The waiting game begins

We finished the firing at around 1.30pm on Sunday with cone 15 tipping at the front and cone 12 at the back. We had been stoking cedar logs and pine through the front and pine slats through the side stoke for most of the night with the damper pushed quite far in and strong back pressure.

At about 4am the active damper was pulled out about 6", and the passive dampers put in. The undergrate air opened and Steve began quicker stoking as the coals burned down faster. At about 11am we sealed the back side stoke and concentrated on fast stoking through the front to bring the temperature up, still with good back pressure until about 1.30. We then sealed the undergrate air and lower stoke holes, pushed the damper right in and filled the firebox for the final time. As the flame started to recede in the chimney I capped it with a large kiln shelf. Job done!

 Many thanks go to all those who helped Steve and I with this firing:

Jim Gladwin
Carl Gray
Ed Penn
Lisa Hammond
Sarah  Villeneau
and my fab daughter Georgia for being patient while Daddy stoked the kiln.

Snow fell heavily last night and this morning I was treated to an ornithological treat with Fieldfares and Wax wings in the hedge visible through my office window.

Fingers crossed until the unpacking on Friday :-))