I like making the things I use. I also like hunting for treasures in thrift stores. Lately, I’ve been hunting and collecting old salad forks, spoons, and other wooden utensils to make clay tools. I regularly find them in teak, fruitwood, black walnut, and bamboo woods that hold up well to heavy clay use. The tools I most often make from these finds are handled cup and bowl ribs, as well as tools for cutting, trimming, shaping, and foot profiling.

The process is simple. Go thrifting and collect a bunch of wooden utensils, look them over, and visualize their clay tool potential. Use a Sharpie marker to draw on the utensil and map out the modifications needed to create the new tool (1). Cut out the new shape using a band saw, coping saw, or saber saw. Use a fine wood rasp and sandpaper or belt sander to refine the shape (2). Finish sanding by hand and then get to work.

1 Desired shapes of clay tools mapped out on each wooden utensil with a Sharpie marker.2 Finished tools.

Using the utensils pictured (see 1), I was able to make the following: a sponge on a stick, bottleneck rib, handled cup rib, handled bowl rib, a cut-off tool with lid gallery profile, a straight rib with a foot profile, and a slip rake with a profile in the handle. In total, I made nine tools at a cost of $3 in material and 30 minutes of time.

Most of these tools may be purchased from clay suppliers; however, I enjoy the process of making them to fit my specific needs and find pleasure and satisfaction in using them.

Topics: Making Clay Tools

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