New to firing, a few questions

[Elise]

Hello all, forgive my green abilities regarding firing. I have been throwing for about 7 years and just bought my first kiln. I got a brief run down from the previous owner on how to operate it but again, I’m very new to firing. I would appreciate anyone taking mercy on me by offering some tips :)

The kiln is a L&L Econokiln with a kiln sitter attached.

I ran my first firing last night. The previous owner told me to turn the 3 gauges on the kiln sitter on “high” and to crack the cover for the first hour if my pottery has any moisture. This is what I did.

On first look this morning, the pottery on the top shelf looks like it all fired completely (uniform lighter color and there appears to be some shrinkage) but is there something I can test make sure it did in fact fire all the way? I’d hate to apply glaze and have everything explode in the second firing.

One thing I did notice right away that I am pretty sure isn’t ideal is that the cone I used (Cone 06) snapped in half instead of bending. What caused this and how do I prevent in the future?

Also, the previous owner said to fire with a plug in the peep hole, is that accurate?

TIA!

[liambesaw]

You can always fire it again to cone 06 to be sure.  But stuff won't explode when it's glazed as long as it's dry when it's fired.

[tomhumf]

When I fired a kiln like that I always started with the dials on low with the lid propped. I waited until no moisture condensing on a hand mirror held above lid. Then closed lid and started turning switches up. 

I've never had a cone snap, maybe it was damaged before it went in. Maybe get some new cones to be sure they aren't all damaged?

 

[Elise]

I am trying to view all the replies to my post but I’m only seeing two, even after refreshing. 

Anyone know how to fix?

 

update:

ignore this!