search  current discussion  categories  techniques - misc 

bison/controlling trimming tools

updated fri 26 nov 04

 

Vince Pitelka on thu 25 nov 04


>i think heidi has hit the nail on the head.
> it is all about choking up on the tool. one finger on
> the ferrule, with pressure down. i use these tools all the time
> and they never chatter, unless i move back, let the tool get
> a bounce.

Heidi and Mell both make a very good point. I was thinking about this
concept, and it seems applicable to so many situations and media. The
amount of control you have over the action of a cutting or carving tool has
to do with how close your fingers are to the point on the tool where the
cutting or carving is taking place. For example, chip-carving knives have
little short blades, because the carver always grasps the handle as close as
possible to the point where the wood is being carved, and thus there is no
reason for a longer blade.

With an ordinary band-loop trimming tool, I always tell my students to hold
it like they would hold a pen or pencil for writing, with their fingertips
grasping the ferrule down directly next to the cutting blade, and then place
a finger or two of the other hand against the base of the blade. Tense up
your muscles slightly, so that the hand holding the tool is trying to lift
it up, and the other hand is pushing it back down. Tensing the muscles this
way gives you far more control. It is all about rigidizing the position of
the trimming edge. The clay will try to bounce the tool, and if it bounces,
you do not have control.

Judging from the comments on the list, the same holds true of Phil's Bison
tools.

I have not used Phil's tools. Since most of my work is handbuilt, I do not
do much trimming. But when I was doing wheel-work full-time in the 70s and
early 80s I had a about a dozen Kemper trimming tools, and when the blades
wore out I would yank them out of the handle and replace them with new
blades made from street sweeper bristles or windshield-wiper-blade backbone.
It was a good fix, but time is money, and I hate to think of what that cost
me over time compared to the cost of Phil's beautiful tools. They might
seem expensive when you buy them, and they are not appropriate for clumsy
people, but like most fine tools, you get what you pay for, and they soon
pay for themselves. I think you just have to establish a ritual of handling
them with special care. I teach throwing every fall, and I should get a few
of his tools so that my students can see them being used. I think I'll wait
and get them at NCECA.
- Vince

Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Craft, Tennessee Technological University
Smithville TN 37166, 615/597-6801 x111
vpitelka@dtccom.net, wpitelka@tntech.edu
http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka/
http://www.tntech.edu/craftcenter/