I was always told to think of a kiln like this:
How fast does a torch heat up glass? really fast...
and how fast does even a really fast kiln take to heat up to 1050? prob at least 15 minutes.
Have you ever watched a lab worker work on something large in a lathe? they don't have the time to pull something like that out of the kiln at 1050, chuck it in the lathe and start working. it would also be quite awkward when a large piece is hot.
So they heat it up on the lathe slowly...with a torch.
I have always just turned my kiln on to full ramp 1050, even when fixing bad cracks.
For annealing, I used to pay close attention to the charts and make schedules in my kilns. My shop is not at my house, so I don't feel comfortable leaving them on when i leave the shop at night. I usually let it soak at 1050 for about 20-30 mins, then put the kiln on 950 for about 20-30 more mins. then just turn the kiln off. For my large kiln, I dont even ramp to 950, just turn off.
Here is my work
http://s120.photobucket.com/user/bla...?sort=6&page=1