Put a cork in it
Jul. 31st, 2015 10:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
offcntrIt's been a while since I've done a Favorite Tools post, and as I was throwing piggy banks last week, I thought I'd show off this little gem.
When I first tried making banks, the results were pretty random. It was while I was in La Crosse, working evenings and weekends out of the Viterbo ceramics shop, just out of college. I'd finally mastered centering, and was getting more-or-less the pots I was aiming to throw, but consistent? Matching size, shape? Not so much. When I tried to make old-fashioned piggy banks, with the cork in the mouth, I wound up taking them all down to the craft supply store, matching corks to mouths as best as I could. In at least one case, I ended up cutting a cork down to the proper size and taper on a band saw (with tilting table to get the taper). In retrospect, I'm amazed I still have ten fingers.
Years later, working for Slippery Bank Pottery, I learned a better way. Will hired me specifically to throw hummingbird feeders for him, to meet a catalog order, nine dozen a week. They're basically bottles with that hang mouth-down from a loop handle, with a stopper and glass tube in the mouth. Because the stoppers were bought one size in quantity, the bottle mouths all had to be the same size and taper.
The trick is to throw the neck of the pot a little smaller than the finished size, then, with the wheel turning, introduce a key-shaped template into the mouth. It's the same taper as the cork, sized to account for shrinkage, and it slides in and stretches the opening until the shoulder of the key butts up against the lip. Simple, quick, consistent and reliable.
I haven't made a hummingbird feeder in years, but I think that key template is still down in the bottom of my tool box. And when I started making piggy banks, I just sized up the tool to the proper size. I traced the cross-section of the cork, scaled it up 13%, and transferred the shape onto scrap of sheet metal. Cut it out with a jeweler's saw, filed off the rough edges, and presto! Piggy's mouth is ready to accept a #28 cork.
When I first tried making banks, the results were pretty random. It was while I was in La Crosse, working evenings and weekends out of the Viterbo ceramics shop, just out of college. I'd finally mastered centering, and was getting more-or-less the pots I was aiming to throw, but consistent? Matching size, shape? Not so much. When I tried to make old-fashioned piggy banks, with the cork in the mouth, I wound up taking them all down to the craft supply store, matching corks to mouths as best as I could. In at least one case, I ended up cutting a cork down to the proper size and taper on a band saw (with tilting table to get the taper). In retrospect, I'm amazed I still have ten fingers.
Years later, working for Slippery Bank Pottery, I learned a better way. Will hired me specifically to throw hummingbird feeders for him, to meet a catalog order, nine dozen a week. They're basically bottles with that hang mouth-down from a loop handle, with a stopper and glass tube in the mouth. Because the stoppers were bought one size in quantity, the bottle mouths all had to be the same size and taper.
The trick is to throw the neck of the pot a little smaller than the finished size, then, with the wheel turning, introduce a key-shaped template into the mouth. It's the same taper as the cork, sized to account for shrinkage, and it slides in and stretches the opening until the shoulder of the key butts up against the lip. Simple, quick, consistent and reliable.
I haven't made a hummingbird feeder in years, but I think that key template is still down in the bottom of my tool box. And when I started making piggy banks, I just sized up the tool to the proper size. I traced the cross-section of the cork, scaled it up 13%, and transferred the shape onto scrap of sheet metal. Cut it out with a jeweler's saw, filed off the rough edges, and presto! Piggy's mouth is ready to accept a #28 cork.