A firing schedule is the recipe that controls how your kiln climbs to temperature and comes back down. The same peak cone can give wildly different results depending on the ramp rates, the hold, and how you cool. Here's how the pieces fit together.
Open KilnLog — save your schedules →A ramp is a segment of the firing defined by a rate (degrees per hour) and a target temperature. A slow ramp gives heat time to spread evenly; a fast ramp saves time but risks cracking, uneven heating and burnout problems. Typical glaze firings climb at roughly 150–300 °F/hr (80–165 °C/hr) in the middle, slowing toward peak. A delicate or thick load wants the slower end.
Candling means holding the kiln low — around 180–200 °F (about 85–95 °C) — for an hour or more at the start to drive off remaining moisture before the boiling point. If your greenware is not bone dry, or pieces are thick, candling prevents the steam explosions that destroy ware. Once dry, ramp gently through quartz inversion near 1063 °F (573 °C) — both heating and cooling — to avoid cracking.
A hold keeps the kiln at peak (or just below) for a set time so heatwork evens out and glazes smooth over. A short soak of 5–15 minutes can heal pinholes and let glazes level. Hold too long, though, and you add heatwork — effectively overfiring — so glazes can run and colours burn out. Treat the hold as part of the cone equation, not a free bonus.
Cooling is where many glaze surfaces are actually made. Crystalline and matte glazes often need a slow cool through the 1900–1500 °F (1040–815 °C) range to develop. Cool too fast through quartz inversion and you risk dunting (cooling cracks). Many potters program a controlled descent rather than letting the kiln free-fall, and never crack the lid above about 300 °F (150 °C).
Treat any schedule as a starting point and adjust to your kiln, clay and glazes.
The schedule that gave you a flawless firing is worthless if you can't remember it next month. Record each ramp, the hold, the cooling and the result — then reuse what works instead of re-discovering it.
Log & reuse firing schedules →KilnLog · for ceramic artists who fire their own work · Cone temperature chart · How long does a firing take? · Feedback