Front stack
Soda Firing 5-29-23
The Sixth Kiln Firing is full, full, full! We have 17 participants.
Kiln Log
It is overcast and still at the start of the firing. Grey and chilly.
No breeze at all to blow out the burners.
7:00am - One Burner Lit
7:30am - Both burners lit
8:00am - T1, 400/ T2, 138 Damper at 1”, Gas bumped up (still below 1/2 pound), Burner fan on very low
8:30am - Bumped gas to 1/2 # on both burners
9:00am - T1 656/ T2 377, Gas bumped up to 1#
10:00am - T1 800/ T2 577, gas #2, Air up
11:00am - T1 996/ T2 772, Holding gas at 2# for now, Damper at 1.25”
12:00pm - T1 1096/ T2 923, Gas up to 2.5#
1:00pm - T1 1263/ T2 1124, Gas at 3#, Damper at 3”
2:00pm - T1 1400/ T2 1295, Gas at 3#, Damper at 4”, the difference between the top and bottom temperatures is getting smaller.
3:00pm - T1 1515/ T2 1438, Gas at 3.5, Damper at 4.5
Eeeek - I found a part of the kiln shed that is near the chimney that was a little charred from the last firing. It must have happened when we closed the damper and the chimney was holding more heat. I wrapped KaoWool around it. Phew. I’m glad is was just a toasted beam and not a kiln shed fire!
4:00pm - T1 1600/ T2 1560, There’s just a 40º difference between top and bottom.
The kiln has a lot of color!
5:00pm - T1 1679/ T2 1645
6:00pm - T1 1794/ T2 1782 - Damper wide open (Chris suggested maybe getting bigger blowers for the burners.) I think I will look into it.
7:00pm - T1 1900/ T2 1888
7:30pm - T1 1950/ T2 1937 Cone 3 bending top and bottom, Damper wide open, Gas 4#
8:00pm - T1 1989/ T2 1979
9:00pm - T1 2059/ T2 2044 - a little slower. waiting for cone five to bend to start spraying soda
10:00pm - T1 2099 - all side cone 6’s down in all six side peeps. Cones cool in front peeps.
We decided to soda since all the side port cones were bending top and bottom throughout the kiln.
Two pounds of soda ash in 1.5 gals of hot water sprayed in over 15 minutes. 10-second counts. Thank you Emily and Chris for taking on the soda introduction! The kiln cooled 30 degrees.
10:30 - T1 back to 2099 - we shut it down, closed the damper, ports, etc.
Made sure the kiln shed beam was protected from heat.
Hurray!
The peak temp will be somewhere around 2200ºF/ or Cone 6
This Graph will log the Top Temperature (T1).
Cones Used 03, 1, 5, 6, 7
