A support plate for use in firing which has a main component of the
crystal phase after firing being the same as that of an article to be
sintered, and has a surface roughness (Ra) of the surface to be contacted
with the article to be fired of 8 to 50 .mu.m. A firing method using the
above support plate is free from the breaking or chipping of cells of a
honeycomb fired article as a product and also is free from the breaking
thereof during firing, the staining or cells, the cracking or deformation
thereof, or the failure of reaction, which is caused by the mismatch in
expansion-shrinkage behavior, and thus allows the prevention of the
decrease of the yield in the production of a honeycomb fired article as a
product.