First firing witness cones

[Mike.Kelly]

Hello All,

So I just completed my first bisque firing and took a quick peak at the top shelf (Temp is 250F).  The witness cones are not what I expected.  Left to right 05,06,07.  Kiln was fired to cone 06 slow and took 12h 26 minutes to complete.  Is it possible the 06 cone bent more because of the slow bisque?  I expected the 06 to be slightly bent.  The top shelf was high about 3" from the kiln lid.  Also wondering if i didnt leave enough room perhaps.  Although this doesn't sound likely to me

 

 

[neilestrick]

Whatever cone you're firing to, when you reach that cone the tip of the cone will touch the shelf. So you're pretty darn close here.

[Mike.Kelly]

Thanks Neil.  That is very good news. :-)  Thanks for the quick response.

[LeeU]

The cones look good---that is a joyful sight, in my opinion. Nothing confuses me more than figuring temps and time and why it did this or why it didn't do that. And the impact of aging (seriously) on memory loss related to chemistry (retention) is brutal.  I love that my kiln fires to the desired cone every single time--tho I don't venture far from the programming examples in the manual.  

[Mike.Kelly]

Agreed Lee.  I plan to keep copious notes since I have no expectation I will remember any of the details.  I had no real reason to think it wouldn't fire correctly the first time since it is a new kiln.  Although the manual did say that it might be off +-10 since it is not calibrated before it leaves the factory.    I plan to use witness cones in every firing just to make sure nothing gets out of wack though.