Monday, July 13, 2015

New Tool!

A couple of years ago, Jeff made me a tool to cut the slots in sponge holders. It did the job but it wasn't always great. We started to talk about what would create a straighter cut and work efficiently. Jeff came up with a mitre box design. This is his prototype, which is working quite well. I am sure it's going to get some tweaking along the way.


Using the back side of the saw makes a cleaner cut in the clay. We need to find a smaller blade that won't be so cumbersome to work with on my bench.

 I cut across the bottom with a fettling knife.


After all the cuts are made I go back and clean up the edges. I also give them the green kitchen scrubby treatment before they go into the bisque firing.

Now if we can only solve the warping problem...

9 comments:

  1. I'd add circles drawn on the floor of the jig to aid centering and use a fine toothed saw with no set or cut them softer with a "B" guitar string. Good luck, I know Jeff is good at figuring this stuff out.

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    1. Dennis, that's a great idea to draw a circle for centering... why didn't we think of that?!

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  2. Michele, my friend Pat cuts her sponge holders then ties a loose rubber band around them, after cutting and still leaving the cut sides in place, so they stay true. I've never made a sponge holder!

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    1. I am going to try the rubber band trick, thank you for telling me about that. Don't start making sponge holders... they are a pain and sell really quickly!

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  3. A Japanese pull saw is really sharp, used for fine work, but not cumbersome at all. It might be good for Jeff's bamboo work too.

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  5. Potters: always so clever in devising solutions :)

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  6. I use some metal that was used to band stacks of lumber together. You can get these free on the floor of most lumber yards or construction sites and they cut a nice line.
    I’m going to try the rubber band idea.
    You’re right, they are impossible to keep in stock, which is not a really bad problem to have.

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