Gettin' Close...

That's 08, just beginning to bend. I don't use watch or guard cones in the bisque anymore because, what for? I can tell by the color when it's getting close, and once I know a kiln, the bisque always takes the same length of time, anyway; and even if it overshoots, it's no big deal. I could miss by 3 cones and still be fine. I fire my bisque to the lowest temperature that will not cause problems in my glazing. I used to bisque to 010, but then I started using B-mix, with which one glaze blistered and pinholed when bisqued to 010. Not alot but enough to be annoying. A slightly hotter bisque solved that problem.
Lots of potters I know bisque to 05, but that seems like wasting fuel -- and for fuel, read "money" -- to me. Plus if either of my stonewares gets to 04, the body starts to get too tight to take glazes well, so I have a much narrower margin of error.

Anyway. It's climbing fast now, so my cone may be down, even in the time it took to type this. I hope so, because I want to get my PJs on.