and
>i like my pots to be good pots. don't take extra chances.
>if you want to rush, be my guest.
>i fire slow.
>ron will say bad things about me if i fire fast.
>and i sure don't want that to happen.
>he can be tough on a guy.
>melvin lee
>
>
>
>From:
>Minnetonka, Minnesota, U.S.A.
>web site: http://www.pclink.com/melpots
>
>______________________________________________________________________________
>Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
>You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
>settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
>Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
>melpots@pclink.com.

Lili Krakowski on wed 4 jul 07


Is 13 hours really that slow for a bisque firing?

I have my three switch kiln (not digital) on one switch set to low for
several hours, lid open, plugs out. As I do not fire that often, this is to
dry the kiln itself out. It then goes on all switches on low for some 8
hours, or overnight, when the lid is closed but the plugs stay out. It then
goes to medium one switch at a time,one hours of so apart, and the all on
high till the cone is down.

For sculpture the firing is a two day thing, where the "on low" process is
slowed down, depending of course on sculpture size.




Lili Krakowski
Be of good courage