Wire Cutter and Bat

Cut 600 mm of thin stainless or brass wire. That length leaves plenty to grip either side of a wheel head with a hand's width to spare.

Turn or whittle two hardwood toggles about 40 mm long and drill each through the middle. Bare wire cuts the fingers the moment you pull it hard.

Thread a toggle onto each end and knot the wire so it cannot pull through. Test by pulling hard — a toggle that slips off mid-cut ruins the pot and the hand.

Make a second cutter from two strands twisted together. A twisted wire leaves a shell-pattern texture on the foot; a plain one leaves it flat. Both are traditional and the mark identifies the tool.

Cut a disc of 12 mm plywood or MDF to match your wheel head — 250-300 mm is typical. Cut it round and true; an out-of-round bat throws the pot off centre before you start.

Find the centre by drawing two chords and their perpendicular bisectors. Everything about a bat depends on it being centred, so measure rather than eye it.

Measure the spacing of your wheel head's bat pins and drill two matching holes either side of centre. Standard spacing is 250 mm between pins on many wheels — measure yours rather than trusting a number.

Seal both faces and the edge with oil or varnish. An unsealed wooden bat drinks water, warps and eventually delaminates.

Cast a second bat in plaster of Paris in a round mould. Plaster pulls water out of the clay, so a pot released reluctantly from wood comes free from plaster on its own as it stiffens.

Fit the bat, spin the wheel and hold a pencil steady against the edge. A continuous line means it is true; a broken one means it is off centre — re-drill rather than live with it.

Cut a wedged block of clay clean through with the wire and look at the cut face. Air pockets show as holes; unmixed clay shows as streaks. Trapped air is what blows a pot apart in the kiln, and this is the only way to see it before firing.

Stop the wheel, hold the wire taut against the head and draw it under the foot in one steady pass, keeping it pressed down the whole way. Lifting mid-pass leaves a ridge in the base.

Run a little water under the pot after cutting and let it sit a moment. The film breaks the suction so the pot lifts without distorting.

For a wide bowl or a tall soft form, throw it on a bat and lift the whole bat off. The pot is never gripped at all, which is the only reliable way to move a wide rim before it stiffens.

As old as the wheel itself. A pot thrown on a rotating head has to come off it, and cutting with a taut line is the answer everywhere the wheel is found. Archaeologists read the base of an ancient pot for exactly this: a spiral drag mark says the pot was cut while the wheel still turned, a straight sweep says it was cut stopped, and a shell pattern says a twisted wire. The tool leaves its signature in the clay and the signature survives firing and burial.

Cord before wire. Before drawn metal wire was cheap, the same job was done with twisted cord, sinew or a length of horsehair — anything that could be pulled taut and stay thin. The change of material did not change the technique at all.

The bat is the smarter tool. A wire solves the problem after the fact; a bat prevents it. Wide bowls, platters and thin-walled forms distort the instant they are gripped, and the only real answer is not to grip them. Wooden bats are stiff and reusable; plaster bats add drying, which releases a pot without any cutting at all. Studios usually keep both, plus a stack of cheap ones so work can sit and stiffen while the wheel goes on being used.

Why the wire also inspects clay. Wedging mixes clay and expels air, but you cannot see inside a block. Cutting it in half and reading the face is the standard check, and it is the reason the wire lives on the wedging bench as much as on the wheel. A pot with a trapped air pocket can burst in the kiln and take its neighbours with it — a two-second cut prevents a lost firing.