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Controlled Reduced Cooling 7 |
| Although the
controlled
reduced cooling procedure is entrenched in our firing method there
is no certainty that it will be beneficial to firings with different
clays using different wood. We have not changed the woods we use, our
usual procedure being to start the firing with Forest Red Gum and
change to Blackwood later in the firing. The Forest Red Gum produces
much less ash glaze than the Blackwood, and the deposited ash melts at
a higher temperature. We have a suspicion, but only a suspicion, that a
number of Australian Eucalypts produce ashes which share these
characteristics, and it may be that there are other Acacias which
behave like Blackwood. Our clay bodies have changed over successive firings, and are selected to produce results which suit our tastes. Having had a bad experience with a commercial clay, which changed characteristics without warning, so that we lost the red blush, we now mix our own clay bodies. I am keen to know what happens if this procedure is used in other kilns, with other clays and other woods. For a direct comparison the procedure would have to be followed fairly closely, using an oxygen probe and digital pyrometer. The reducing agent could be any moist, fleshy weed. Possibly water could be used, and if so I would certainly like to know about that. If you try this cooling regime, please let me know what happens. Negative results are just as important as positive ones. To see what times might be involved in an anagama of more conventional construction, with good insulation and heavy butressing, so that more heat is retained and the cooling is slower, I have constructed the following diagram from information provided by Len Cook. |
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| The jagged line
shows the
cooling temperatures in Len's anagama as automatically recorded by
a device supplied by one of Len's friends. Len uses
Final
Stage Reduction, and careful examination of the graph reveals that the
heavy reduction caused by the Final Stage Reduction procedure lasted
for just 1.5 hours, while the temperature dropped to something like
1150 C. Len lets his kiln cool naturally after Final Stage
Reduction, so the grey area in the top half of the graph shows the
period during which ginger stuffing WOULD occur if our controlled
cooling procedure was adopted. The pink area of the top half
of
the graph simply indicates that Len's kiln cools slowly enough to
satisfy the four hour period of reoxidation between 900 and 800 that we regard as
desirable. There is no obvious reason why Final Stage Reduction and our
controlled cooling procedure should not both be used in the same firing. |
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To make controlled
reduced cooling practicable an oxy probe
of some
sort is essential. The composition of the atmosphere in the cooling
anagama can change very rapidly, and constant feedback is essential if
you want to be confident about what is going on. Oxy probes are
expensive, but the ones without the pyrometer are about half
the
price
of the original probes with the inbuilt pyrometer
thermocouple.
To
avoid exposing ours to days of ash deposits it is inserted at
the
start
of the cooling cycle, very carefully, over a period of ten minutes.
Absolute concentration is essential, but as you can see is sadly
lacking in my case here. The other essential requirement is a damper that can be shut completely, and our damper system is shown in the image below. It is located just at the back of the anagama chamber, and is accessible by removing loose standard bricks so that when completely closed it can be further sealed with strips of ceramic fibre. Messing about with hot bricks and hot kiln shelf dampers, while flames are shooting out any gaps, at a stage of the firing when total exhaustion is near, is quite dangerous. |
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Bad, but satisfyingly spectacular, things happen if the
dampers are
completely closed while there is still fuel burning in the firebox, so
there is a need for care, if only to avoid legal action from your stokers.
Obviously the stoking door has to be completely sealed for
ginger
stuffing to be effective. For a well sealed kiln enough ginger can be
introduced through one or both of the secondary air ports. The ginger
going in can completely occupy the port so no air goes in with it. With
care, the amount of ginger needed for reduction cooling in our kiln can
be as little as a few barrow loads.
|
Some dodgy chemistryWhat do I think is going on
with this cooling cycle? If we assume that one way or another most of
the coloration on these anagama pots is due to iron oxide, and make the
further heroic assumption that the iron compouinds which form during
the firing behave in a way reminiscent of iron oxide itself during
cooling, then it makes a sort of sense. The red form of iron oxide is
stable under oxidation below 900 C, and starts to convert to the black
form above 900C under reduction. The brown form is a mixture of the red and the black. I have removed pot shards from a kiln
at temperatures above 1100C and dunked them in water and found no trace
of brown or red. This suggests that keeping the atmosphere in
reduction during cooling down to 900C will tend to suppress the
formation of brown colors, and that any colors willing to change at 900
should be given enough time to move as far towards red as possible
before becoming unreceptive to change below 800. If you think
this explanation is sound chemistry then perhaps I can interest you in some shares
in the Sydney Harbour Bridge? They will be available at a very
reasonable price as soon as the ink is dry.
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