Recycling clay saves money only when the batch comes out usable. Here are the seven mistakes that ruin reclaimed clay and how to avoid each one.
Category Archives: Pug Mills & Mixers
The best pugmill for pottery is the one that matches the condition of your clay and the amount of clay you process. That sounds obvious, but it is where most pugmill buying decisions go wrong. A potter who mainly needs to de-air already workable clay has a different requirement from a studio that wants to […]
A pottery extruder can make some of the most repetitive parts of handbuilding much faster. You can use one to make coils, handles, tubes, trim, hollow forms, and repeatable clay profiles. However, not every pottery extruder is built for the same job. A small hand extruder can be perfect for decorative work. A larger wall-mounted […]
A clay extruder can turn a frustrating handbuilding process into a much faster and more repeatable one. Instead of shaping every coil, handle, tube, or decorative profile by hand, you can push clay through a die and create consistent forms in seconds. That makes a clay extruder useful for beginners, production potters, teachers, sculptors, and […]
A used pugmill can save you a lot of money when you’re building a pottery studio. It can also become an expensive mistake if you buy one without checking the motor, auger, vacuum system, barrel, and overall condition. The good news is that you don’t need to be a mechanical expert to make a smarter […]
A used pugmill can save a pottery studio thousands of dollars, especially when a new machine would put too much pressure on the equipment budget. The catch is that pugmills are heavy, mechanical machines with motors, augers, bearings, seals, barrels, and sometimes vacuum systems that all need to work together. That makes condition more important […]
Choosing between pug mill brands mostly comes down to two names. Peter Pugger and Shimpo dominate studio-scale pug mills. Both build genuinely reliable machines, but they work differently under the hood. Peter Pugger’s compact models are true pugger-mixers, built to take bone-dry scraps straight from the bucket. Shimpo’s compact models are traditionally pug-only, meaning your […]
A pug mill needing repair usually shows warning signs well before it fails completely. Pulsing extrusion, unusual noise, and a motor drawing more current than normal are the clearest signals. Catching these early prevents a small fix from turning into a full rebuild. Most of these signs are easy to spot once you know what […]
The Peter Pugger VPM-7 is genuinely marketed as a single-potter studio machine. It’s not built as a classroom tool for shared, heavy daily use. Its 14-pound batch capacity works well for one person’s regular reclaim. A busy teaching studio with multiple students generates far more scrap clay than one VPM-7 can comfortably handle. Whether it’s […]
Ever wonder why it’s called a pug mill? The name comes from “pugging,” an old word for working wet clay by hand until it’s smooth and workable. The term first showed up in English print in the 1820s. Back then, it described machines used in brickmaking as much as pottery. The name has stuck for […]
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