in long vertical cracks near the corners. However, as noted above,
they are contained by angle iron bracings. Aloft we have set an old
water heater, which gives an extra two and a half feet of stack and
makes all the visitors think we heat our house off the kiln. We add-
ed this Interesting after-thought because we experienced back
pressure in the first couple of firings. This addition certainly helped
but so did the kiln shed we built around it later.

We fire to cone 9 and it takes, depending on the weather, from 12 to
15 hours. Results, considering the fact that I really haven't finished
getting to know the behemoth yet, are pleasing. We bring down cone
9 very evenly all over the kiln and can't say we have any particularly
cold spots. It does not call for any particular variety of glazes to
accommodate the temperature differences because they aren't great at
all. Reduction takes place at cones 1, 3and 8. I guess by most
standards [ don't reduce very heavily but I can get some nice copper
reds. Haven't tried celadons yet. I constantly alter the stacking in
the middle and front areas but leave the back alone, never removing
the shelves, simply because it’s such a back breaker to put them in
and out. This was a design mistake on my part, too deep a chamber
for convenient loading. Also the flue chamber could have been built
lower, had I known more about flues, and I'd have wasted less space
in the kiln bottom. That flue is the main point I'd change if I were to
build again.

The whole thing, including the first filling of the 1000 gallon tank,
but excluding any wages of course, cost $2,000. It costs about 520
to 530 per firing. This seems a wide fluctuation and may have some-
thing to do with the variation of firings from summer temperatures to
zero weather. I think in the future I'll try to curb the number of win-
ter firings because it's a cold experience to stack at zero temperature
and probably quite wasteful of fuel. But I'm still doing a lot of learn-
ing, not having had the opportunity to ever fire or fiddle with a gas
kiln before. And I wouldn't have missed the hard work, companion-
ship, problems of building or the excitement of firing the beast for

anything.
Frances Hatfield