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I somehow managed to put on a 15 hour HOLD instead of a 15 hour delay on a bisque meant for cone 04. Any ideas as to what cone that actually hit? I’m so scared to open the kiln. Still cooling. It held around 1900° for 15 hours. Clay is cone 6.

Ugh, just UGH! I had a huge load to fire for a very important community project. Using a Cone 4-6 stoneware and Cone 4-6 glaze. Normally I fire to cone 5 and let it soak for 5 minutes. The kiln was almost to temp when I left for work this morning. (yes, I know, never leave a kiln, but I couldn't be late to work and the basement is all concrete and it was supposedly almost done) It should have been cool and ready to unload when I got home. instead, at the top of the stairs, I heard it. "cu-lick" "Rats. I thought to myself, I must have a rat in the basement, I would LOVE to have a rant in my basement because if that's not what it was... CU-LICK." Yes, my 10.5 hour firing went 20 hours. It appeared to be stuck at 2112 degrees. All three segment lights were lit. I don't know if a relay went out, if an element broke or what, but it appears to not have reached cone and just held shy of cone 5 for 9+ hours. What's killing me right now is wondering how bad it is inside. Are the pieces ruined, stuck to the shelf or in a gooey puddle at the bottom (that's probably not likely) This was the ONE time I didn't use witness cones because the thing was jammed so full I didn't have the space. The thing is still WAY too hot to consider even taking a quick peek. For the next several hours, I have nothing to do but obsess because this was a VERY important load (yeah, because that's how it happens) If in fact they aren't ruined and I can get them out by 4:00 AM, there is hope. So let's play a game... So Brain Trust. If in fact this was a 9 hour soak below the cone I was firing to, how bad is it likely to be?

Okay, so I really pulled a goofy one this last firing. Had everything in glaze load, loaded up water smoked a bit to keep morning made cone pack from blowing up and to allow the recently glazed pots to dry up. It comes to 12 midnight, and decision time. I know it won't be anywhere near ready til early morning if I fie it to all switches(3) on ten, probably 5 am. I decided to put the bottom on 10, Mid to 9, and the top to 7. All this figuring to fire a little on all at 10 when I got up at 7. Next morning 7 out to the kiln, cone 5, 6, and 7 are down. Can't really tell how bad, but glow is not white still yellow orange. 24 hours later, I unload and find that one teapot lid is glued on, another lid that did not get fired on the pot is glued to the shelf, but other than some darker earthier colors, all is good. Definitely a potentially bad situation came in OK, Lucky me! This got me to thinking about my cone packs, and how I am the last of a really gone breed. Still firing with cone packs in an electric kiln. Got me also to thinking that maybe someone would like to see what my cone pack looks like. You can see the standard fire I do in the middle, the one on the right is Wednesday nights, and the one on the left is one I made at the same time as Wednesday for the next load. best, Pres

Great so I bought cone 05 clay instead of cone 5 clay and of course realized this after I fired a few pieces to cone 5. Is there any way I can salvage these couple of pieces? If I try to glaze them, at this point, what cone glaze do I fire to? I've been told these are probably lost but I'm hoping you guys might have some creative alternatives...

Hello community! I recently set up my Olympic F2327HE kiln in my studio along with the Orton vent and fired my 1st bisque and glaze this past week. I am a new kiln owner (have always relied on/used shared ceramic studio kilns) and need help figuring out the following issues I ran into in both firings: Bisque firing Set to: Fast bisque Cone: 06 / 1828 Pyrocone: On all shelves/levels. Overfired Notes: - The kiln was not 100% full. All 3 shelves had pieces on them, probably at 65 - 70% capacity. Questions: - Does the quantity of wares inside the kiln affect the temperature inside the kiln? Does it matter if I have 2 wares or 20 wares? Glaze firing Set to: Fast glaze Cone: 6 / 2232 Pyrocone: On all shelves/levels. Overfired Notes: - The firing took longer than what the chart on manual states the firing time would be. Instead of 4-5 hrs, it ran for 7 hours and instead of stopping at 2232, it stopped at 2240. - The firing logged and firing #3 instead of #2 (this was my second firing in the kiln, the 1st one, bisque above, logged #1 correctly) Questions: - Why did the kiln fire longer than normal? (and above the temperature?) - Kiln logged the firing as the 3rd time, though it was only my 2nd run - how come? - Regarding smells: Assuming the vent is properly installed (which I believe it is!) am I to expect absolutely no smell at all? Noticed on both firings there was a noticeable burning off smell. ---------- Any help/advice/tips would be much appreciated!! I've contacted Olympic and have not received any replies yet.. Thank you. Kind regards, Nijer E.