The best cut off wire for clay is Music Wire or Piano Wire. It’s durable, flexible, and strong enough even with harder clay. Under normal use, a few feet of wire can last for years, making this the perfect choice for a DIY cut off wire or as replacement wire for a wedging table. One package of almost 200 feet of this wire costs about $20 and that might be a lifetime supply of cut off wire for your studio.
Pair it with a 4 or 5 inch hook and eye turnbuckle and you’ve got a flexible, adjustable cut off wire for your wedging table. Images of how to set up a cut off wire are below. (Shop 4 pack of turnbuckles at Amazon) You may have better luck finding a single turnbuckle at a local hardware store.
The 0.031 inch music wire is preferred but if that’s not available, try the slightly thicker 0.045 inch music wire. There are a variety of other thicknesses available.
Precision Brand Steel Alloy Music Wire
0.031 in, approx, 185 feet, $21
0.045 in, approx. 185 feet, $20
There’s a lot more you can do with music wire:
> Use to hang plates, bowls or tiles
> Super-strong picture frame wire
> Attach test tiles to screws on the wall
> ??? Sky’s the limit but some extra wire always comes in handy when you need it
Here’s a few pictures of music wire in use with a wedging table:
Here’s a close up of the eye and eye turnbuckle that can be used to fine tune the tension on the wire. This helps to get the wire very taught.
To “tie” the wire to the bottom of the wedging table, we just wrap and twist it a few times. Pliers are helpful for this task. This example is from a Bailey Wedging Table, but you can also screw in an eyelet screw if you have a wooden edge on your wedging table.
Our last tip is to take a soft plastic blue rib (shop at amazon), screw a hole in it, and attach it to the table with rope or twine. With this set up, you’ll always have a scraper handy to clean your wedging table.
How do you set up your wedging table? Let us know in the comments.
