Firing Notes Initially, I fired the raw balls with charcoal fire. Before 45 minutes passed, there was a sound …
Firing Notes
Initially, I fired the raw balls with charcoal fire. Before 45 minutes passed, there was a sound like thunder, and the balls cracked, failing. I thought the reason was that the outside was dry and the inside wet, the steam having no way out.
Later, I changed to air-drying for one day, then covering with reed mats and smoking with slow fire to gradually remove moisture.
Finally, I put them in the forging kiln, stacking fuel and firing. The kiln temperature was scorching hot. I maintained an orange flame color for four hours.
When I took them out of the kiln, the balls were as hard as stone and rang with a metallic sound when struck!