claybair on mon 27 oct 03
Steve,
Here's a few of my batty solutions:
Sometimes I wedge 3 (or more) balls of clay around the bat
as I would when anchoring a pot for trimming.
I also have put soft clay on the pins before putting
the bat in place and squish it down.
Gayle Bair
Bainbridge Island, WA
http://claybair.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Slatin
I'm not accustomed to using bats. As a student, I usually
made small stuff, and if I wanted to do something big I'd
close out my throwing with one big item, and leave it on the
wheel head to "set up" while I cleaned my workspace, did
glazing, etc. I'd pull it off at the end of class and it
wouldn't deform too badly.
I'm throwing more seriously now, and can't afford to leave
my wheel for an hour to let the clay stiffen up a bit. I
got a bunch of CI plastic bats, and they're fine as long as
I'm making small stuff (when I don't need them). What I find
is on the bigger pieces while centering the clay on the "down"
gesture and again if I pull straight back to open up a flat-
bottomed cylinder, I get a sort of chatter from the bat and end
up a bit off center.
After some tinkering, I was able to run the problem down to the fit
between the bat pins and the holes that accommodate the bat pins
on the plastic bats. I tried putting a dab of fairly stiff clay
on the wheel head, 90 degrees away from the bat pins, about as far
out from the center as the pins, and it helped a bit, but not much.
I was thinking of making the fit tighter with a rubber band or two
draped over the bat pins before insertion of the bat, but don't want
to crack the plastic that fits over the pins.
Has anyone else experienced this problem? How did you fix it?
Thanks -- Steve S
Kathie Wheater on tue 28 oct 03
>I use masonite bats and a couple of
>heavier bats made of pressed wood fiber. (Can somebody remember what that's
>called?)
HYDRABATS???
I got mine at Continental Clay. I'm sure other places carry them. They are comparably
priced to masonite bats but oh so much nicer.
KathieW
Got my bats under control and
I get to be the witch and Emma gets to be the cat this year!!!
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