elisesurma Posted July 31, 2018 Report Share Posted July 31, 2018 Anyone have advice on if it's necessary to go slow speed when bisque firing to cone 05 and all pieces are bone dry? Also, is it a good idea to do a short hold at the top? And then for glaze firing is it best to go slow speed as well? Thanks for the advice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted July 31, 2018 Report Share Posted July 31, 2018 Use one of the pre-programmed schedules in your controller. For most pots, medium speed is fine. No need for a hold at the top. For glaze firings you can go a bit faster. What type of kiln do you have? If it's got slow-med-fast options on the controller like a Skutt, just do everything on medium. If it's got slow and fast bisque or glaze like on an L&L, do fast bisque and slow glaze. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elisesurma Posted July 31, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2018 It's a Skutt 1027-3. Mostly vases, plates, mugs, and bowls. Thank you for your help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PotterPutter Posted August 1, 2018 Report Share Posted August 1, 2018 Neil, normally I would NEVER question you because you’re awesome, but I wanted to make sure you said that correctly. I have always been told that bisque should be slow, even if pots are bone dry, and also a one hour preheat is best practice. I exploded some bone dry pots when I didn’t do a preheat once. I also fire at medium speed for my glaze firings. So for me, it’s slow bisque and medium glaze. Sorry, just wanted to make sure!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted August 1, 2018 Report Share Posted August 1, 2018 22 minutes ago, PotterPutter said: Neil, normally I would NEVER question you because you’re awesome, but I wanted to make sure you said that correctly. I have always been told that bisque should be slow, even if pots are bone dry, and also a one hour preheat is best practice. I exploded some bone dry pots when I didn’t do a preheat once. I also fire at medium speed for my glaze firings. So for me, it’s slow bisque and medium glaze. Sorry, just wanted to make sure!! If your pots are of appropriate thickness, like 1/4" or less, and bone dry, there is no need to do a preheat or fire on slow. If your pots blew up because you didn't do a preheat, then they were either too thick for that speed or weren't actually dry. It can be difficult to tell if things are totally dry, though, so by all means do a preheat if you're not sure. I work in porcelain, which dries quickly, and doesn't have so much stuff to burn out as stoneware clays, so I often do a 30 minute preheat to make sure everything is totally dry, then do a 5 hour firing. Do what you know your pots can handle, but chances are they can go faster than you think in most cases. Also make sure you're loading them upside down whenever possible, as they'll heat more evenly that way. And thank you for the kind words. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yappystudent Posted August 1, 2018 Report Share Posted August 1, 2018 I've been firing everything in my Skutt 818 on med speed (cause the manual says to) -other than one slow firing because I had a big thick bowl I was worried about. So far it seems to be spot on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawnhar Posted August 1, 2018 Report Share Posted August 1, 2018 Hey Yappy, how long does it take for a bisque on that kiln? And what cone are you firing to? I just got one and curious about firing times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted August 1, 2018 Report Share Posted August 1, 2018 1 hour ago, shawnhar said: Hey Yappy, how long does it take for a bisque on that kiln? And what cone are you firing to? I just got one and curious about firing times. https://skutt.com/pdf/op_manual/KM_controller.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Posted August 1, 2018 Report Share Posted August 1, 2018 Hi Elise, welcome to the forum. I would just add that on glaze firings we experimented a lot and found that for our cone 6 firings we go to cone 5 with a 20 minute hold at the end. This hold serves as a cone in heat work and is meant to soak and level out the glaze. By doing this we found we have less glaze defects. I've heard anywhere from 20-40 minutes cited for a cone in heat work and with the 20 minutes we get a half bend on a cone 6 cone. Good luck, enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Min Posted August 1, 2018 Report Share Posted August 1, 2018 @elisesurma, what type of clay are you using? For white or light coloured clays then what has already been suggested will work but if by chance you are using a really dark or blackish clay then a slower bisque and a hold during the bisque might be necessary. Also, with those type clays going a little under cone 6 is sometimes necessary. Agree with Stephen, just have to run some pots/glaze tests through the kiln and go from there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elisesurma Posted August 1, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2018 I will be doing a cone 6 firing tonight but I'm going to try the advice of going to cone 5 with a hold. I have witness cones so we will see. Fired bisque with medium speed last night so I will see in a couple hours if anything blew. Thank you everyone for your advice. @Min I use porcelain and Georgies dark chocolate clay...so definitely a mix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Min Posted August 1, 2018 Report Share Posted August 1, 2018 1 hour ago, elisesurma said: I use porcelain and Georgies dark chocolate clay...so definitely a mix. Have you fired the Georgies Dark Chocolate to ^6 before? No problems? Also, the umber is adding manganese to the clay so the fumes from the kiln need to be well vented. Curt wrote a really good post on bisque firing dark claybodies at the bottom of this page. From Georgies website re glaze firing this clay to cone 5: Trail Mix Dark Chocolate (CC535D) Dark rich brown, almost black. Best when fired to cone 5. The umber addition brings extra flux to the clay, making this a very tight body. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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