David Hendley on sun 24 jun 01
Before I acquired an electric kiln, I had to do all my bisque
firings in my wood kiln because it was my only kiln.
I recently did a bisque in my wood kiln because my electric
kiln is down for maintenance and I was out of room for
greenware in the shop.
I can see no benefit to doing a bisque fire with wood, unless
you are so broke that either you can't afford to buy another kiln,
you can't pay the fuel bill to fire it, or it is broken.
Of course, I don't discount the 'just because' argument, so go
for it if you just want too. You will not use nearly as much
wood for a bisque firing as a cone 10 firing. Also, you can burn
larger pieces of wood you may have lying around. I took the
opportunity to clean up my yard of fallen branches in my recent
bisque firing.
In my kiln, which is a large Olsen Fastfire design, it's tedious
and boring, not to mention somewhat difficult, holding the kiln
back so you don't break things by heating too fast.
A bisque firing actually takes longer than a glaze firing!
It's true that you can sure get a lot of stuff in a bisque firing
in a good-sized wood kiln. If you have a lot of bowls that will
nest inside each other, you can get twice as much in a bisque
firing as a glaze firing.
Just so you will have to spend some more time during tedious
work, after a cone 06 wood firing, you will have a bunch of pots
that are covered with ashes, and I don't mean ash glaze, but
ashes, that you will have to dust off. Also, I can always count on
losing a few pieces from excess flame contact, no matter how
careful I stack the ware and how slow I fire a wood kiln bisque.
As for suggestions to single fire your pots, well, that is a whole
new prospect that will lead you in new directions, with lots
of new problems to work out.
It's a little like Steve asking the pros and cons of a kick wheel verses
an electric wheel, and being told hand-build instead.
David Hendley
Maydelle, Texas
hendley@tyler.net
http://www.farmpots.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "steve dalton"
To:
Sent: Saturday, June 23, 2001 10:15 PM
Subject: I'm back...and a question
> Greetings,
> Well if anyone missed me, I'm back from my trip. I was a delegate for the
> Washington State Grange Convention. And now, so Mel will let this through
> to all of you...something related to clay.
>
> I'm debating on bisquing with my wood kiln. I would like the pros and
cons.
> I already know to fire slowly, etc, etc. I've out grown my little 7
cubic
> foot electric (I've only had the kiln for 5 yrs) and I need to fire a
large
> quantity of greenware. My debate has been...Time involved and wood stock
> pile. I can hit, in a normal glaze wood-firing ^06 within 5-7 hours from
> the end of warm-up(2-3 hour warm- up with larger pieces
>
> I've always heard that a bisque fire should hold a load and a half or
more
> of finished work. Right now, I'm about 3/4's of a load of finished work
or
> maybe a little less.
>
> I know here, energy has jumped in price. Yet, I want to make a profit
while
> keeping my prices down.
> Thank you,
>
> Steve Dalton
> sdpotter@gte.net
> Clear Creek Pottery
> Snohomish, WA. USA
>
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