Paul Borian on thu 22 oct 09
i threw most of my hardiboard bats out at the start of this year and
replaced them with wood ones (made in china birch from Lowes). If i could
do it again i would buy the higher quality birch from a regular supplier
rather than the china stuff but it still works.
i used the hardiboard for a few years for plates, small platters, etc. They
were very abrasive on the hands when throwing lots of them; they were quite
heavy; when they were dry they sucked water out of the clay so fast that i
had to cut them with a wire right off the wheel but when they were wet the
same pot would take days until you could remove it. I didn't care much for
that kind of variance. Eventually many of them cracked and also started
flaking off along the edges. Depending on how dry they were when used they
could cause pots to crack and warp severely.
looking back i think i wasted a lot of time on them even though they were
so cheap. If i had to do it again i would have gone to a real lumber
supplier and bought the most expensive 3/4" birch or whatever they had and
made bats that would last forever.
BTW i have thrown hundreds of pots on the new wood bats i made earlier this
year with nearly zero cracks.
just my experience.
Paul
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Taylor Hendrix
Date: Oct 22, 2009 11:42am
Subject: Re: Hardiboard bats
To: Clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
CC:
> Randall and others,
> I have found that blades for metal last quite awhile, but the best for
> the job are those blades used for ceramic tile. For some reason the
> cheaper store brands last longer than the higher priced ones. Get
> medium or rough grit if you have a choice.
> And Hardi does for sure tell you to use dusk protection.
> Taylor, in Rockport TX
> wirerabbit1 on Skype (-0600 UTC)
> http://wirerabbit.blogspot.com
> http://wirerabbitpots.blogspot.com
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/wirerabbit/
> On Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 8:57 AM, Randall Moody randall.moody@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > I have cut about 8 Hardiboard bats for the Art Center. My
> recommendations,
> > if you want to do this, are:
> >
> > 1) do it outside (DUST!!!)
> > 2) wear a good mask (same as above)
> > 3) don't bother with the diamond or expensive blades for the jigsaw.
> They
> > cost more and you can get two regular blades for $1.99 at most big box
> > stores. I got about 2.5 bats per blade. Regular blades seemed to work
> well.
> > 6 to 8 teeth per inch.
> > 4) I used the scraps for ware boards. (~8"x8")
> > 5) did I mention DUST!
> >
> > I used my removable wheel head as a template which made things much
> easier
> > for marking where the holes were to go. I will let everyone know what
> the
> > opinions are on the use. I am hoping that they work much like a plaster
> bat.
> >
> >
> > --
> > Randall in Atlanta
> >
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