Pottery tools, and the handful that do most of the work

Printed prices, verified

Four questions before you buy a tool set

1. Are you throwing or hand building?. Throwing wants ribs, a wire, a needle and calipers. Hand building wants a rolling surface, a serrated kidney for scoring, and something to cut a straight edge. The overlap is smaller than a combined set suggests.
2. Wood, metal or rubber?. A wooden rib shapes, a metal kidney cuts and compresses, a rubber kidney smooths without removing material. Most people buy one of each before they buy a second of any.
3. Is this a tool or a consumable?. Wires stretch and break, sponges wear out, and trimming tools blunt. Those are bought again. A good rib lasts for decades.
4. What is the finish you want?. Most surface problems are solved at the leather-hard stage with a kidney rather than by sanding a dry pot. That matters for dust as much as for finish: dry sanding is the operation on this shelf that puts silica into the air.

Calipers, and why both spellings are here

Calipers measure a lid against its gallery, which is the one measurement in pottery that has to be right rather than close. British and American spellings are both in wide use and both are searched in real volume, so this index carries both rather than deciding which is correct.

A simple pair of double-ended calipers does everything a hobby potter needs. The sprung versions are quicker to use and easier to knock out of true.

Trimming tools and the state of the clay

Trimming works only in a narrow window: too wet and the pot distorts on the wheel, too dry and the tool skates and chatters. Leather hard means the clay holds its shape but still marks under a thumbnail, and every trimming problem people ask about is a timing problem rather than a tool problem.

A loop or ribbon tool removes material quickly; a fixed trimming tool with a shaped end gives a cleaner foot ring. Both blunt, and a blunt trimming tool is what makes chatter marks.

The tools that keep the dust down

A sponge, a bucket and a mop are safety equipment in a pottery studio, and they are the cheapest items in it. Wet-clean the wheel, the bats and the floor; sand at the leather-hard stage with a kidney rather than dry with paper; and keep reclaim wet rather than letting it dry into powder.

Where dry work is unavoidable, a fitted respirator rather than a dust mask is what filters respirable crystalline silica, and it is worth more than any tool on this page.

Common questions

What tools does a beginner need?

A wooden rib, a metal kidney, a trimming tool, a cutting wire and a sponge. Everything else can wait until a specific job asks for it.

Calipers or callipers?

The same tool. Callipers is the usual British spelling and calipers the American one; both are searched heavily in the UK, which is why both appear on this site.

Are cheap tool sets worth buying?

As a way of finding out which shapes you reach for, yes. As a permanent kit, the individual tools you end up using daily are worth buying properly, and there are usually four of them.

How do I stop chatter marks when trimming?

Sharpen or replace the tool, and check the clay is properly leather hard rather than dry. Chatter is nearly always a blunt edge on clay that has gone too far.

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