Penny Wise Pound Foolish

My dream wheel arrived here at Starworks yesterday. I would like to thank Mike Seivers and the Skutt Company for their generous donation of this wheel to Starworks.
I am teaching an Intensive Course here for the month of May and I want to show why potters should buy products designed by potters and not engineers. Look at tools designed and sold by Micheal Sherrill and Bill Van Gilder. They actually work! Unless of course the engineer is a potter. Enter Takuro Director of Ceramics at Starworks.
Takuro told me these wheels are assembled by hand not like an assembly line. They actually have motors not circuit boards. Something to think about when you live in a rural area. The Skutt wheel was designed by potter Thomas Stuart.
My favourite thing about the wheel is that the wheel head comes off with a little tug so you can take the entire splash pan over to dump in your reclaim and then hose it down. Most wheel heads get rusted on there and are impossible to remove. The tiny splash pans on the other wheels  are really rinky dink.
I also like to hear the speed of the motor. Kinda like the heart beat of a kick wheel or treadle wheel.
At home I have use of my Skutt and a Soldner. I like the big platform of the Soldner to lay out my tools. My dream studio would have a Skutt, a Soldner, a Lockerbie for slow trimming and a Doug Gates treadle wheel for cups and noodle bowls. Dream big, work hard!
People do the damnedest things to save a couple of bucks. The wheel and your kiln are the arteries to the heart of your career.
Use the best tools you can afford. A good wheel is a life time investment. I'm one happy camper that now I can really get down to work.

 potters will spend a lot of time at the wheel. Buy the best one ya can.