Fast bisque firing

[irenepots]

I always use the slow bisque program on my L&L kiln, but I'm coming up to a deadline and would like to try a fast bisque instead. 

I fire  dark brown, white and speckled light brown clays.  What's your experience been with using a fast bisque cycle?   Do you recommend it or not?  

I appreciate your input, thanks in advance.  

[Roberta12]

@irenepots  Like you I usually use the slow bisque program, but I have used fast bisque at times (deadlines!) and I have noticed no difference as far as glazing.  That includes porcelain, dark brown clay and speckled clay.  That is simply my experience.

r.

[Pres]

I moved this strand here as I believe it will get more traffic, and searches for Fast Firing will be readily met.

As far as my own experience with fast firing during my HS days and personally there is one major factor of which the potter needs to be certain. Make certain the ware is completely dry before ramping up the firing.

 

best,

Pres

[Min]

There is 2 hours difference between the two, is it worth the risk for deadline work to try it now if you 100% need the work not to have issues? Step 4 and 7 are an hour faster with a fast bisque. I only use fast bisque (different kiln, same schedule) with white and porcelain clays with no issues. It's the speckled and dark clay that if you are going to have issues with that might be of concern.

[neilestrick]

I recommend Fast Bisque to all of my customers. It's not really very fast, plenty slow for good burnout.

[irenepots]

10 hours ago, Roberta12 said:

@irenepots  Like you I usually use the slow bisque program, but I have used fast bisque at times (deadlines!) and I have noticed no difference as far as glazing.  That includes porcelain, dark brown clay and speckled clay.  That is simply my experience.

r.

Hi Roberta! Thanks for your input.   I'm trying to get up my nerve to try it.

[irenepots]

9 hours ago, Pres said:

I moved this strand here as I believe it will get more traffic, and searches for Fast Firing will be readily met.

As far as my own experience with fast firing during my HS days and personally there is one major factor of which the potter needs to be certain. Make certain the ware is completely dry before ramping up the firing.

 

best,

Pres

Ah thanks for doing that Pres, it does make more sense for it to be here.  

[neilestrick]

To be clear to everyone who may be reading this, we're talking about the L&L Dynatrol/ Bartlett V6-CF controller, which has two glaze settings and two bisque settings. This discussion does not apply to the Skutt controller, which has slow, medium, and fast settings.

Fast Bisque and Slow Glaze work for most situations. For large or thick pieces you may want to use Slow Bisque, though. I do not recommend Fast Glaze in most situations, because it's generally too fast for low fire work, and most kilns can't actually ramp as fast as the program wants when going above low fire temps.

[irenepots]

8 hours ago, Min said:

There is 2 hours difference between the two, is it worth the risk for deadline work to try it now if you 100% need the work not to have issues? Step 4 and 7 are an hour faster with a fast bisque. I only use fast bisque (different kiln, same schedule) with white and porcelain clays with no issues. It's the speckled and dark clay that if you are going to have issues with that might be of concern.

After I posted,  I checked out the firing schedule too.  I thought the time difference would be greater.     I've been pretty lucky lately avoiding pinholes and it may not be worth the risk for just those 2 hours.   Thanks for your thoughts Min.