Stephen

Just thought I would add a plug for considering a centering tool to help if needed. I had a screw  put in my shoulder when I was 18 to fix a constantly recurring shoulder dislocations stemming from an injury. A big shot sports doctor did it and I remember him telling me it was a success and I didn't need to worry about it for 30-35 years. Seemed like forever. Now 38 years later not so much. I for the most part don't worry about it and have few issues over the years but excessive centering was causing that shoulder to suddenly have soreness/pain and that gave me pause. I tried to change how I center so I didn't flex my shoulder but it just didn't seem to help.  Added a  https://www.strongarmpotterytools.com/ for big batches of throwing and it went away so love this sucker. I still always center and open several of any batch to make sure I maintain the ability to center. I don't have arthritis but it might also be helpful for that.  

Update: So I've been pretty upset the past two weeks waiting to hear back about a test for a mutation in my blood cells that renders the known forms of drug treatment useless. They did the wrong test twice...anyway apparently third time is the charm and the test came back negative, I'm just responding slower than most, which is very very good news. Thanks for all the nice comments and getting to hear folk's sharing. I wish everyone else a bit of good news in their struggles also. 

The white mug pictured here  is a back filled handle. You can see that the original strip of clay was probably rolled out quite flat, and would have had a relatively small attachment point. He took a small coil and back filled that space to both reinforce the join, and for aesthetics.  Because the handle or the backfill is often smoothed flush to the mug body (this example isn't totally), depending on your clay and drying conditions, can be prone to cracking. It adds a step, but it looks awesome.
The other mug is one of mine, and is a "dog bone" style, called so because they flare at top and bottom and taper in the middle like a cartoon dog bone. It leaves a shadow around the attachment point that can be more forgiving of drying shrinkage. The slight gap gets filled in with glaze and reinforced that way. It also has its own aesthetic.
edited 2019: at the request of the artist previously used as an example I have removed his name and the image of the mug. He stated that my description of his handle construction was inaccurate, but declined to elaborate on his process.

 

When i was trying to make a living making pots, my studio time was so monopolized with getting ready for the next show, calculating how to push loads through to boxes with the functional items that sold (read a lot of mugs, bowls, cups spoon rest etc.) that pottery started feeling more routine. To counter this I was starting to try and make some time each day to work on a few art pieces. For me that was some vases and such but I had other more elaborate pieces in mind. True my vases didn't sell at the same rate as mugs but they were exciting to work on and they did round out my booth when I bought fresh flowers on the way to the show and they added something to my day.

When i was trying to make a living making pots, my studio time was so monopolized with getting ready for the next show, calculating how to push loads through to boxes with the functional items that sold (read a lot of mugs, bowls, cups spoon rest etc.) that pottery started feeling more routine. To counter this I was starting to try and make some time each day to work on a few art pieces. For me that was some vases and such but I had other more elaborate pieces in mind. True my vases didn't sell at the same rate as mugs but they were exciting to work on and they did round out my booth when I bought fresh flowers on the way to the show and they added something to my day.

I pug clay.  
There is no pressure.  Nothing that must be done.  No finish line.  No phones, no computers, no TV.   No control.  The pug mill tells me how fast to go,  gently ignoring any pleas to go faster...
Just lovely plastic handfuls of clay, Iike the first time you touched it.  In. Out. In. Out.  In. Out.  The mineral earth smell, cold and damp, squeezing through my fingers.  Slap into the hopper.  Down comes the plunger, extra force applied right to the bottom to leave no doubt about who is really in charge of everything in this little world.
Endless, rhythmic repetition (cut, smash, cut smash, cut smash), the low steady drone of the motor, the slow but inevitable extrusion of perfect worms, again, and again.
... hypnotic....like a wheel going round...and round....
...the mind wanders, ...  sequences of thoughts lead strangely down side paths.  Ideas occur, new but vaguely familiar, coming  from somewhere like things that happen in a dream.  Forms appear in your minds eye, once known, then forgotten and now rediscovered...  
have hours passed or only minutes?  No idea.  Cut slap smash.  It goes on.  You are far away now.
a distant call to dinner shakes you awake.. back to earth.  switch off the pugmill.  As the dream fades you quickly you scribble down a few thoughts, rough out a shape or two... 
tomorrow is another day.   As you drift off you know fresh pugs of clay wait silently in a neat stack, filled with possibility, daring you to try something new...
 
 

On that same theme, work begets more work. 
There's a theme here of doing tedious, mindless chores, things that encourage your brain into a delta wave state. That's where the magic happens.  Keep your hands busy and let your mind wander. It allows you to rest while being restless. 

The phrase I learned in college is “energy breeds energy.” This is along the lines of what Magnolia and Callie are saying. Such a short phrase but it made a huge difference for me going forward out of college. I still say it to myself all the time. Creative work requires an immense amount of energy. So many acts of initiative. Many people underestimate that, thinking something so “fun” shouldn’t require effort. 
Putting energy into any task creates momentum that makes it easier to generate energy the next day.  Putting practice into skills makes those skills easier, which then require less energy, giving you free energy to spend on new initiatives. It multiplies over time. On the other hand, sitting around doing nothing leads to more sitting around doing nothing. This also multiplies over time.
I guess the important crux of “energy breeds energy” is that the fuel needs to come from yourself, and shows you how to generate fuel.

That's a tough call. IMO pieces of equipment are just like people; everything ages, some more than others. While one individual of a certain vintage may be in poor shape, another may be perfectly fine. I once knew a  man that at 87 could work men half his age "into the shade". What he was capable of doing would most certainly hospitalize, if not kill;  most men that old.
 
We have a Skutt KS 1227 here from the 70's that was given to us; it's old and beat up but it does work. We used it as an overflow/backup kiln for our production runs and it worked great despite having been put through several firings and being beaten to death by it's previous owner. We got this kiln when we where just stating out. I haven't seen it in years and while it "worked great when last used" (sound familiar?), I couldn't tell you for sure it would go to temp if I pulled it out and fired it again today.
 
 It all comes down to how well it was taken care of, used, stored and what it's like now. My biggest problem with the one you are looking at iis the price. The guy wanted $500 for our "free" kiln and that just wasn't going to happen. (He was a friend of my father and just needed it and all of his molds out of the way so we more or less inherited it)
 
 
I have the same kiln here as you're looking at but most likely newer (serial # 80484). It was stored in an outdoor screened enclosure next to a body of brackish water. The hinge had to be beat to close (stored open), switches frozen to the point the shafts broke before they would turn (but the sitter switch still works freely). It most likely "worked great" when it was last used too...
 
Is it worth $375? (I wouldn't have given $3.75)
 
 
Is the one you're looking at worth $375?  
 
I dunno; can you show me an 87 y.o man who can swing a 45# chainsaw in 96 degree heat and humidity  for two weeks straight with a smile and joke the whole time?  (In WWII, he literally wore one M1 Garand out dropping Nazis and was well on his way to wearing out a second. He was a man if there ever was one. He was also *the* best, most loving, kind and gentle man I ever knew.)
 
If you know of such a gentlemen, I would love to buy him a beer....but chances are he aint ev'r had a drop in his life.
 
 
It all comes down to what kinda shape it's really in. In a worse case, are you willing to pop for $50 each for new switches if they need to be replaced? Why were the elements changed? Was this due to verified wear or were they chasing a problem? I've seen folks throw money at a problem not knowing the difference. It may need something else, so I would factor that in when considering price. It can be made to work if it doesn't, and like Neil said, it's just a matter of; is it worth doing so to you in the end? I've also seen folks greatly underestimate number of firings too. "Four firings" could easily be, and most likely is; 40.
 
 
The only thing I can tell you with 100% certainty is; you never wanted to be on the business end of "Mr. Smith's" Garand...EVER!...  
 
(I've have a great story of him with a 30 caliber Browning machine gun while in basic training.)

There is no age limit. Kiln bricks can sit for a hundred years and still be good as new as long as they have stayed dry. If the bricks look good and aren't turning yellow or dark- which happens when they've been fired a bunch- then they're good. The wiring can get brittle over time, but that's cheap to replace. The contacts on the sitter itself can also corrode, but you can always pull it apart and clean it up. I've worked on kilns that have been fired weekly for 40+ years that are still good.

Why? Belt drives, by definition, are much more simple (=reliable) than gear drives, very inexpensive and easy to repair and, with all probability, less noisy.
 
Many types of machinery benefit greatly from using gear drives, but a pottery wheel, esp., an old one, is not one of those, IMO.