Earl Brunner on wed 1 jun 05
From: wjsvt@sover.net
To: "Clayart"
Subject: RE: first kiln firing
Date: Wed, 1 Jun 2005 18:16:00 -0400
SO here is this wild woman, in the flatlands of Hoosieropolis,
running around her backyard while talking on the phone; with a
garden hose in one hand and a pyrometer in the other, wearing a
bathrobe and a Viking helmet (with the attached feather boa flowing
from the horns) remembering verses and characters from "Yellow
Submarine" while ordering her husband around, eating ice cream and
Chinese food and watching the oxyprobe in the middle of the
night....and writing down readings. =20
I can think of far worse ways to spend an evening than to sit on the
phone chatting with her!
Congratulations Gail! Ya done GOOD! We're so very proud of you!
Wayne
-----Original Message-----
From: Clayart [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG] On Behalf Of Gail
Phillips
Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2005 2:35 PM
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: first kiln firing
Hi, Everybody!
Well, I did it. I reached cone 10 temperature at 4:45 am, after
starting out
around 1:00 pm yesterday. I tried to hold until about 5:30 pm at 400
degrees, to dry out the kiln, by only running on one of my six
burners. It
was 500 degrees by 5:30 anyway, so I decided to go ahead at that
point.
Earl Brunner
e-mail: brunv53@yahoo.com
Gail Phillips on wed 1 jun 05
Hi, Everybody!
Well, I did it. I reached cone 10 temperature at 4:45 am, after starting out
around 1:00 pm yesterday. I tried to hold until about 5:30 pm at 400
degrees, to dry out the kiln, by only running on one of my six burners. It
was 500 degrees by 5:30 anyway, so I decided to go ahead at that point.
250-300 degrees an hour rise was about average, adding one burner at a time
when it seemed to be a good idea. We had some stalling here and there,
especially when trying to go for some reduction. That last 4-3/4 hours was
torturously slow - 1893 degrees at midnight, and 2348 by 4:45 am. And that
was with all 6 burners on full bore. It took an hour and 15 minutes to go
that last 93 degrees.
Now for the credits - a great big thank you to: Jeff Weiland, who came to my
house and helped me get the kiln started - without you, I would have still
been standing out by it, saying, "I'm not ready yet!", Gary Navarre, Lee
Burningham, Kurt Wild, Brian Haviland, Gawaine Dart, Tim Frederich, and
Wayne Seidl: you guys give great phone support and excellent tips for taking
care of things I hadn't prepared for, or thought of. Wayne stayed on the
phone with me into the wee hours of the morning, making suggestions, most of
which provided the desired result. Not bad for a guy who has never fired a
gas kiln! A big thank you, also, to my husband, John, who sat out there
with me until about 3:00 am, taking my nervously barked orders about getting
readings, opening or closing the damper while I was doing something else,
and making sure we were fed for the day. He even went for Dairy Queen! What
a guy.
On a side note, Gary was right - my roof of the kiln structure caught fire
at about 3:30 this morning, which I promptly put out with a garden hose. It
was a small, 2" diameter hot spot in flames, but if I hadn't been paying
attention..FOOM! I will rethink this wooden roof and its close proximity to
the chimney opening before I fire again. Also, if you run out of hard brick
for your chimney, get more - don't try regular red house brick at the
section of the chimney that goes through the roof! I have an 11' stack (or
thereabouts) and the first 7 feet is hard brick, that last 4 is red brick.
Not a great idea.
Hopefully, everything inside hasn't collapsed to form one large mass, and
also isn't horribly repulsive. I guess I will be able to unload tomorrow. I
have had an average drop in temperature of about 167 degrees per hour since
shutting down. No, Mel, I didn't fire down - I went to bed. Next time,
maybe.
Thanks again, all!
- Gail Phillips, Praying Mantis Pottery
"Sanity calms, but madness is more interesting." - John Russell
Gary Navarre on thu 2 jun 05
Way da go "Red Hot"! Lets hope ya took a few pictures.
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