[Clayart] down firing

[melpots at mail.com]

Way back in the olden days I did a great deal of experimentation firing my first gas kiln.  The few books that were published talked about 12-14 hour firings with long cool times, even to say the kiln cannot be opened until the pots are room temp.

My first kiln had a small flue, nice gentle gas pressure and seemed to fire very fast.  What did I know???? Nothing.  I just followed the kilns own timing.  Often I would hit cone 10 in seven hours.  The glazes were just fine, in fact very fine.

I started moving my burners, turning one to high and one to half power, i pushed them in, backed them out.  I also started burning wood scraps near the end of the firing.  It really helped get the reduction perfect.  I found that high gas pressure often made the bottom hot, and the reverse, low pressure got the top hot. It got that I could move the heat. Up/down, sideways.  My kilns sit on a base of expanded metal. I have air top and bottom and all four sides.

A few people were Fring copper red.  Mine was copper green/white. Nils told me to re/lite the kiln for an hour and go through the cooling cycle twice at 1750-1850. Pete Pinnell at Nebraska was having great success doing this.  Pete has a small industrial window in one of the kilns and could see the change happening.'

Then Hank came along, and Carol.  Down fire for thirty hours.

Being a bit lazy, I found that a few down firings for shorter periods of time worked great.  Red was red, every time.  I also used sticks of wood at the same time.

My answer is always the same....don't be a slave to an old book. Experiment and try things. I fire as fast as the kiln wants. I down fire to make change. I do what makes my pots wonderful.  Makes me happy.
And I save gobs of gas. My wallet is happy and the sky loves me.
mel
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