Wedging Table Project

When I started with the notion of creating pottery at home I sat down and thought about the things I would need in order to accomplish this task. One of the first things I would need to get started was a wedging table to prepare my clay for wheel throwing or slab work. So, like any Internet savvy person I went surfing through my sites and places to find ideas or guidance in what I wanted to accomplish. I found a couple of places that gave me ideas, like Ceramics Art Daily and YouTube, and that was all I needed to get started. So, I'll try to keep this short and not leave out to many things as to make it confusing, and give you a picture of what I think is the perfect wedging table with a few added tweaks!

1) Finding or making a Base - My first obstacle was to find a base to work from. I thought at first of using a wood base but then remembered watching others work with wood tables on the Internet as they shook and wobbled and thought, I'm a big guy so on to the next idea! One of my friends, Cameron Brian, who teaches here in town at Bakersfield College had suggested going to this old office furniture where house where they discount and sell office furniture. After getting together with him and going down there I was blown away over the fact that these places are selling strong, steel and metal tables at a fraction of their original cost. I'm talking the old school tables that are darn near indestructible! I'll add a picture at the end of this article of one of the tables I purchased for slab building - $25. Anyway back to the wedging table. After hunting through the warehouse and the yard I came across this old steel heavy duty table on locking wheels! It was in bad shape and the guy haggled with me about the price but I got it for $30. Finally I had my base to work from and was ready to start this small adventure!

2) Clean up and Preservation -As you can see from the images in the gallery I had some work to do before I could start modifying my new wedging table. It had some rust around the edges but other than that it was structurally sound. So I went to the local Home Depot and grabbed some rust neutralizing paint. Although I had this paint I still took a wire brush and did my best to remove all the rust and sanded down the rest. I remember my grandfather telling me, "if a job is worth doing, do it right", so don't cut corners with easy fixes. Once I cleaned up the frame I took an old tarp laid it out and proceeded to primer the base with the rust inhibiting paint. Then I sprayed on two coats of the finishing color. This provides a hard coat to protect the metal for many years. Not to mention the fact that I will be using water and mud around it!

3) Construction of Table - After completing the preservation step I started to take the images of the final project I had pictured in my head and sketched them out on a pad of paper. I had the basic dimension of the table (38" Square x 37" Tall). From there I went out on the Internet and found others who had made tables and used their ideas to enhance my table. It's always a good idea to look at others work and then expound on them. I then made a list of the things my table would incorporate -

This gave me the prerequisites for the table layout. After sketching I started to calculate the amount of wood needed and no.1 pottery plaster for the wedging area. After searching the Internet I found that I needed to use a wood that would allow the plaster to breath and still provide support. Confiding in Cameron we decided that poplar wood would be the best for around the wedging area because it's a hardwood and should warp. For the table base I used 3/4" plywood for extra strength.Under the wedging area I drilled a few holes after the plaster had dried to allow it to breath.

4) Electrical - I don't know if anyone realized but the table came with two outlet boxed on the bottom of the table. This was the one thing that sold me on the table because I can get an extension cord and going anywhere I want with it, including my brent wheel. I managed to clean out the boxed and replace the guts with the help of a home depot specialist to guide me. New outlets have trip breakers on them as well just in case I spill any water!

5) Final Phase - When all was said and done you can see the final project and I think it came out really cool! I very pleased and will be adding some hooks on the side for tools and the power cord. If you have an questions about the wedging table or its construction please send me an email and I'll be happy to tell you in greater detail.