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Rubber/Silicone Ribs


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On this forum I've read a lot of people use rubber or silicone ribs, some even mention certain colors are better than the others. I've only used wooden or metal ribs so please clue me in to the benefits and if the colors really matter.

TIA

Side Note: I knew an electric guitarist that insisted that only red guitar picks sounded the best  on his Strat and wouldn't play with any other color. I always thought he was a bit nuts but he sure can play.

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Mud tools makes great ribs if you are a rib user . They are color coded in terms of firmness.So yes the colors matter from hard to soft on the flex.

All ribbing aside I think mud tools has the best ribs aside from the Korean baby back BBQ ribs.

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Not a huge fan of the rubber ribs, I find them too stiff compared to the silicone ones.  Love the Sherrill aka MudTools silicone ribs. (think they call them polymer ribs)  Xiem ones are much thicker and the "soft" orange ones are not nearly so flexible as the MudTools ones. My go to is either red or yellow MudTools. I would make a joke about ribs but not eating meat means I'ld probably just butcher it :P

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Thanks All

I'm going to give MudTools a try.

9 hours ago, docweathers said:

How you folks tend to compare these three, and for what purposes?

I was going to ask the same question

14 hours ago, Mark C. said:

I think mud tools has the best ribs aside from the Korean baby back BBQ ribs.

Korean baby back ribs on porcelain, sounds like a plan. ThumbsUp.gif.9be5936782244ed1a1693bd1ef2002bd.gif

13 hours ago, Min said:

I would make a joke about ribs but not eating meat means I'd probably just butcher it :P

:lol:

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I use the chartreuse Sherril ribs after pushing out the form with a wooden rib for interiors . The chartreuse has a little more flex than the yellow ribs. I use the red rib for smoothing the outsides and finish with a metal rib.

I also prefer the Sherril cutoff words. i like the handles and the wires are not as prone to kinking. 

Marcia

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Thanks Denise and Marcia

Marcia, I'm assuming you mean Sherril cutoff wire? 

====

My wooden rib is shaped similar to Mudtools #4 and my metal rib is shaped similar to their #5. I like both shapes for different reasons. Do you have a preference?

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My favorite Mudtools polymer ribs shapes/colors are  shapes 2 and 3 in green, shapes 0 and 1 in red and the small bowl rib in yellow.  Stainless steel rib #2 and the long scraper (no teeth) are my go to's as well.  

I like and own many other Mudtools, but I never understood the Mudshark tool with the fold away needle.   

-SD

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I have a green, I think it is MudTools that I use for bowls, but my fav for bowl is made of a bamboo serving spoon that I cut the handle off of and made the handle into a knife edged rib.  I also have an old animal bone rib that is sharpened on one edge that I use from time to time,. . .  . not from Korean short ribs. . . 

 

best,

Pres

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15 hours ago, Pres said:

I have a green, I think it is MudTools that I use for bowls, but my fav for bowl is made of a bamboo serving spoon that I cut the handle off of and made the handle into a knife edged rib.  I also have an old animal bone rib that is sharpened on one edge that I use from time to time,. . .  . not from Korean short ribs. .

I have a wooden spoon made from Teak that I kept the handle on and trim off one side of the bowl to help me belly out a tall vase with a narrow opening

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I haven't used a rubber or silicone rib in 20 years. I've just never found the need for them. I use wood ribs for compressing bottoms and smoothing plates, meal ribs for everything else. I use a rectangular metal rib most of the time. I hold it almost perpendicular to the pot, so the thin edge is all that's touching. There are two benefits to working this way. First, you can compress the walls as you stretch- left hand on the inside pushing outward, metal rib on the outside refining the shape. This compression allows for thinner walls and wider curves, as the clay is 'locked' into position in way. Second, the rib scrapes down the surface and removes all the slurry. This has two benefits- less moisture being absorbed into the clay, so you can take as long as you want to shape the pot; and the surface is dry and tacky, making it easy to lift the pot off the wheel.

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neil, thanks for explaining why using a metal rib works for me.  never was able to put it into words so well.  

i have always had the simple blue rubber rib that i started out with in the 1970s,   not that particular rib since they disintegrate after a year or two.  probably because i use them as scrapers in glaze buckets to get the last little bit out. the best use i have for that rib is rubbing out drawing mistakes from a slab.  i like to draw stuff with a ball stylus but sometimes a line wiggles or intrudes at the wrong place.  simply pressing down with the rubber rib erases that offending line so i can start again.

fall and garage door 018.JPG

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