anagama update

9:47 pm- things are going smoothly.  Nearing 1500˚ F in the back. Pizza and wings just arrived.  Very hungry after the long day and a trip to the gym.  We have split most of the "new" wood to smaller sticks.  The midnight shift will have some markers to make; it is a good crew, so I am not worried...

Follow up:

We finished the firing around 6:00 pm the following evening.  Actually, we fired it off twice.  We reached ∆ 9 in the back of the chamber around 1:00 pm Saturday.  Since the school was having a reception for new students, we kept a light stoking pattern to "show off" the firing, but lost considerable heat in the process.  At 3:00 pm we decided to go for it again.  With steady work and damper adjustments, we were able to regain the lost heat to bring the firing to an end.  We completed the evening by firing off the salt kiln.

Then to the beer, chips and laughs "around the camp fire." A great week and a great finish to a harried, sometimes very frustrating semester, and a physically and mentally exhausting year.

It has been a great run...

Firing the Anagama

After a long winter's wait, we have finally loaded the wood kiln. We started the firing this am at 6:00 am.  Vincent was the man. The word is that he couldn't find matches so he carried a flaming piece of wood through the studio that he ignited from one of the burners on the car kiln.  We decided this Olympic style run to ignition was something only Vincent could pull off.  Wish we had video.

It is 1:30 pm and we are at about 950˚ F in the rear of the chamber.  Will keep posting and set up some images.