Chamois As A Batt Securer

[Babs]

Was in a discussion with a potter who had heard about using a piece of damp chamois, real or substitute, not sure, as a means of securing batts to the wheelhead instead of pnis or clay pads.

Anyone doing this?

[bciskepottery]

I've heard of potters using round pieces of damp cloth on top of a wheel head or a bat, then throwing large platters/items -- eliminates having to cut the platter/item from the wheel head when done before transferring to a ware board.

 

There are also chamois-like cloths that you dampen and put beneath a bat to reduce wiggling -- but those have holes for pins. Never used one without also using pins.

[earthfan]

In Australia, fibre cement is a common building material. It really sucks the water out of clay. I have been able to secure bats made of this material to the wheelhead with only slip. The material has a smooth side and a rougher side and when placed rough side down onto a puddle of slip, it stiffens the slip into a leather hard sliver of clay that is moulded to match the underside of the bat. So long as you don't allow water or slurry to get under the bat to soften the clay back to slip again, the leather hard layer will resist a lot of sideways movement.

[Min]

Xiem BatMate is kind of like a cross between a sponge and a chamois. I've been using it successfully for a little while, love it. 

 

I did a little post on in when I first found out about it, http://community.ceramicartsdaily.org/topic/5694-holding-down-batts/

[Joy pots]

Hi, I have used fake chamois to secure plaster bats & to keep bats on screws from moving around. It works fairly well. It needs to be wet to adhere to the wheel head then put your bat on top & be sure it's not slipping around before throwing.

 

I also use pieces of wallpaper to throw on. You need a small amount of thick slurry or rings of clay to adhere it. I also use the wallpaper on top of bats to easily remove the pot & wallpaper without removing the bat, at leather hard you peel off the wallpaper. Cut the wallpaper to different sizes to accommodate the size of pot you are throwing.

Joy

[Marc McMillan]

I use those things called bat mate or similar. They work well and aren't expensive. Probably cheaper than a large chamois.

[mss]

You can also use the rubbery mesh shelf liner material. 

[Biglou13]

The shelf liner I tried didn't work. I bought a bat mate or like product. Mostly, now, just throw off the wheel head.