[simvet02]

My cracking is always along the mandrel vertically. And usually after I have cleaned the beads and they are laying out drying, sometimes the next day.

I can only assume that I'm just hot getting them hot enough before I put them in the kiln. I am very conscience of this issue and always try to give them a good soaking but sometimes it happens.

I clean my beads with a dremel and sometimes wonder if this causes the little stresses to start to form. I suppose it's better that they do this now rather than after they are sold but it's still frustrating to spend that much time on a bead and loose it.

When I first started I used the fiber blanket to cool and then did a batch anneal in my large fusing kiln. I found that I could do this with small to medium sized beads but the larger more complex ones just didn't survive the blanket cooling.

Here's what I did until I got the bead kiln. I had my fusing kiln running and the kevlar gloves handy, when I finished a bead I would put the gloves on and take the bead over to the fusing kiln, carefully lift the lid and drop the bead in on a fiber blanket to soak until I was done, at which time I started the program. Since you have a fusing kiln you might want to consider this if the kiln is close enough. Mine was about ten feet away.