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Bailey Quick-Trim Ii Vs. Giffin Grip Model 10


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Hi everyone

 

I am wondering if anyone has experience using these trimming devices or owns them and gave give me opinions and advice.

 

Griffin Grip

A while ago I was able to try the Griffin Grip and thought it was very handy-- especially because I was having difficulty trimming a new clay I am working with.  And, it seems like a good way to speed things up with centering pieces for trimming.  I liked how all the grips move together.

 

Bailey Quick Trim

The Bailey grips seem to move independently-- and I can see pluses and minuses to this.  It would be advantageous when you want to trim something that is not circular at the top-- however, having to adjust all 4 grips seems like it would be more time consuming.

 

Of course the cost difference it certainly a factor too.

 

 

So, my questions are:

  1. Have you tried either or both of these and what are your opinions of them?
  2. Do you own one of them?  If so, how did you choose?
  3. Are there any other helpful tools for trimming that you would recommend that will make things easier?

 

Thanks for any advice you can give.

Cheers,

Amy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I own the giffin grip, I bought it a long time ago. I have to say the thing I use it for the most is waxing the bottom of my pots. It has it's uses for trimming. If your making things that are uniform and even shaped then the giffin grip will save you time from attaching lugs to the pot over and over after tap centering. If your buying it because you don't like to tap center, then I would say learn to tap center first as it is a useful skill to have when something wont center right on the giffin grip.

 

I don't really make same sized pots or even shaped pots that much anymore so I dont really use it to trim that often anymore. Some things I will still use it on like bowls and plates. 

 

I think the other model would be better for me to own now in retrospect.

 

You mention it not centering for you. I think this is the best part of the other model. You tap center, then move the parts in to hold it in place. This will save you from using clay lugs. I would rather have this model than the giffin probably.

 

Just my two thoughts. 

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I can only speak on my experience with the Giffin Grip.

 

It works extremely well. It's not just good for trimming, but for underglazing and glazing as well.

 

As you mentioned it isn't great for irregular shapes. I have used it for such things, but I had to tap,center first, then use the Grip to secure it in place.

 

It also has the benefit of having the arms that can be used to hold wares with long and/ or narrow necks.

 

The Bailey is more flexible, in terms of what shapes you can use with it. But as you said, you have to move the holders. Honestly, if that's the route you want to go, people have posted a step by step here how to make you own, similar device.

 

I like my Giffin Grip. i have one at home, and in my classroom, where it is invaluable. I want the students to know how to trim but just don't have the time to properly teach them to tap center.

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I can only speak on my experience with the Giffin Grip.

 

It works extremely well. It's not just good for trimming, but for underglazing and glazing as well.

 

As you mentioned it isn't great for irregular shapes. I have used it for such things, but I had to tap,center first, then use the Grip to secure it in place.

 

It also has the benefit of having the arms that can be used to hold wares with long and/ or narrow necks.

 

The Bailey is more flexible, in terms of what shapes you can use with it. But as you said, you have to move the holders. Honestly, if that's the route you want to go, people have posted a step by step here how to make you own, similar device.

 

I like my Giffin Grip. i have one at home, and in my classroom, where it is invaluable. I want the students to know how to trim but just don't have the time to properly teach them to tap center.

 

 

Can you point me to the "make your own" versions of these?  Not sure how to word a search.

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I recently bought a Grip, and I wonder how I got along without it.

 

At the Coleman workshop last weekend, Tom had a fairly dismissive opinion of the device, but he may have formed his opinion on the older models.  The new ones can be used with irregular shapes.  They have little stainless arms that plug into the circulating pieces, of various heights, and with little rubber holders on the upper ends.  This allows you to center whichever level of the pot you choose.  Also, there are sets of circulators for inside and outside (the pot.)

 

Tom actually had a lot of opinions that many expert posters here might disagree with, but that was a good part of the entertainment value.

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have had a giffin grip since early in their development.  love it.  never use the arms, just the low sliders and the ones for wide things.  i trim with it, use it as a banding wheel for slips, carve with it, do all kinds of things.  i can only use it on my pacifica wheel in WV because it is set for that size.  i can see very well but am totally defeated by the tiny grooves on the back that you set for your wheelhead.  maybe that has been improved, but counting 32 tiny grooves at 3 different places is hard.

 

in fact, for the first few years, it was set one groove off on one arm and everything came out slightly offcenter.

 

i introduced the bailey in its first design at the Tampa NCECA.  what fun that was.  loved the fact that it just fit over the bat pins.  the first one held by magnetic force and you could even turn the whole thing upside down and your pot would not fall off.  well, a normal size pot.

 

don't know anything about the newest model but if you have more than one wheel, it has to be better for just that reason.

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Hey,

I'm not a fan of grippers. They only center the foot, causing a weak spot or hole in the side. If the bowl is turned upside down the pressure on the rim sometimes causes 3 cracks, one for each plastic holder.

I don't know how to tap center, but I can center by scratching one side with a fingernail and slightly pushing towards the center. I start with the top, trim, recenter, trim the shoulder and main body, then recenter to trim the lower half.

Another advantage of learning to do my way, is I can trim anywhere I go, and can trim when someone is using the community gripper. No lines! :). There are NO when will YOU be finished? I use sharpen tools and let the tackiness of the clay and the weight of the vessel hold itself in place. I don't like tacking the base in place with soft clay, but will in a pinch. Hope this helps, :)

Alabama

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I had a Bailey for a while and the flexibility is great...plus can't beat the price and they are very, very nice folks to deal with. I had a problem with mine-of my own doing-and Jim Bailey even got on the phone to help me. I eventually passed it on to someone and went back to using clay balls, because I do not throw much. 

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So I have been thinking about this all evening: I would trade my giffen for a bailey quick trim any day of the week. I think its a better tool because of the flexibility and the 4 connectors allows you to hold center uneven shapes better. Plus I like how it attaches to bat pins and isn't 3 inches higher than your wheel which throws trimmings everywhere if you trim at highspeeds.

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I use a Giffin Grip to trim just about every pot, except for pots that are too big for it. I should add that I do a lot of volume and my pots are round, so this tool saves me massive amounts of time. I've never used the Bailey but I imagine that would be comparately much slower for my situation too.

 

You'd have to pry my Giffin Grip out of my dead fingers.

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I feel exactly as GEP above-most of my work is round and I own 3 of them -I have then set up differently so it saves me time. I had 4 but donated one to an art center on an Island far away.

Both Gep and I are production potters and the bailey would not work as fast as the gif fen grabbing pots so its out

When I need an uneven pot I just tap center it with my hand and use a few clay balls

 

I suggest learning to tap center and trim first with clay balls before getting either of these as that will keep you from gaining this skill.

After you master those skill go ahead and get one if needed.

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just realized that the Giffin Grip needs just a little modification to make it even more useful.  post-2431-0-95747400-1455029352_thumb.jpg

 

if you have batpins installed be careful where you put the 3 tabs holding the grip to the wheel .  you can set it down wrong and find it is tilted.  to avoid that, put it down correctly and then use a sharpie to mark the wheelhead where the tabs go.  then you can put it on and off easily.

 

to use it as a trimming or decorating  tool, add lines with a sharpie.  first hold the tip down firmly and mark concentric rings.  then extend the slot with the ink to the opposite side.  then divide those triangles again to have 6 lines for measuring.

 

joseph, i agree that the trimmings go everywhere over the top of the splash pan.  this works for me.  and in florida the clay boss wheel has a splash pan with a tall plastic liner to catch them.  that studio is too small to be trying to dig out flying trims from under everything.

post-2431-0-95747400-1455029352_thumb.jpg

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For irregular shaped the griffin has a slider loose 3 leg that can be placed anywhere.Tap centering speeds up the placement process and is a skill all potter should learn like centering .(separate accesorry)

If you need to trim larger forms griffin makes a huge trim tool as well.it hangs on my wall for when I do huge platters.

With all these tools you need to use them when the pot is just right other wise it will deform or crack  it if to dry.

I think trim skills need to be mastered before said buying of tool.

 

My trim wheel uses no splash pan and is in a corner and I clean up the trimmings after doing a run of pots

Flying trimmings are not an issue if to plan ahead .

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I have no experience with the Bailey. The GGrip has another advantage that other's haven't mentioned, although it might be due to my peculiar studio situation currently. I work in a warehouse on the weekends, then transport the work in to the community college to be fired. Because the work-flow timing is so odd with not everything at the same place, I like to throw mugs, dry lightly, then immediately attach the handle. The bottom I leave for last, so when I go to trim, I've got that tempting handle to potentially knock off. The GGrip allows for that handle between the holders, so I can trim it last, then transport it. So, the high arms are really useful to prevent destroyed handles, as long as I keep my fingers/tools up high. The other advantage is that the bottom is at hard-leather hard, so with a sharp tool I don't distort the bottom because of the softness. (When I put the handles on last, the work is too dry to reliably attach handles.)

 

I don't know anyone else who throws + handle then trims in this order, but it works for me.

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I have owned a GG for many years, but just started using it again as I'm making more mugs. Mine is the lefty version, so I couldn't use the ones at the community studio. I tap center, so centering isn't a big deal, but I hate using the little lugs of clay. They are either too wet, too dry, they mess up the rim, blah, blah. It's limited in that it doesn't work well for odd shaped pieces, but since I'm doing mugs, it works for me. I like the idea of putting on the handle before trimming the foot. Gotta try that.

To combat the trimming mess, we constructed what we called the Clay Corral. It can be a cut off piece of plastic garbage can, or a piece of thin sheet metal. it can be even sided or, better, slanted so that it's higher in back and lower where your hands go. People have made several different versions and they all work nicely, corralling the flying trimmings.

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Before I learned to tap centre, I tried a friend's Giffen grip. This was probably ten years ago now. It was super annoying, because most of my pots weren't perfectly round, and I was having the same problems Alabama mentions above. I hated the sucker, and broke down and learned to tap centre.

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I love my griffin grip, and have used one for many many years. Do I use it because I do not know how to tap center, and use chocks or wet wheel head? NO, I can center just as easily with these. However, the griffin grip allows me to trim chalice stems and assemble them on the wheel while moving. I have made a jig that helps me trim my stems before adding to the trimmed cups while still on the wheel.

 

 

best,

pres

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To amplify what Pres says, I've been using my Giffin Grip to put pipes together.  I throw several shapes off the hump, including a sort of hollow ball shape for the main chamber. I can put that chamber in the Grip to add the bowl, then turn the whole thing upside down to trim the bottom into a perfectly round shape-- the arms on the Grip allow me balance the piece on its bowl and still hold it securely.

 

I suspect there are many other uses that will occur to me as I get used to it.  Today I trimmed some cookie jars that were pretty tall.  I used the tallest arms on the Grip, and was able to trim the bottoms very easily.

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if you want to make one like john's, try a few additional aids to make it more useful.

 

concentric circles are a must, and i added an arrow to tell me where the bat pin hole is located so i do not have to smear it around feeling for it.  once one is in place it is easy to get the other one down.

 

the problem with a foam bat is holding the pot in place while trimming.  i only use it occasionally, the giffin grip is my go-to tool.

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I've used a cut up yoga mat also and it holds a wider base like a bowl pretty well but anything narrower or taller it takes a very gentle touch or it flies off the bat. I use clay lugs on the wheel or a regular bat for those just to be safe. I wish they made a smaller size giffin

grip or Bailey quick trim for my Artisa wheel so I wouldn't have to remove the splash pan.

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I have owned a GG for many years, but just started using it again as I'm making more mugs. Mine is the lefty version, so I couldn't use the ones at the community studio. I tap center, so centering isn't a big deal, but I hate using the little lugs of clay. They are either too wet, too dry, they mess up the rim, blah, blah. It's limited in that it doesn't work well for odd shaped pieces, but since I'm doing mugs, it works for me. I like the idea of putting on the handle before trimming the foot. Gotta try that.

To combat the trimming mess, we constructed what we called the Clay Corral. It can be a cut off piece of plastic garbage can, or a piece of thin sheet metal. it can be even sided or, better, slanted so that it's higher in back and lower where your hands go. People have made several different versions and they all work nicely, corralling the flying trimmings.

My Clay Corral is a cut-down cardboard box. It's cheap and sturdy enough, since trimming is not wet work.

 

I love my GG, but it won't be perfect till I add concentric circles and dividing lines - great idea, oldlady!

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  • 10 months later...

I just got a Giffin Grip and I love it.  I do know how to tap-center and there's a certain feeling of connection by tap-centering that I love.  I was a snob about the GG before i got one, but now I see why so many people have one.  It really cuts my trimming time.  It's so easy to us.  I think the guy is Genius.  Next I'll get the flexible sliders to trim irregular shapes.  I haven't used the Bailey.  Thanks to all those who posted alternative ways to trim, and home made trimming accessories.  Cheers,  Marcia in California.  -- PS - I tend to trim slowly and wetter than most, so I haven't had problems with trim pieces flying all over my studio.  

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The only issue I have is warping my pot if I'm a little to ambition on dry time, not often but its a bummer when it happens. I more often than not have found tap center on foam bat without any clay balls works very well. I don't trim much on most things lately and this is extremely fast and effective. per my mentor just took a black marker an with the foam bat turning made rings to the center about half an inch a part, makes visually centering a snap.

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