Dean on wed 27 aug 08
Aloha all: I made my wedging/drying tables out of concrete and have never been sorry. One bag of Quickcrete will make a useful sized table. Cast it in a form on a smooth surface, put legs on it and flip it over. I've been using my current ones daily for 15 years, wedging, drying & scraping clean with 6" steel putty knives (don't try this with plaster!) in the last year there's been a little deterioration in one of them but not bad enough to compel me to make another (if I lost any work, I would, but the particles that are coming off are sand-like and integrate with my stoneware clay body without a problem.) If you cast it on something with a mild texture, like rough sawn wood, you can have a easy source of textured slabs too. Plaster is a bad choice for wedging tables, too fragile IMHO.
Buried in orders in paradise
Dean
lightwavepottery.com
gayle bair on wed 27 aug 08
I've been using 1/4" thick Hardiebacker for about 8 years now. I have
limited space so my wedging table is a piece of hardiebacker clamped
to a very old computer printer stand which is a perfect height for me.
Still taking a lickin' and keeps on tickin'!
http://www.jameshardie.com/homeowner/backerboard.shtml#
http://www.jameshardie.com/homeowner/products_backerboard_halfInch.shtml?openTab=jsnavLink0
It makes great ware boards too. Score and snap to size & takes up a
fraction of space of dry wall or wood.
Gayle Bair -usual disclaimer
Bainbridge Island WA
Tucson AZ
gayle@claybair.com
www.claybair.com
On Aug 27, 2008, at 9:07 AM, Dean wrote:
> Aloha all: I made my wedging/drying tables out of concrete and have
> never been sorry. One bag of Quickcrete will make a useful sized
> table. Cast it in a form on a smooth surface, put legs on it and
> flip it over. I've been using my current ones daily for 15 years,
> wedging, drying & scraping clean with 6" steel putty knives (don't
> try this with plaster!) in the last year there's been a little
> deterioration in one of them but not bad enough to compel me to make
> another (if I lost any work, I would, but the particles that are
> coming off are sand-like and integrate with my stoneware clay body
> without a problem.) If you cast it on something with a mild texture,
> like rough sawn wood, you can have a easy source of textured slabs
> too. Plaster is a bad choice for wedging tables, too fragile IMHO.
>
> Buried in orders in paradise
> Dean
> lightwavepottery.com
Jeff Longtin on wed 27 aug 08
I'll offer this gang,
most people don't realize but there is a huge assortment of plasters and
cements in this world. Plaster of Paris and Pottery Plaster #1 are not the best
for wedging tables as they chip and deteriorate easily. Hydrocal, from USG,
is a harder version of plaster which is good for wedging tables. (It is also
used to make ram press molds.)
Ultracal, again from USG, is a form of cement, gypsum cement actually, which
is similar to concrete but with a denser grain.
plasterjfl
In a message dated 8/27/2008 1:16:20 P.M. Central Daylight Time,
mangodean@YAHOO.COM writes:
Aloha all: I made my wedging/drying tables out of concrete and have never
been sorry. One bag of Quickcrete will make a useful sized table. Cast it in a
form on a smooth surface, put legs on it and flip it over. I've been using my
current ones daily for 15 years, wedging, drying & scraping clean with 6"
steel putty knives (don't try this with plaster!) in the last year there's
been a little deterioration in one of them but not bad enough to compel me to
make another (if I lost any work, I would, but the particles that are coming
off are sand-like and integrate with my stoneware clay body without a problem.)
If you cast it on something with a mild texture, like rough sawn wood, you
can have a easy source of textured slabs too. Plaster is a bad choice for
wedging tables, too fragile IMHO.
Buried in orders in paradise
Dean
lightwavepottery.com
**************It's only a deal if it's where you want to go. Find your travel
deal here.
(http://information.travel.aol.com/deals?ncid=aoltrv00050000000047)
Steve Mills on thu 28 aug 08
Having had to dump a load of clay twice in the past (800Kgs once, & 1000Kgs a year later) because of plaster contamination I never have it in my workshop, period!
I have used cast paving slabs very successfully as wedging benches, in fact in some ways they're better than my current one which is a large slab of Slate, because as Dean says you can scrape it clean with almost anything, and NOT create problems.
You can't do that with Slate or Plaster.
Steve
Bath
UK
In a message dated 8/27/2008 1:16:20 P.M. Central Daylight Time,
mangodean@YAHOO.COM writes:
Aloha all: I made my wedging/drying tables out of concrete and have never
been sorry. One bag of Quickcrete will make a useful sized table. Cast it in a
form on a smooth surface, put legs on it and flip it over. I've been using
my
current ones daily for 15 years, wedging, drying & scraping clean with
6"
steel putty knives (don't try this with plaster!) in the last year
there's
been a little deterioration in one of them but not bad enough to compel me to
make another (if I lost any work, I would, but the particles that are coming
off are sand-like and integrate with my stoneware clay body without a
problem.)
If you cast it on something with a mild texture, like rough sawn wood, you
can have a easy source of textured slabs too. Plaster is a bad choice for
wedging tables, too fragile IMHO.
Buried in orders in paradise
Dean
lightwavepottery.com
**************It's only a deal if it's where you want to go. Find your
travel
deal here.
(http://information.travel.aol.com/deals?ncid=aoltrv00050000000047)
The Fuzzy Chef on thu 28 aug 08
Steve,
But doesn't clay stick to concrete? I thought the idea of a wedging
table was to have something which was absorbent and didn't stick.
--Josh
Taylor Hendrix on thu 28 aug 08
As long as you are not tryin to wedge onto a polished concrete surface
you should be alright. Most all concretes have at least a bit of
absorbency. I used some left over concrete to make a small wedging
surface and it did quite well. The concrete was poured onto a plastic
bag and that side tended to be too slick for good wedging, but the
other side did very well. I didn't tool it at all, just let it set up
after a quick float to settle any large aggregate.
Peace out tool makers!
Taylor, in Rockport TX
On Thu, Aug 28, 2008 at 1:10 PM, The Fuzzy Chef wrote:
> Steve,
>
> But doesn't clay stick to concrete? I thought the idea of a wedging
> table was to have something which was absorbent and didn't stick.
>
> --Josh
Steve Mills on thu 28 aug 08
Josh,
No. If a paving slab wasn't absorbent, it would be like walking on ice!
Steve
Bath
UK
--- On Thu, 8/28/08, The Fuzzy Chef wrote:
From: The Fuzzy Chef
Subject: Re: Making a Plaster Table-try concrete
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Date: Thursday, August 28, 2008, 7:10 PM
Steve,
But doesn't clay stick to concrete? I thought the idea of a wedging
table was to have something which was absorbent and didn't stick.
--Josh
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