Lowell Barron on thu 25 mar 04
Hi Everyone, Last month I fired my kiln for the first time in many =
years. I finally have some time to play with this.
The temp kept going up and up on the pyrometer (way over the temp for =
cone 06 I had in the kiln sitter) and I finally turned it off when I saw =
that the witness cones were bent. When I opened it the witness cones =
were very melted and so I assumed it was overfired. I was mindful of the =
temperature rise in the MC6G and was following that.
Yesterday I fired my second bisque firing and this time this time =
(following advice on Clayart) I left the peeps open for the whole =
firing....a long slow firing that started the night before and taking =
altogether 14 hours. It is a small kiln....about 17" in diameter by 18" =
deep. At about 1850F on the pyrometer the kiln sitter dropped and since =
the first bisque and the glaze firings went very high and the cones were =
very bent in both, I figured it must be done and went to bed.=20
I guess I should have checked the cones in front of the peeps because =
today when I opened the kiln those two cones were hardly bent at all. =
Only difference this firing was that the peeps were open the whole time. =
What should I do differently next time? Should I be using a cone pack =
for a bisque firing too? Should I close the peeps towards the end?=20
I am glad that everyone had such a great time at NCECA and hope that one =
day I will get there too.
Many thanks to all that have so freely shared their expertise. I have =
learned so much on Clayart.
Lowell Ann
I am planning to move to cone 04 for the MC6Glazes but want to use up =
the 06s first.
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