mel jacobson on mon 28 oct 02
if you have a pug mill, use the damn thing.
if you are so fussy that a bit of rust will get into your clay, well
throw the damn thing away, buy all fresh boxed clay and throw away
the scrap.
you cannot have it both ways.
it would be best to make a line of pots that
use pugged clay. something that does not
need `fuss budget` clay. then use boxed pure
clay for another series.
i re/do my clay in a pug mill, add rust. never have to
worry about it.
i love to mix porcelain with stoneware, add rust, pug the
hell out of it. god, can you believe it, speckled porcelain.
(that will make some folks nervous all day. well, good.)
why have a two thousand or more dollar machine and make yourself
suffer over a bit of rust or slag. make it a part of the process.
leave the thing full of scrap clay...close it up. let the clay age
in there. my pug mill has never been cleaned or empty...30 years
now. i washed my wheel once, man, never do that again. could
not throw on it for a week...too scarey.
come to grips with what a machine is used for.
it pugs clay, it is made of steel, steel rusts. figure it out.
mel
From:
Minnetonka, Minnesota, U.S.A.
web site: my.pclink.com/~melpots
or try: http://www.pclink.com/melpots
DEBBYGrant@AOL.COM on mon 28 oct 02
I bought my Bluebird pugmill over 25 years ago so I guess it's one ot their
earliest models. After a while I opened it up to clean out the barrel, and
yes, I found some rust. At the time I had a friend who was in the anodizing
business so I brought the barrel to him and he dipped into the anodizing vat
for me. Since then, and it must be at least 20 years, I have never opened
it up again. There probably is some rust again but the layer of clay which
is perpetually in the barrel keeps my pugs relatively clean.
At the school where I used to teach we bought a second hand Bluebird,
one of the bigger models, which may even have been older than mine
because it began to develop holes in the barrel. I patched those holes
with epoxy and we got some more good years out of the machine.
I use my pugmill mainly for tan stoneware but occasionally add some
white stoneware when I am doing a run with white. I don't however add
porcelain because I find the shrinkage to be so different so I am still
wedging
pordelain by hand.
Debby Grant in NH
Lee Burningham on mon 28 oct 02
Howdy,
Have had several pugmills and wish I still had the old steel barrel with
rusty bits coming out in the clay. Made beautiful little burnouts in my
^10 firings, added random colors and spots to pots. Nothing hurt, just
improvised/improved by happy accidents.
"if you have a pug mill, use the damn thing."
Have a separate pugmill, stainless steel for porcelain if I want to keep it
"clean." Figure out your priorities and then make it happen. Don't waste
time worrying about inconsequentialities.
Lee Burningham
Michael Wendt on tue 29 oct 02
If rust is a problem, you can clad the inside of machines with 16 gauge
stainless steel. Disassemble the machine. Sand blast any areas that will be
welded and have the local metal fabrication shop make the shapes needed to
fit. Then carefully weld the liner in in small short runs with cool downs
between welds. One big run can warp the barrel and you may not get it back
together. Follow this advice at your own risk since you are the one who has
to decide if it will work in your situation.16 gauge stainless will last for
years and poses little danger of flaking. No coating including chrome
plating will stay on the inside reliably.
Regards,
Michael Wendt wendtpot@lewiston.com
Wendt Pottery
2729 Clearwater Avenue
Lewiston, Idaho 83501
1-208-746-3724
wendtpottery.com
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