SaigeDruid

Thanks for the responses so far...I am still looking for an actual firing schedule. When I search online, I only find programmable schedules or a couple times where the instructions are for larger kilns and don't tell me what temps to get to. The only thing I've managed to figure out is to hold the low temp to dry everything first. So what next? It's dry, what temp do I bring it to, does it need to happen over a certain period of time? Do I hold temp at any point? Do I hold temp once I hit the bisque temp or glaze temp or just shut it down? Do I just shut it off or slowly bring the temp down over time? This is the information I'm looking for and appreciate any help. If you have a book to reference, I'm happy to look at one that isn't regarding newer kilns.

Hello all, I tried searching for a similar post and have found some asking about firing but most have to do with kiln sitters or using a programmer. I just purchased an older test size kiln that I can't find any information on. It has a tag that says "PRO-CRAFT" but I can't find a serial or model number anywhere. It has a pyrometer that goes up to 2500F and a dial that looks like one from an old stove. It has OFF, LO, HI then numbers 2-6 with a midpoint mark between numbers and between the LO and 2, and 6 and HI. I have been trying to find information on how to use this to fire my pottery. The only peephole is maybe 1/2" and doesn't seem likely I'd be able to make out a cone through it, but I haven't tried yet. Later today I am hoping to test the kiln and see what temp each mark on the dial reaches and how long it takes to get there so I have some idea of how to get the kiln to reach the temperatures I want. What I need to know is how long to fire for. Everything I'm finding refers to programmable kilns that don't make sense or 3 tier manual kilns that say something like 'put on low 2-3 hours, med 2-3, then high til the cone melts'. I've seen a couple posts suggesting to refer to older pottery books about firing, but they don't list names of the books and the searches I do are all coming up with recent texts. This is a very small kiln that I was told heats up VERY quickly which is why I plan to check how fast the temp moves when adjusting the dial because especially for bisque firing, I don't want to explode things. Other things of note regarding the kiln, it is a front loader, the interior is 8.5"W x 5.5"H x 8"D. Best I can tell, the brick is 3" thick. The clay I have is cone 6 stoneware and I do have a few cone 6 glazes as well as some underglazes. Any assistance on how to go about firing with this kiln would be greatly appreciated!