The results are in
Apr. 2nd, 2015 07:08 pmAnd it was a beautiful firing!
Cones were uniform top and bottom when I shut it down at 4:45 pm Monday, though the top cone dropped a little more than the bottom on carryover. Used 60 units of gas, which is about 4-6 units better than the previous average. I attribute the change to 1) tighter door, 2) tighter chimney, and 3) the fact that I wasn't paying for the studio space heater, since it's finally spring.

I was still a little concerned, of course. You don't know how the pots will look until they stop glowing, but what I could see from the peepholes on Tuesday looked lovely.
And it was. Still two small oxidizing spots, one high up on the left near the door, the other a small bubble in the middle of the bottom-most shelf. Probably lost a dozen pots all told. The first is probably due to inadequate seal on the door at the point; we'll have to see if that can be adjusted.
The second, I'm guessing, comes from insufficient circulation through that spot. As we block off the top edge of the flue exit where it peeks over the shelf, it shouldn't be difficult to open that up a tiny bit and see if the problem goes away.
Meanwhile, I have many lovely pots for Crow Valley Pottery, and for Ceramic Showcase in May.
Cones were uniform top and bottom when I shut it down at 4:45 pm Monday, though the top cone dropped a little more than the bottom on carryover. Used 60 units of gas, which is about 4-6 units better than the previous average. I attribute the change to 1) tighter door, 2) tighter chimney, and 3) the fact that I wasn't paying for the studio space heater, since it's finally spring.

I was still a little concerned, of course. You don't know how the pots will look until they stop glowing, but what I could see from the peepholes on Tuesday looked lovely.
And it was. Still two small oxidizing spots, one high up on the left near the door, the other a small bubble in the middle of the bottom-most shelf. Probably lost a dozen pots all told. The first is probably due to inadequate seal on the door at the point; we'll have to see if that can be adjusted.
The second, I'm guessing, comes from insufficient circulation through that spot. As we block off the top edge of the flue exit where it peeks over the shelf, it shouldn't be difficult to open that up a tiny bit and see if the problem goes away.
Meanwhile, I have many lovely pots for Crow Valley Pottery, and for Ceramic Showcase in May.