pottery throwing tools - Chaparral Ceramics...Stone. Hard rubber grommets on 10-inch centers cast into the underside of each bat fit over ³/ 8-inch pins. Like all porous bats, pots

www.ceramicartsdaily.org | Copyright © 2012, Ceramic Publications Company | Pottery Throwing Tools | i

a guide to making and using pottery tools

for wheel throwing

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pottery throwing tools

This special report is brought to you with the support of Cornell Studio Supply

| Second Edition |

www.ceramicartsdaily.org | Copyright © 2012, Ceramic Publications Company | Pottery Throwing Tools | 1

How to Use the Pottery Tool KitBy Jeff ZamekThe first pottery tools you need to buy are all contained in the infamous Pottery Tool Kit. We’re not sure who came up with the idea for the PTK, but it’s a part of the ceramic studio culture. Jeff Zamek takes a look at the contents and how to use these indispensable basic throwing tools.

Throwing BatsBy Bill JonesGetting your pottery off the wheel without messing it up requires a throwing bat. Pottery throwing bats come in all sizes and can be made from a variety of materials. Since they can represent quite an investment, you’ll want to take a look at some of the things you’ll need to consider before you buy.

How to Select and Use Throwing RibsBy Bill JonesEven though our fingers are pretty good throwing tools, there are times when a throwing rib just does a better job. These tools are not complicated and offer a lot of versatility for the beginning potter to the seasoned expert.

Exotic Wooden Pottery ToolsBy Frank James FisherWhile many types of pottery throwing ribs are available, making your own from exotic woods can add a real touch of class. The density and natural oils present in woods like cocobolo make it ideal for constant exposure to water and clay. Mike Kuhn shows you how to make pottery throwing ribs in this step-by-step project.

Pottery Throwing Profile ToolsBy Frank James FisherAdding a decorative design to your thrown pot while it’s still on the wheel is simple to do. What makes it even easier is that you can get all kinds of wooden profile tools for free or next to nothing at your local home center.

All About Throwing GaugesBy Bill JonesWhen you want to make a set of dishes, a little help may be needed. For centuries, potters have used pottery throwing gauges to make pots the same height and diameter. Here’s a look at couple of different types used in Eastern and Western potteries of all sizes.

Pottery Throwing ToolsA Guide to Making and Using Pottery Tools for Wheel ThrowingWhen it comes to throwing pottery on the wheel, having the right tools at the right time makes all the difference in the world. Whether you’re adding profiles, refining curves or just trimming and cutting your work from the wheel, pottery throwing tools make the difference. Here are a few pottery tools that you may already have, but if you don’t, take a look at the possibilities.


Clay is very responsive to the touch of a human hand or a tool held by the potter. A unique characteristic when working with clay is almost any type

of tool can aid in the formation of functional pottery or sculpture. The history of pottery and the design of the tools used to make pots are closely linked. Today’s pottery tools are very similar in form and function to the ones found in ancient archaeological sites.

It’s not unusual for beginning and advanced pot-ters to use the same tools. Fortunately, the basic low-cost mass-produced tools can be purchased in a kit. Most pottery tools don’t wear out, they simply get lost. In fact, it’s common for one set of tools to last years. A simple cleaning after use en-sures the tools will serve when needed. When you do have to replace them, individual tools are sold at ceramic supply stores, through online ceramic supply sites, and at many art supply stores.

Keep in mind that an individual tool may be designed for several different uses and that you might even find several new ways to use it.

How to Use the Pottery Tool Kit

The eight-piece pottery tool kit typically comes in a clear vinyl bag, and contains a synthetic sponge, wood rib, metal rib, needle tool, wood modeling tool, large loop trimming tool (originally this was a “pear corer”), ribbon tool, and cut-off wire. Prices for the kit vary among suppliers, and are typically less than buying the tools individually. Whether handbuilding or throwing, all the tools in the kit serve more than one purpose. The tools are listed in the order that they appear (from left to right) in the image above.

l Wood rib: The wood rib has a curved and flat surface used to smooth, shape, and compress moist clay, particularly when throwing. Made from smooth finished hardwood.

l Metal rib: A flexible steel scraper used for shap-ing, compressing or smoothing forms, and re-moving excess water from pots.

l Needle tool: The needle tool is used to cut off ex-cess clay on forms or to even the rim. The needle is also good for cutting slabs, poking holes, and scoring areas to be joined together, among its many other uses.

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by Jeff Zamek


A flexible metal rib can be used for shaping, smoothing, and removing excess water while throwing.

The wood modeling tool works well to remove excess clay prior to cutting the pot from the wheel or bat.

l Loop tool: Meant to be grasped by the hand, the large trimming tool’s wide blade is used to remove con-trolled amounts of clay while trimming or sculpting.

l Ribbon tool: The cutting heads on this tool are made from thin flat ribbon-like steel. The sharp cutting edges are used for both trimming and sculpting.

l Wood modeling tool: Used for trimming excess clay prior to cutting the pot from the wheel, and also for slicing, smoothing, contouring, and decorating.

l Cut-off wire: The cut-off wire is used to slice sections of clay from larger blocks, as well as for cutting pots from the bat or wheelhead.

l Sponge: In throwing, the sponge holds water to moisten surfaces during forming and also to remove excess water. Superior to cellulose sponges, which break down with use, synthetic sponges are durable and last a long time.

Jeff Zamek is a ceramic consultant living in Southampton, Massachu-setts. For more information, visit his website at www.fixpots.com.


Throwing Batsby Bill Jones

If you’ve ever damaged a freshly thrown piece moving it from the wheel, you know the value of a bat. This handy accessory not only helps preserve your creative efforts, but allows you to move large

or delicate pieces from your wheel to free it up for the next piece, and they also make it possible to return a piece to exact center to work on later. Because bats play such a critical role in ceramics, and so many pot-ters have different needs, it’s no wonder there are a lot to choose from.

Bat BasicsMost wheel manufacturers pre-drill wheelheads with bat-pin holes that hold 3/8-inch (or 10-mm) bat pins on 10-inch centers. Just about every bat maker pro-duces bats that fit this standard so your options are wide open. Bat pins are not necessary because you can stick bats on the wheel head with clay or slip, but bat pins allow you to quickly add and remove bats with ease.

Throwing bats can be made from most any rigid material but wood, wood composites, plastics, and

plaster are the most common. Except for plastic, these materials are all porous so your pots will release from them easily as they absorb water from the clay. If the material is not porous (e.g., plastic) you’ll need to wire off your work before it sets up too much or it will crack as it shrinks. Here’s a rundown of materials you’ll en-counter as you search for bats:

l Duron® (aka Masonite® or tempered hardboard) is a resin impregnated hardboard that’s water resistant and smooth on both sides.

l Medex® is a fiber board material made with a form-aldehyde-free adhesive that’s waterproof yet porous.

l Plastics of several different types are used for bats. These bats are nonporous and waterproof, so they require wiring off pots.

l Plywood is a durable bat material but must be ex-terior- or marine-grade to avoid delaminating. The more plys the better.

l Plaster is one of the traditional materials for bats and is one of the best as far as porosity. Hydro-Stone, a USG product containing cement and crystalline silica, is similar to plaster but 8 to 10 times stronger.

Bailey Baltic Birch bats feature 13 laminated layers of marine-grade hardwood. This wood is absorbent, won’t delaminate, and remains di-mensionally stable with regular use. Available from 12- to 29½-inches in diameter.See www.baileypottery.com.

Bat adapters are a way to use smaller throwing bats. The Adapt-a-Bat made by Amaco fits on a standard wheel head and has pins to accommodate 8- and 10-inch square or round bats.See www.amaco.com.

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Hydro-Bats are made from Hydro-Stone. Hard rubber grommets on 10-inch centers cast into the underside of each bat fit over ³/8-inch pins. Like all porous bats, pots don’t need to be wired off, they release as the bat absorbs water.See www.theceramicshop.com.

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The Versa-Bat System from Great Lakes Clay consists of a master bat with a 6-inch square opening on one side and an 8-inch opening on the other that hold square ³/8-inch thick Medex bats. The master bat fits most wheelheads with standard bat pins. See www.greatclay.com.

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WonderBats are made by Rocky Mountain Wood Masters from a high-density fiber material. The bats are slightly porous so work does not need to be wired off. Available in a variety of sizes, these bats feature a proprietary rubber grommet system that helps hold the bats in place. See www.rockymtnwoodmasters.com.

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Care and UseBats will last almost indefinitely if well maintained. For best results, sponge a little water onto dry, porous bats before use, but don’t let them become water logged. Scrape off clay before it dries to avoid creating a lot of dust, and store bats on edge to avoid trapping moisture.

Assessing Your NeedsThe number, sizes, and types of bats you’ll need depends on what type of work you’re doing. For public studios, long-lasting, inexpensive plastic bats are probably best because they can stand up to abuse. If you produce a lot of small items, check out the bat systems shown here with interchangeable 6-inch bats. Another thing to consider is storage. If you get only 12-inch bats, they take up a lot of room when throwing mugs or small items so that’s where 6-inch square bats would come in handy. Most ev-ery manufacturer makes a wide range of sizes so you can adjust your supply to the range of work you make. You should also remember that you do not need bat pins for

bats or a drilled wheel head. If you don’t, consider hav-ing it done because being able to move work to and from the wheel to the same centered position will make it pos-sible for you to try more techniques. If you can’t make a decision about which bats you’d like to try, purchase one bat of each material, which can usually be done from a single supplier. The company bigceramicstore.com of-fers a “Bat Pack” containing a selection of Speedball, Northstar, and Amaco bats of various sizes and materi-als. Whatever you do, make sure you have enough bats to carry you through a production cycle or a creative spurt—you won’t regret it.

Most ceramic supply stores carry a variety of bats and even the products shown here are available from many distributors. Before ordering, verify the make of your wheel and the pin size and location.

Thanks to Rocky Mountain WoodMasters, Bailey Pottery Sup-ply, Amaco/brent, The Ceramics Shop, and Great Lakes Clay for providing images.


How to Select and Use Throwing Ribs

by Bill Jones

Even though our fingers serve as our prima-ry throwing tools, there are times when a throwing rib does a better job. Ribs are a potter’s best friend when it comes to defin-

ing profiles, wringing out water or adding decorative touches. In the beginning, actual animal ribs were used for this purpose—and hence the name—but now contemporary ribs are commonly made from wood, metal, and plastic.

UsesThere are many functions that ribs perform, which is one of the reasons they’re so important. The most common uses for ribs are for manipulating profiles and removing throwing marks while compressing the clay and removing excess water. When throwing por-celain, it’s often best to use a rib on one side of a pot and a sponge on the other, or even to throw with two ribs. The rib provides support, especially when mak-ing large voluminous forms.

Because of the variety of shapes available, you can find a rib to suit any profile you wish to make. Using a rib for the inside profile of a bowl can assure a continu-ous line from the bottom through to the rim. And using the same profile repeatedly helps in making multiples for sets. Specialized ribs with notched profiles can also be used on the exteriors of pots to add a decorative touch or even shape and refine the foot and rim.

When throwing large forms, too much water in the clay is a problem once you have the preliminary shape completed. How many times have you tried to get that final shape only to have the form collapse? To prevent this, remove all the slurry water using a sharp-edged metal rib to ‘wring’ the excess water out. This increases your chances of success and prevents distorting or col-lapsing the form. It also provides a way to get sweeping curves on bowls and platters.

Bamboo Toolswww.bambootools.comBamboo tools have been used in Asia for centuries. Durable, flexible, and lightweight, bamboo can be shaped with a sharp knife and will hold an edge that stands up to heavy use. Bamboo Tools offers a vari-ety of curved, straight, and profile ribs.

Chinese Clay Art USAwww.chineseclayart.comChinese Clay Art produces a set of five wooden ribs with different profiles and a set of three different siz-es of rubber ribs. For the budget conscious or those looking to provide supplies in a classroom setting, these provide a perfect solution.

Kemper Tools www.kempertools.comKemper makes eight wooden rib profiles that include the basic shapes required for opening, shaping, curv-ing, smoothing, and trimming. Their flexible metal ribs are made for scraping, and a collection of rigid metal ribs can also be used as squeegees to remove excess water from pottery shapes.

MKM Pottery Toolswww.mkmpotterytools.comMKM makes a variety of ribs out of wood, steel, and coconut. In both the wood and steel series, there are 22 different profiles of varying sizes, each with a specific purpose or combination of uses. Their coco-nut shell ribs vary in size, shape, and thickness but are durable and comfortable to hold.

Mudtoolswww.mudtools.comDeveloped by Michael Sherrill, Mudtools are made from a silicone plastic material in six shapes and in four different hardnesses from very soft to very firm. The softest ribs can be used on rims like a chamois and the firmest are nearly as rigid as wood. Mudtools also produces six stainless steel ribs in an assortment of profiles.

Suppliers


TipsGetting the most out of using a rib is simple. While you can generally get by without using a rib for small bowls, medium to larger bowls really benefit from this tool. The best way to use the rib is to have the wheel rotating at medium to low speed (the bigger the piece, the lower the speed), work the rib up from the bottom of the bowl, curving the clay outward a little with each pass from the bottom to the top. With your right hand, always follow the position of the rib with gentle sponge or finger pres-sure on the outside of the bowl, supporting the clay. Con-tinue with successive passes until the bowl takes the shape you want.

Remember, when using a rib to shape a form, always hold it at an angle to the surface so it slides smoothly over the clay rather than scraping or cutting into it. After trim-ming, you can use ribs to eliminate trim tool marks, but you’ll need to be careful to hold the rib at an angle to pre-vent chattering and grog trails.

Metal ribs, while suitable for throwing, are commonly used in handbuilding for their ability to scrape clay and compress seams.

Getting SpecificAfter the first few weeks in pottery, you’ll want to look at having more ribs on hand than what came in the basic pottery tool kit you started with. If cost is a factor, you can find reasonably priced wood, rubber, and metal ribs that can serve your needs.

As you advance, you’ll find that specialty ribs for bowl interiors (from small to large and wide to steep), for mak-ing large or flanged plates and platters, defining corners, creating decorative profiles, and those designed to remove slip or trimming tool marks will make your work easier and expand your repertoire of forms.

A mixture of rigid and flexible ribs as well an assortment of metal, wood, and plastic ribs can also accommodate most any situation in both throwing and handbuilding. Luckily, even the most expensive ribs are affordable and will last a lifetime (or until lost or borrowed).


Exotic Wooden Pottery Tools

by Frank James Fisher

When artist Mike Kuhn began fashioning custom wood tools to improve his ce-ramic forms, little did he suspect where his explorations would lead him. An

experienced woodworker for more than 30 years, he is adept in the woodshop with the various equipment used to sculpt and smooth wood into shapes. But it was Kuhn’s knowledge of the virtues and limitations of specific woods that gave him the initiative to cre-ate his own versions of wooden throwing tools. Now he produces dozens of distinct styles of wood tools in exotic hardwoods for a rapidly expanding list of dedicated potters.

Kuhn’s approach to wooden throwing tools started by evaluating the wood species most often used in tool production. Most wooden pottery tools are made from common hardwoods. Unfortunately, grogged clay is extremely abrasive to the wood surface. “Most wooden tools are not designed for long term use. They are a consumable tool; when the tool wears down, you replace it,” explains Kuhn.

Kuhn knew of several tropical hardwoods with an extremely dense cell structure that would be nearly

impervious to wear. With some research and testing, he selected cocobolo (Dalbergia retusa), a Central American tropical rosewood. He selected it because of the beauty of the grain, the density of the wood, the natural oils that make it resistant to water, as well as its availability. The wood is highly valued and has been heavily exploited in the wild. Kuhn uses only wood acquired through commercial tree plantations. “Cocobolo is a beautiful wood. It’s hard as iron and it will sink rather than float in water,” stated Kuhn. Since cocobolo is part of the rosewood family, many other rosewood species also work well, including Be-lizean rosewood, Bolivian rosewood, and Madagascar rosewood. For a local hardwood, walnut, especially claro walnut, is a good choice, though it does not have the natural oils and can become waterlogged.

Selecting the perfect hardwood did not provide a com-plete solution. The choice created two new challenges. First, fabricating wood tools from a dense hardwood re-quires specialized equipment to cut and shape the wood. The standard wood working tools are not engineered for cutting extremely dense hardwoods. Saws, grinders, and sandpaper and other abrasives need to be upgraded

Selection of custom wood tools made from cocobolo.

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to handle them. Diamond-hard blades and grinding wheels are required.

The second challenge involved the oily sawdust. There are health concerns when working with exotic hardwoods. “You want to avoid breathing sawdust from any wood. But with cocobolo, there is even more of a concern. If inhaled or exposed to skin, the oils found in the cocobolo wood can cause allergic reac-tions. I wear a dust mask. I also keep my skin covered, including wearing gloves,” stated Kuhn, “The dust is a serious health risk. You need to take precautions and give it the proper respect.” Cocobolo is only a health risk during fabrication processes. The finished tool will not cause allergic reactions.

What makes cocobolo wear resistant? The wood grain is extremely tight and dense and permeated with natural oils. The oily surface repels water, so the wood grain does not soften or swell. The result is a water-proof finish that is strong enough to resist the gritty abrasive wear of grog. No additional finish needs to be applied. Although the oils do remain in the wood forever, sometimes after long, hard use, the thin layer of the outer surface can appear to dry out a bit. To bring back the original luster, lightly sand with a fine grit sandpaper to remove the dry surface, then buff it back to a shine.

Kuhn begins the tool making process with a coco-bolo block roughly cut to the final tool shape (figure

1). Then the wood is slowly ground using Kuhn’s ex-perienced eye to guide his movements on the grinder. There are no jigs or cutting templates. Each piece is hand formed through a series of grinding wheels—each with successively finer abrasive grit (figure 2). Once the wood tool has achieved its finished form, Kuhn begins the final stage on a rouge polishing wheel. Rouge buff-ing gives the natural oils an intense polishing, resulting in a finish similar to hand-polished furniture.

Kuhn believes his knowledge of ceramics gives him a special insight into tool design. “Because I use these tools daily, I know how I want a tool to perform,” reflected Kuhn.

Kuhn has explored the form and shape of the stan-dard wooden throwing rib. Additional gripping holes along the flat surfaces provide a secure indent to hold the tool against the pressure of spinning clay. Because cocobolo resists wear, Kuhn can create pointed tips that won’t grind away or break. “Cocobolo wood has opened a wide range of possibilities for me to explore. It has brought a new approach to my own art and I hope a positive experience to others,” said Kuhn.

Mike Kuhn can be contacted by email at: [email protected] or through www.barefootpotterytools.com.

Frank James Fisher is an artist, author, and educator living in Milford, Michigan. He can be reached through his website: www.frankjamesfisher.com.

Kuhn refines the tool’s edge with the grinding disk. Wear gloves as the dust can cause allergic reactions.

The upgraded blade on Kuhn’s band saw cuts a blank from a planed cocobolo wood plank.


Pottery Throwing Profile Tools

by Frank James Fisher

to carve perfect grooves into the clay. In fact, some of the nooks and crannies on the molding may not be mirrored successfully in clay since some details might be too deep to be captured. This can result in void areas in the band of grooves; however I don’t mind these, as I like the variation and space that results. Sometimes the slurry creates interesting ridges in these void areas, which adds design interest.

Second, the molding profiles are sometimes dramatic, with large bulbous curves. When the clay rim is pressed along the surface, the full rim is shaped to match these major curves. The grooves are not just cut into the clay surface, but the shape of the clay rim follows the curve of the profile. The resulting rim can then be gen-tly modified or exaggerated further depending on the desired effects.

The last advantage relates to clay thickness. Because the clay conforms to the molding profile, it does not need to be extra thick to accommodate deep recessed carving. When using a piece of molding, there will be thick and thin spots, but extra clay is not needed in the rim to compensate for the grooves. I throw a rim with an average thickness and let the clay follow the profile’s shape.

Creating GroovesBegin by centering, opening, and pulling the clay into a standard bowl form, either tall or wide and open. To create grooves in the rim of the bowl, begin by wetting the rim surface, (inside and outside), with a

I recently discovered several remnant pieces of wood molding from a past home remodeling project in my garage. I was especially intrigued by the con-cave and convex curves and ridges on the profile. It

sparked my curiosity. What if a clay bowl were grooved along the rim with this profile? I sliced off a small cross-section of molding with my miter saw and thirty minutes later I sat at the wheel reveling in the groovy designs left by my new toy.

Anyone who has wandered the aisles of a home im-provement center knows the range of molding styles and profiles is quite extensive. The store in my neigh-borhood allows customers to pre-cut their molding purchase at the store, so there’s a cart in the molding/trim aisle that has a saw and a basket to collect the scraps. After asking, I was allowed to keep any small scraps from their scrap bin. My collection of molding tools quickly grew to a half dozen interesting profiles (figure 1). After a little experimenting, the different profiles brought a nice design feature into my work. The complex groove pattern complements the soft spi-ral I like to create in the basin of bowls and platters.

Ready-made Advantages Several tool manufacturers produce a wonderful array of wood and metal profile tools for use with clay. But there are three interesting sculpting advantages that a scrap of molding can provide. First, the varied sizes of the ridges and the concave and convex curves of the profile can be very extreme. The molding is not made

Grooved deep bowl, 10 in. (25 cm) in diameter, stoneware, fired to cone 10 in reduction.


A cross-section shows the depth of the ridges made by the molding.

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A selection of molding profiles suit-able for use as ribs.

Press the molding into the rim while supporting the outside.

Smooth, round, and tilt the rim edge with a chamois.

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damp sponge. Select a piece of wood molding that aesthetically fits the rim and determine which will be the top or bottom of the profile. Wet the wood molding profile and position it against the rim as the wheel slowly spins. Place your other hand under the rim on the outside surface (figure 2). This hand will support the clay as the wood molding is pressed down. Your fingers can also press the clay into the void areas of the molding. It is not critical that the entire rim come in contact with the full surface of the profile. The major ridges and high points will leave a groove. The result is a clay rim with a roughly uniform thickness. As the molding is pressed against the clay, the rim may also be tilted out and down or stretched outward to slightly open-up the bowl. If the ridges are too sharp or there are globs of slurry to clean away, use a sponge and smooth out the surface as the wheel rotates.

Clean and round the rim edge with a chamois. Create a shallow recessed slot with the chamois between your fingertips. Gently pinch and compress the clay on the rim edge. The edge of the rim is bent further downward in the same motion (figure 3). A cross-section shows the angle of the rim as well as the depth of the grooves made in the rim by the profile tool (figure 4). The angle created compensates for the upward curl of the rim as the clay dries and shrinks. The thrown bowl is wired free from the bat and trimmed as desired.


All About Throwing Gaugesby Bill Jones

More than likely you’ll get to the point where you’d like to throw multiples of an object. Getting work to look the same when mak-ing more than one of an item takes a bit of

practice because it’s not as easy as it looks! To help as-sure you’ll get some sort of consistency on your next set of mugs or bowls, you need a throwing gauge—a way of keeping track of the measurements from the first piece to the last. There are several options for throwing gauges based on designs from both eastern and western cul-tures, as well as ad hoc solutions that use items around your studio.

The Western Pot GaugeProduction potters in Europe and America have used throwing gauges for centuries. These usually consist of an adjustable arm on a metal or wooden stand. The arm adjusts in and out as well as up and down for both diam-eter and height measurements. An example of the West-ern pot gauge is the Fulwood Measure (figure 1), which features a hinged pointer that breaks away when the clay touches it. Another variation, though not as fully adjust-able, can be made from a wood block base drilled at in-tervals with holes that dowels can slip through. Several dowels can be used at the same time for more complex forms (figure 2).

The Japanese GaugeThe Japanese developed a throwing gauge for making duplicates that measures the inside dimensions of a form,

unlike the Western gauges mentioned above, which mea-sure the outside dimensions. The tombo (which means dragonfly in Japanese) works well for throwing matching cups, mugs, and bowls. Shaped like a lowercase “t,” it consists of a thin vertical piece of wood or bamboo that has a small hole or holes bored through it to accept a stick or dowel. The tombo is held by the top of the ver-tical stick. The length of the horizontal stick represents the diameter and the vertical length below this stick mea-sures the depth of a vessel. The disadvantage of tombos is that they’re not readily adjustable. On the other hand, they are relatively inexpensive (and even easy to make), so potters usually have several tombos in their collection. Another advantage is that tombos can be used for throw-ing off the hump.

ImprovisedIf you’re just throwing a set or two, you can get by with an improvised tool. When height is not a factor, calipers, a ruler or a marked dowel work well enough to get plates and platters to the same diameter. If height is a factor, as when you’re making cups, mugs, and bowls, you’ll need to take an additional measurement and keep track. You can improvise a basic throwing gauge that works for both height and width or throw a piece that you want to duplicate, then set a lump of clay that’s taller than your piece on the wheel worktable and stick a dowel sideways through the clay, so it is perpendicular to your wheel-head at just the right height. Position the dowel so it just touches the rim of the piece you threw.

The Fulwood Measure from Kissimmee River Pottery (www.kissimmeeriverpottery.com) is an example of a Western pot gauge. When the rim meets the hinged pointer, it folds out of the way.

The tombo measures the inside depth and width of a form. Two sources of tombos are Bamboo Tools (www.bambootools.com) and Chris Henley (inset) at http://hominid.net/toolpage2.htm.


Documents

pottery throwing tools - Chaparral Ceramics...Stone. Hard rubber grommets on 10-inch centers cast into the underside of each bat fit over ³/ 8-inch pins. Like all porous bats, pots