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wedging tables

updated fri 27 apr 07

 

Mark Issenberg on thu 11 dec 97

Hi Clayarters: I use to teach in a place in Miami called the Ceramic
League of Miami. Years ago they made a wedging table with concrete as
the top. It works pretty good. It doesn't dry clay very well, tho.
But, with lots of students starting at 4 years old and up, there's no
plaster to deal with. One of my private students told me she had a old
table and she was going to cut the legs off and use it for a w. table,
anyway, when I saw it was, I traded her a wedging table. She was going
to cut the legs off a beautiful maple wood block table. The top is 4 "
thick of maple. So, I suggest that person who has that beautiful piece
of wood, please don't use it for a w. table. Worse comes to worse, go to
home depot or builders square and get a concrete slab.

Also, I still have an Alpine 24 kiln for sale. Make offer. We are
packing our stuff in preparation for selling our house.

Mark in
Miami


Mark Bolton on thu 18 dec 97

what I have done for wedging table surfaces is to call local pool table
manufacturers and installers and often times they will have broken pool table
sections (slate) usually 1" thick that they have a hard time getting rid of,...
I have made all my tables from this slate....
Mark Bolton....

Stephen Mills on sun 21 dec 97

This stuff is seriously THE best as work/wedging bench material,
slightly absorbant and very tough. Like Mark my benches are all slate,
and most from the same source.
Steve
Bath
UK


"It's clay Jim, but not as we know it" :-)


In message , Mark Bolton writes
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>what I have done for wedging table surfaces is to call local pool table
>manufacturers and installers and often times they will have broken pool table
>sections (slate) usually 1" thick that they have a hard time getting rid of,...
>I have made all my tables from this slate....
>Mark Bolton....
>

--
Steve Mills
Bath
UK
home tel: (44) (0)1225 311699
work tel: (44) (0)1225 337046

Malone & Dean McRaine on tue 6 apr 99

Aloha all:
I have been using cement wedging tables for years and I think they're much
superior to plaster. They don't wear at all, ever, are not fragile and will
not lose little chips into the clay over the years. They're absorbent
though not quite as much as plaster. You can clean them with steel tools
like wire brushes and drywall scrapers without damaging them. Make one the
same way you would with plaster only use a bag of 'qwick-crete'. It's a
standard mix of concrete and aggregate sold in lumber yards. If you want a
really smooth surface set your frame on a piece of glass upside down. I
like some texture so I poured mine right side up and just smoothed it with a
straight stick. I get some nice textures in slabs that I roll out on the
table, looks like stone.
Dean in Kauai, the surf is 12' and perfect, what more can I say.

Joseph Herbert on tue 25 jul 00


MR. Rogers wrote:

>philrogers

>Subject: Re: wedging table.

>"DON'T use plaster for a wedging table!! Keep plaster out of the workshop
unless you have a very good reason to use it.
>You will regret it as soon as the first little piece ruins a perfectly good
pot.
>If there is nothing else to hand ( I use a huge slab of Welsh slate) use a
concrete paving slab layed on cinder block and cemented into place. Quicker,
easier, perfectly practical and safe."

>Phil Rogers.

This Mr. Rogers neighborhood is in Wales which has more slate and singing
than many places, leading to his suggestion of the local material. I
heartily agree with the concrete idea and would add this. If you purchase a
paving slab of some large size or if you cast a concrete wedging chunk
yourself, keep the aggregate size small. If you are casting it, by sand mix
or some mortar product with very fine aggregate in it. If you are dealing
with an already cast product, there is a product called "Thin Set Grout"
intended for tile work that will fill the low places in a cast piece and
make a very smooth surface, if properly finished.

To get a smooth surface, follow the mixing instructions on the container or
bag. Finish the surface with a STEEL FLOAT. Unless you enjoy grinding,
the surface you leave on the concrete when you level and smooth it will be
the on you look at and touch for a long, long time.

As a general rule of concrete work, less water is better. Always. Use as
little as possible to achieve the result. Concrete or mortar is NOT
supposed to flow. It is placed with a shovel or trowel. When you place
some it should hold its shape until you move it. No flow. Smoothed with a
steel tool. A reason that concrete wedging slabs are often rough is the
material was mixed too wet and the finishing process drew lots of water to
the surface. The very wet surface layer is very weak and leaves over time.
Under it the less wet concrete is strong and stays but with that surface
gone, is rough.

Concrete thoughts from an Abstract guy.

Joseph Herbert

Larry Gustafson on tue 16 jan 01


Any suggestions for wedging table design for classroom use? My students =
are many different sizes.

Jeani Gustafson

iandol on tue 16 jan 01


Thanks Vince,
Having had to learn 'Strine, that antipodean variant of the Kings =
English I was taught at Grammar School I am coming to terms with the =
Trans Atlantic variations of the language thorough contact with your =
good self and others.
I asked for clarification because, though I have never used one, I have =
seen illustrations of clay preparation tables with the taut wire =
stretching from a post at an angle of forty five degrees. Being a long =
time user of the strand between the hands, lift, turn and slam way of =
homogenising rough clay, I have often wondered about the technique and =
efficiency of using this tool. I would be pleased if you could enlighten =
me.
Best regards,
Ivor

JODO96@AOL.COM on wed 17 jan 01


Why not have 2 wedging tables of different heights and then build a riser out
out 2x4 and plyboard to make a box that would accommodate a person standing.
Then move it to the table for use.

Dorothy Weber
Manakin-Sabot, Va.

michael wendt on wed 17 jan 01


Ivor,
I know you didn't ask me but I do wire wedge despite the fact that I have
both a pugmill and a deairing batch mixer. My method is very simple and fast
and I can wedge virtually any size piece I can lift.
Details below:

1. Weigh out the piece of clay for the size of the pot you want.
2. Place it on the table in front of you.
3. Grasp it with both hands and pick it up to slice it in half stroking
through the taut wire.
4. My wire is on the left so my left hand continues the motion behind the
wire until the piece is back on the table with the cut now parallel to the
front edge of the table.
5. Pick up the piece closest to you and slam it directly on top of the piece
behind to create a new solid block with two layers parallel to the table
surface.
6. Roll the piece over so that the table surface is up and do a second slam
to produce a uniform block.
7. Repeat this action of doubling the number of layers at least 25 times
(2^25 = 33 554 432 layers are produced this way), or more if amore uniform
mix is needed. It usually takes me 45 seconds to 1 minute to wedge a piece
this way without any wrist strain as one would get from kneading.
8. When you place the clay on the wheel head select the best of the two
table top surfaces to contact the wheel head. The laminations are planar to
the wheel head and if you read "Ceramic Science For the Potter" you will
observe that Lawrence deals with edge versus cross laminar shrinkage rates.
This is how I came up with this approach.
Things like "S" cracks no longer happen with this method.
NOTE: be careful not to indent fingers into the mating surfaces as that will
introduce air bubbles very nicely into the body!
Long winded, I know, but it really works well,
Regards,
Michael Wendt, wendtpot@lewiston.com

Cindy Strnad on wed 17 jan 01


Hello, Ivor

I can only tell you my own experience, but the taut wire has been very
useful to me. In your own parlance, I would wedge, and then knead if the
clay was in need of more homogenization than usual--if I was re-claiming,
usually. Now that I have my mixer/pug mill, I may knead clay for large pots,
but I never wedge. I do use the wire, however, to cut uniform lengths of
pugged clay. Much nicer to use than a fettling knife for this purpose.

Cindy Strnad
Earthen Vessels Pottery
RR 1, Box 51
Custer, SD 57730
USA
earthenv@gwtc.net
http://www.earthenvesselssd.com

Richard J Mahaffey on tue 20 jan 04


Some thoughts on wedging tables that I have seen.

In China and Japan I have seen wooden wedging tables. In my friend's
studio he uses a thick (perhaps 2" (5 cm)) piece of Kiri wood. It
works very well. He never wedges to dry out his clay. He controls
the water content in other ways. In China in a Ming era studio the
wedging table sloped away from the wedger at about 15 degrees from
horizontal. It looked like it worked well and I wanted to try it, but
did not have the time or the translator around so that I could.

In our studio at Tacoma Community College we use (GASP!) three plaster
tables. We mixed the plaster with about 25% Gypsum Cement which is a
lot harder and a bit less absorbent. We also use (DOUBLE GASP!!)
paster bats. Oddly enough we do not get much in the way of plaster in
our recycled clay. Go figure. I teach my students to clean the
wedging tables with a sponge and water. The Night class teacher says
never clean with water. Always scrape the table. We have plastic
taping knives (wide putty knives) to clean the tables. We do not make
a huge deal about plaster getting into the clay other than the talk
about what it does to a piece when fired. Sometimes I feel if you
make a huge deal out of something then it becomes a huge deal for you
in a bad way.

In one production studio that I worked at they had a plaster table with
a heat tape buried in the table. This is the type that is use to keep
pipes warm or in gardens for early planting in cold areas. It was used
to dry out the table initially and then used to dry recycled clay. Put
the too-soft clay on it, plug it in and in the morning it is wedge-able.

YMMV,

Rick Mahaffey
Tacoma, Washington, USA

Lili Krakowski on wed 25 apr 07


Pottery Making Illustrated, summer 1998, p 28 (and I think a few more) had
article by me on wedging tables and boards.

Very good wedging tables fall into two categories.

1. A box on strong legs. The box is filled with concrete or plaster, or it
can be filled with solid brick laid sidewise. The last will work well for
dark clays and red earthenware.

The box is built of 2" x 6" lag bolted together and lag bolted to 4" x 4",
with half-lapped connecting boards at bottom of legs. A piece of 3/4"
outdoor plywood is the bottom of the box--and rests on the top of the 4"x4".

2. A similar box can be given a plywood top so that it is a true box. Clay
is stored IN the box whose bottom board has a few holes for ventilation.
Unless this box is kept full of clay bags it will tend to skeddadle as one
wedges. So attaching it to the floor is a good idea. Cover the lid with
canvas.

THE HEIGHT OF THE TABLE IS ALL IMPORTANT! Standing on the floor in your
wedging stance, wearing the shoes you normally wear hold your arms down at
your sides and lift your hand up as far as you can (as though resting your
palm on a table top.) DO NOT bend your elbows, hunch your shoulders, stand
on tiptoes, arch your back. Just stand still. Get someone to measure from
the floor to your palm. Bingo! The proper height for your table.

For a group of people, build the table for the TALLEST. Built 18" x 18"
"wedging platforms" our of 2 x 4 and 4 x4 for us shortuns to stand on.

Failing all that. Cover 24 x 30 or so pieces of 2/4" outdoor plywood with
canvas. Secure the canvas with lath and brass screws on the BOTTOM side.
Kneel to wedge...resting your knees on a pillow, rolled up toweling, or a
piece of foam. Wedging that way...kneeling on the floor...is what I have
found the easiest on my back. In a classroom several such boards take no
space to store, and allows a bunch of people to wedge at the same time.
DRAWBACK: if the floor is dirty and dusty, dirt and dust will be stirred up.


Lili Krakowski
Be of good courage

Taylor Hendrix on wed 25 apr 07


Mama Lili,

I have just finished building me a new wedging station. Here is what I did.

I has some used chip board that a friend gave me. She had used it for
covering her windows in huricane season. Not the greatest of ideas.

I used that wood to make a four sided box some 6 feet long and about
24 inches deep. The height was about 27 inches which makes the
finished height just about palm height for me. I took the time to
reinforce the top four edges and the four vertical corners with 2by4s.
This gave me screw and nailing surfaces for joining everything.
Because I am always on the look out for cheap (free) materials I just
happened to have a solid core door which I used for the top. This
entire set up is very very sturdy and if I cut holes in the front and
hang doors I will have extra clay storage. I have already strung my
solid cutoff wire and it makes a nice twang.

This is going to save my wrists for sure because now I have the room
to wedge up clay that will not kick my butt when I try to center it.
Plenty of space for slam wedging the hard stuff into some softer
stuff. Tomorrow I do some lidded forms for Marsha's 40 birthday. Going
to have a local potter do her signature underglaze stuff on it for me.

I can post pictures if someone wants to see what I mean.

Taylor, in Rockport TX

On 4/25/07, Lili Krakowski wrote:
> Pottery Making Illustrated, summer 1998, p 28 (and I think a few more) had
> article by me on wedging tables and boards.
>
...

Paul Vernier on thu 26 apr 07


I also just finished a wedging table. As I work in both stoneware and
porcelain I found I was always going elsewhere to wedge the porcelain.
Didn't want to contaminate the clay with iron. So, I modified the top. I use
three different sheets of Hardiboard cut to the same size that fit stacked
on the top. They are held in place by a frame at the edges of the table that is
just high enough to hold the sheets in place. Via a slot at the edge of the
table, I can lift the top sheet and slide out the sheet for the clay I am
wedging. Simple and works well.

Paul, the emerging lurker

Taylor Hendrix on thu 26 apr 07


Quick pictures are now blogged of the pretty-much-free wedging table.
Notice my permanent cutoff wire. I forgot to mention that in the blog.
Will correct that oversight. Mama Lili would be proud 'cause it's all
dumpster filler save the 2x4s.

I took the step of screwing the table to the studs of the back and
side walls. Nothing more annoying to me than a wobbly wedging table.

P.S. That broom in the first shot was there by accident. I would never
use a broom in my clay garagio. No, not me.

--
Taylor, in Rockport TX
http://wirerabbit.blogspot.com
http://wirerabbitpots.blogspot.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wirerabbit/