Korean Potter's Wheel

Well, I've finished the wood/carpentry work on my Korean potter's wheel. This is about 45 pieces of cherry wood, 5 pieces of black walnut, and 4 pieces of pine (the four supports) all glued together and sanded. I've got to say--It is really pretty--REALLY Pretty.

The hardest part was placing the four support dowels and I couldn't have done it without the help of my friend Darrel--He is the the "Wood Man," and it was his shop where I did all this work.

Anyway, this wheel, whether you call it an Onggi Style Potter's wheel, or a Korean Style Potter's wheel, is 17 inches tall. The wheel head is 18-3/4 inches in diameter and the flywheel is 19 inches in diameter.

The next step is having a machine shop weld my 1-inch cold rolled steel to a round piece of 3/8 inch steel and when that is complete I'll be making pots on this beauty.

Handmade Pottery Tools

Yesterday I made a bunch of new pottery tools from scrap wood laying around the shop. I made the two ribs (upper left) out of a piece of pine molding that I cut to size and sanded . They're each about 5-1/2 inches long.

I also made a bunch of different types of trimming sticks. I made them out of left over cherry wood from my Korean kick wheel, which I'm still working on. The trimming sticks are about 10 inches long. I really like the size of these and have come to the conclusion that the ones you buy are too short and not as comfortable.

The bigger tools are my "Onggi" tools that I plan on using when I start throwing on my Korean Kickwheel. The calipers are about 10 inches long and made out of oak. These are really sweet. Nice looking, nice and smoooth, and feels good in the hands. I used a galvanized wing nut on this pair because it was the only thing I had handy at the shop. I'll replace this with a brass wing nut and use brass in all the future calipers I make. No particular reason for the brass other than it just looks better.

The Korean kick wheel is coming along. I now have the flange bearings for the wheelhead and the flywheel and tomorrow I'll get the the piece of 1-inch cold rolled steel for the shaft. The next step is to drill a hole in the center of the flywheel and then drill and set the dowel rods which will connect the wheelhead and the flywheel. Hopefully I'll get this done this weekend. Stay tuned.