Thanks for posting this, Lee. It comes at a particularly
appropriate time in my wood firing career. For the past three firings
I have done with Hiroshi Ogawa in his Hikarigama kiln, we have
introduced water into the soda chamber. It was a bit intimidating the
first time pointing a garden hose into the firebox and pulling the
trigger, but after several tries, its really quite exciting!
We actually spray the water during the cooling, with the hope that
it will encourage reduction cooling a la Gail Nichols soda process.
Every other stoke we spray full stream for 7-10 seconds. (count one
anagama, two anagama, three anagama...) There does not appear to be
any damage to the hard brick and the pots have been looking
dynamite!!!!
Lee- let me know how to post pics and I will share some images
of the process, as well as the results.
Peace,
Sam
www.samhoffman.com