Anne Doyle on sun 26 nov 06
I am prepping for my 2nd bisque in my new kiln and as the company have been
closed for thanksgiving i thought maybe someone out there could help me out
with this question.
I read awhile back of ppl using the Easy-fire and doing bisque with a
several hours preheat with the top partly open and the peepholes open as
well. It doesn't give information about this anywhere in the manual and i
was wondering if that's essential. I don't have a piece of soft fire-brick
to prop the lid open and since the ventsure is on the whole time i thought
the moisture would be drawn out through that... Am i wrong? I made a load
of things this week and they're pretty dry by now but i thought 4 hour
preheat just in case, and the regular slow bisque. My first bisque was on
ware that had been dry for weeks, and i still did a 3 hr preheat but with
the peepholes closed and lid down...
Thanx for the help in advance,
Anne, in Saint-Sauveur where i am getting ready to be all fired up again!
Dolita Dohrman on sun 26 nov 06
I have an Easy Fire L & L and I do a 3 hour preheat and the slow bisque
program, lid closed and peeps in with the vent going the whole time. Never
had any problems.
Dolita
----- Original Message -----
From: "Anne Doyle"
To:
Sent: Sunday, November 26, 2006 12:01 PM
Subject: L&L Easy-fire Bisque question
> I am prepping for my 2nd bisque in my new kiln and as the company have
been
> closed for thanksgiving i thought maybe someone out there could help me
out
> with this question.
> I read awhile back of ppl using the Easy-fire and doing bisque with a
> several hours preheat with the top partly open and the peepholes open as
> well. It doesn't give information about this anywhere in the manual and i
> was wondering if that's essential. I don't have a piece of soft fire-brick
> to prop the lid open and since the ventsure is on the whole time i thought
> the moisture would be drawn out through that... Am i wrong? I made a load
> of things this week and they're pretty dry by now but i thought 4 hour
> preheat just in case, and the regular slow bisque. My first bisque was on
> ware that had been dry for weeks, and i still did a 3 hr preheat but with
> the peepholes closed and lid down...
> Thanx for the help in advance,
> Anne, in Saint-Sauveur where i am getting ready to be all fired up again!
>
>
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William & Susan Schran User on sun 26 nov 06
On 11/26/06 12:01 PM, "Anne Doyle" wrote:
> I don't have a piece of soft fire-brick
> to prop the lid open and since the ventsure is on the whole time i though=
t
> the moisture would be drawn out through that... Am i wrong? I made a load
> of things this week and they're pretty dry by now but i thought 4 hour
> preheat just in case, and the regular slow bisque. My first bisque was on
> ware that had been dry for weeks, and i still did a 3 hr preheat but with
> the peepholes closed and lid down...
You can also use a shelf prop to keep lid open, but if your work is dry you
shouldn't have to do a pre-heat with lid open.
To check for dryness, hold the lip/top rim against your cheek (this area
usually dries first) and feel both temperature and for moisture. Then hold
the bottom against your cheek. If the bottom feels colder or you can feel
moisture, then the pot is still wet and you shouldn't fire it.
Let the pot sit upside down (if possible) for a few days to thoroughly dry
before firing.
Yes, the vent system will draw the moisture out, but will not prevent the
pot from blowing up if fired too wet.
For preheating, you need to enter the Easy-Fire Slow Bisque then press
preheat (automatic 60=B0 per hour) in Easy- Options section which will bring
up HOLD & 0.00 cycling over & over. Press the number keys for time you want=
,
then press Enter to see IDLE, then press Start.
--=20
William "Bill" Schran
wschran@cox.net
wschran@nvcc.edu
http://www.creativecreekartisans.com
Vince Pitelka on sun 26 nov 06
Anne -
You can prop up the lid on a kiln post laid sideways and it won't hurt
anything, as long as you set it down on the post gently each time.
With the vent on, I expect you are fine even with the lid closed. We always
do the preheat with the lid open, but we do not have individual vent
systemss on our EasyFire L&Ls - we just have a big overhead vent system on
the whole area where the electric kilns are located.
If you have any reservations, just lengthen the preheat time to 8 hours. It
won't hurt anything, and it takes very little energy to hold the kiln at 200
degrees.
The one time I can think of when you would definitely want the lid propped
up is if you were firing very large pots or sculpture with very thick
sections, especially if you suspected there was some residual moisture, or
if the humidity had been very high. With the lid open, a lot of air is
circulating through the kiln, and I think that thicker ware will dry a
little more effectively.
Good luck -
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Craft, Tennessee Technological University
Smithville TN 37166, 615/597-6801 x111
vpitelka@dtccom.net, wpitelka@tntech.edu
http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka/
http://www.tntech.edu/craftcenter/
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