Janet H Walker on wed 5 mar 97
I got a Skutt 1027 two years ago. I was puzzled about why my glazes,
mixed from the same recipes I had used in a community studio and
electric fired, were not coming out nicely. Almost the whole answer
lay in the firing schedule. The Skutt fires very differently from
a large electric kiln because it heats up and cools off much faster.
Also because of the irregular shapes of my pieces, I fire it very
loosely packed and this also contributes to low thermal inertia (or
whatever it is called).
So, spend some time trying different firing strategies, including
very slow climbs to final heat, long soaks at top heat, and firing
down to slow the temperature drop.
Basic point: the differences you see may be entirely due to firing
schedule differences, rather than to oxidation vs reduction differences.
As for electric bill, you can calculate easily what each firing costs.
If you're firing manually, record the time you spend on each setting
(lo, med, hi) and multiply hours by kilowatts to get kwh and then
multiply by the kwh cost in your area. (The kilowatt ratings for each
switch setting are either in the manual or available from Skutt. I
forget where I found it and right now they're in a different computer.)
If you're using a controller, all the switches are on high anyhow and
the timer on the kiln shows you the total number of hours that the kiln
was powered so you can compute again easily to get kwh and then cost.
I have found that in our area (highest electric costs in the US), a
bisque firing costs about $5 and a glaze (^6) firing costs about $10.
I'd have to check my spread sheets for last year but I think this is
about right. Once-firing is about $12.
It takes time to learn how to fire any kiln I guess. Having a
controller made a very big difference in my results.
Best of luck,
Jan Walker
Cambridge MA USA
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