Cone 6 Firing Schedules Plotted Together
Various Cone 6 firing schedules are plotted together for interest and comparison.
The graphs (above) show various firing schedules with No Cooling (top) and Cooling (bottom). They are:
- Skutt: Firing schedules that come pre-programmed with the electric Skutt KTM 1027-3 kiln.
- Paragon: Firing schedules that come pre-programmed with the electric Paragon Caldera XL kiln (test kiln).
- Britt: Firing schedules published by John Britt in The Complete Guide to Mid-Range Glazes: Glazing and Firing at Cones 4–7.
- H&R: Firing schedule published by Jon Hesselberth and Ron Roy in Mastering Cone 6 Glazes: Improving Durability, Fit, and Aesthetics.
- Kline: Firing schedules published by Gabriel Kline in Amazing Glaze: Techniques, Recipes, Finishing, and Firing (Mastering Ceramics).
Regarding Kline, the cooling schedule is attributed by Kline to Pete Pinnell. The schedule presented here has been slightly modified from Pinnell’s original to (1) introduce a 15-minute hold at peak temperature and (2) extend the controlled cooling from 1700°F to 1500°F.
For no particular reason other than having a starting point, the studio has to date adopted the Kline schedules, with the others yet to be tried (see here for more details on the Kline schedules).
It is quite interesting to see them all plotted together (note that the x-axis uses a different scale for no cooling versus cooling). At first glance, within each category—no cooling or cooling—the schedules do not appear overly disparate. On closer inspection, however, one notices subtle differences. The studio does not yet have sufficient experience with all of them to determine how sensitive the finished results might be among the various schedules. Perhaps one day we'll know!