David Hendley on sat 23 feb 08
I, and I think many woodfirers, love to fire during rain
storms. I don't know if it is because of relative humidity,
barometric pressure, or what, but my best firings happen
when the sky is overcast and the air is heavy.
A wild-and-wooly thunderstorm is not necessarily desired,
but a steady rain all day is great.
Historically potters have injected water into kilns to achieve
excellent firings. I even saw an ancient drawing of a kiln
with a pond built on top of it!
If my schedule will permit, I will leave a loaded, ready-
to-fire kiln dormant for days until rain is probable.
Just this week I waited an extra day to fire, to have a
nice overcast and drizzly day. In August, in Texas, it
can be a much longer wait.
Once the kiln achieves red heat, wet wood is not a
problem. In fact, during the critical early reduction for
copper red glazes, I like to mix wet and dry wood in
each stoking.
David Hendley
Maydelle, Texas
david(at)farmpots(dot)com
http://www.farmpots.com
----- Original Message -----
> On Feb 22, 2008, at 8:37 PM, steve graber wrote:
>
>> i wonder if some of these historical long fires were also during
>> long crazy rain storms? or wet wood?
>>
>> a little nature - happenstance thrown into the mix?
Jeff Brown on tue 26 feb 08
In New Hampshire, you don't need to schedule a firing for a rainy day. It
just happens whenever you woodfire....except these last few months.
Thank you,
Jeff Brown
Northwood, NH 03261
(603) 942-8829
http://www.jeffbrownpottery.com
On Sat, 23 Feb 2008 11:28:08 -0600, David Hendley
wrote:
>I, and I think many woodfirers, love to fire during rain
>storms. I don't know if it is because of relative humidity,
>barometric pressure, or what, but my best firings happen
>when the sky is overcast and the air is heavy.
>A wild-and-wooly thunderstorm is not necessarily desired,
>but a steady rain all day is great.
>Historically potters have injected water into kilns to achieve
>excellent firings. I even saw an ancient drawing of a kiln
>with a pond built on top of it!
>
>If my schedule will permit, I will leave a loaded, ready-
>to-fire kiln dormant for days until rain is probable.
>Just this week I waited an extra day to fire, to have a
>nice overcast and drizzly day. In August, in Texas, it
>can be a much longer wait.
>Once the kiln achieves red heat, wet wood is not a
>problem. In fact, during the critical early reduction for
>copper red glazes, I like to mix wet and dry wood in
>each stoking.
Lee on thu 28 feb 08
I have always had good luck firing in rainy weather. Wind can be a
problem, but rain is not.
--
Lee in Mashiko, Tochigi Japan
http://mashikopots.blogspot.com/
"Let the beauty we love be what we do." - Rumi
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