This was to be a two-week firing with glassblowing every day. We also wanted to experiment with the running of the furnace, including using different wood species and testing the effects of adding insulation (see Furnace Performance).

We lit the furnace at about 9.50am on 24th August. By 1pm it had reached 1000°C, so we were ready to fill the pots (see Filling the Pots). On subsequent days we lit the furnace at between 7am and 8am, and within three to four hours later we could charge the pots.

We usually had to rake out the furnace after three or four days as the build-up of ash eventually restricted the airflow and lessened the efficiency of the burn. This was where the ash hole and the sloping firepit came into their own and made the job very easy. The grate allowed the fire to continue to burn, so minimising the temperature loss - a very different situation to the firings of 2005 and 2006, where we had to pull the burning logs out to empty the charcoal and ash, dropping the furnace temperature by 100°C or so. Having said that, we tended to rake out before the furnace was lit, so was still cool.