: Claypple - Viewing Profile

There were many posts through the forum asking which wheel to buy or talking of which wheel is better.
Not arguing with anybody, but sharing some information that I have from my personal experience (I have both wheels).

Thomas-Stuart has a rock-solid stamina, but needs shimming if not on the horizontal surface.
Clay Boss has adjustable legs, so I do not have to shim it and can expand the legs, and it feels pretty steady too (it has a sturdy steel frame)
(I am not talking about the "Artista" here!)

Both have industrial type motor (my Clay Boss is 1/2 hp, my Thomas-Stuart is 1/3 hp)
Both have 5 years warranty.

I like them both, but when I trim, I prefer the Clay Boss: it has a steel wheel head, and it makes all the difference in the world, as I can use magnets to keep the vessel on the wheel when I trim the foot, etc.

Both have the same size of the table and the wheel, both can handle large amount of clay body.

And guess what? You can buy the Boss Clay for $599, but the cheapest Thomas-Stuart I saw was $979.

If I sound like I am advertising, then I am! :-)
Unless you are a professional potter, I see no reason to pay more for a wheel than what the Boss Clay costs. Great wheel!

If you live in the states like Arizona, Nevada, some parts of Texas, chances are you deal with drought most of the year.
If washing your car or leaving a house without an umbrella could work in some places, it is definitely useless in a high desert areas.

But now we found a solution for you that works in 100% of cases!
All you have to do is to leave your drying, freshly made pots, mugs, and plates outside under the burning sun without any protection from the sky.
Choose the most hot day when there is not a cloud on the sky and leave your house.
Drive as far as 30 min away from your home and come back to watch your garden enjoying the fresh rain, soil sucking up those streams of the running water, combining together right where you left your pots. .... Pots? Hmmm ... Am I posting it at the wrong forum? ...sorry!

I keep thinking of an article in Ceramic Monthly of March 2013 written about Scott Cooper.
He had a dream of being a full-time potter and finally fulfilled it. Unfortunately, the things didn't go as planned, the income was unsteady,
and 18 months later he made the choice to reverse his dream and return back to his previous occupation.

This is what he writes about life after he killed his dream:
"Life without it isn't so bad; in fact, it's pretty good. I only get to spend half my working life in the studio, but that time is much freer to do what I want.
I get to make the pots I really want to make, in the ways I want to make them. I can slow down when I need to, and can take more chances while worrying less about their outcome."

I think there ARE two different words out there: the professional potters and people who just do it because they cannot live without it.
Which world do you belong to?

Why do all new kilns require reprogramming? I mean the cone offsetting?
I was glazing at ^6 on a new kiln and had a big over-firing (it went up to cone 7 instead).
I checked the temperature and found the glazing at ^6 was programmed to go up to 2238F instead of 2199F as the manual suggested.

Yes, I know, the Temperature is not equal to cone, it is all about the heat-work, but it was not firing for a shorter time either.
Yes, I did the test firing with the kiln furniture in.
I also realize that the thermocouple requires a tune-up at first, but I do not think I was off-setting the thermocouple but the final temperature programmed by the manufacture, did I?

Hi! Why do we have the pottery wheels spinning counter-wise?
I am right handed and find it more comfortable to work on the clock-wise spinning wheel.