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I never force cool - mainly due to advice I've had on this forum. What I have done, is develop a mind set that says, "It'll be tomorrow before I can safely open the kiln."

I think I'm not trying to do anything as complex as what I think you're describing, Cynthia. Here are two pics - they are not of the same piece, but they show what was going on. The first is a piece after my normal fuse schedule for this kind of item in my Caldera - FAP from 1250 to 1480, hold 10: W...

Update: Put a previously fired blank in for a refuse. The blank showed just a faint, or no, line at the joint between the FV and DW. Decided to raise the process temp to 1490 from 1475, just for the hell of it. I checked on progress through the kiln's peephole when the fuse was on the way up, at aro...

Thanks, Brad - that may indeed be what's going on. I have multiple tries at this, and I do see that the FV elements have different hues from piece to piece.

I am having a frustrating time trying to get consistent reaction results between Fr. Vanilla and Dense White. Sometimes I'll get a very crisp line between strips of DW and FV, and other times no visible reaction at all. My layup consists of a bottom layer that's a 4" FV square, surrounded by pi...

You might also want to take a look at:

http://www.bullseyeglass.com/methods-id ... glass.html

which talks about Bullseye's recommended annealing cycles.

Thanks, Brad. I've never had anybody nearby when I've been doing this. Rassling a big piece of 6mm around is a pain when you're by yourself. Better, next time, I wait until I can find someone to help. BTW, I've found that tapping on the back of a piece with the non-business end of a cutter will ofte...

I recently cut a small 9" x 9" 6mm test piece I had made from two 3mm pieces. I scored it (just a straight line) and broke it easily and cleanly with Toyo heavy-duty breaking pliers. I was amazed that it went so well. My efforts to break larger pieces of 6mm Tekta have not always been so s...

I would think that the markedly different colors would require an especially slow schedule, since the two colors absorb heat at significantly different rates. That would cause undue stress to occur at the joint line.

What do you mean by "seam" of the top glass - was it two pieces that you fused together? Also: In the picture, it looks like the bottom was of two colors - is that correct? Or is the black-looking right hand side just an artifact of the camera shot?

Also: There are controllers, and then there are controllers - 12-key, 3-key, touch screen, etc. Find some samples of each and enter a few schedules. Modify a few schedules, too. Interrupt the operation of a schedule to make a change in real-time. Google for reviews. Ask some fusers about their contr...

Pictures?

Been there, done that. Didn't know I had done it. Saw a little pile of ash on the blank after fusing. Wiped it off, and thought no more about it until I started looking for the level, when I put two and two together.

Not an answer to the problem, but in the spirit of scientific curiosity: Do you ever get down to lower altitudes? If so, take a can with you and spray something - see if there's a difference.

@Kathy:

Bullseye's guidelines for that mold are:

300/1180/5

so you'll be going slower, hotter, and longer. I'm just sayin' ...

Could it have somehow slumped into the corners first, before center touched down, and thereby trapped air in the center? It wouldn't hurt to drill a 3/32" hole in the center, would it?

Thanks, all. I went to the woodpeck.com web site, and I think they have exactly what I want. Looks like good quality stuff, too.

The longest zero centering ruler I can find that's appropriate for use with the Morton Mini Surface is 24". The one I'm using now has the zero 6" from one end, and 18" from the other. It reads both English and metric. I would like to find: 1. Metal rule 2. Both measurement systems 3. ...

I have an XT, and find it nearly impossible to cut strips that are the same width at the start of the cut as they are at the end. I have tried every sort of damming/fencing arrangement I can think up, and have yet to figure out a foolproof method. I have tried adjusting the track the sliding table t...

Dana:

I think you nailed it. And I myself have seen the color variation due to repeated firings. So I guess I either heard wrong some place or other, or was just gullible enough to believe the reaction theory.