I was fairly active in pottery in the 70’s and 80’s. I learned wheel throwing in my senior year in high school in ’73. But for whatever reason, when we moved from Horseheads, New York, (yes, it’s a real place) to North Carolina in ’88, my little sample potters wheel got stuffed in a closet. And so it sat pretty much unused for the next 30 some years.
I used to have a nice Skutt wheel, (Thomas Stuart back then) which I bought new with insurance money from when I wrecked my Honda 450 motorcycle. That was when you could get a nice wheel for around $350 which is what I paid. I still had enough money left to fix my bike too. But As things often go, I sold the Skutt for needed cash, and not long after, the bike too. A year or so goes by, and I and I ran into an old highschool friend at a party, and she gave me an old one she had but no longer used. It was a beginner wheel, which is why I called it a sample wheel, but it got the job done!
I have to say, I had the bug to get back into pottery for a long, long time. But holy crap! Did it get expensive! Beginner wheels are going for $500. Ones that will throw 25 pounds and over of clay are mostly over $1,000. Speedball has a few that are reasonable, but I hate, hate the two piece splash pans, and the wheel heads aren’t removable on almost any of them. Except Skutt. My Skutt has a one piece pan, and a removable wheel head. You can clean it up in just a few minutes. And I got it for about $950 new.
But before I bought the Skutt, I got my ancient, 50 year old B & I out of the closet and got it working again. That was in April, 2019. Holy shit, it was so worn out and made so much noise you about had to wear ear protection in order to use it. The variable speed pulley was worn out. I monkeyed with and adjusted it and greased it and cussed it. I replaced all the belts. I tried to find a replacement pulley that would work but didn’t have any luck. For a while, I just hooked the motor up direct with no speed control. That worked fairly well, but not optimum for sure. Then I got a treadmill motor and built a speed control and tried that for a while. It still worked, but it was not a pleasant experience.
At least my old 40 some year old Skutt 18″ kiln still worked, believe it or not. So anyway, that’s my little journey back into throwing on the wheel. I like it. I would never want to be a production potter. Well, not now that I’m older. I enjoy the little bit I do here and there, the sculpting, throwing combination. Something that’s unique that’s one of a kind. I hope you like my work too!