#23

So the "old" elements seem to be holding up meanwhile,with firings taking around 7 1/2 hours on average to top temperature [cone 10 1/2 over],using 2 programs to grow 6-7 rings around the crystals,with pleasing results,few duds,no breakage,and only minor [but persistent] damage to the kiln- chiefly gobs of glaze that spill over their too-shallow catchers and eat into the soft-brick kiln floor. When the kiln is cool,it is fairly easy to pop these globs out with a screw-driver [taking a bit more floor with them]. I'm stuffing the holes with ceramic fibre temporarily,but will need to think of some mixture to fill them with-probably ground brick with some NaamanSet refractory cement to hold it together.