A guy at the Tacoma studio told me to try a different way to hold the pipe

I was working on a simple tumbler last month, and my gathers kept getting uneven. This older guy, who was just there to pick up a piece, stopped and watched for a minute. He said, 'Try putting your left thumb on the bottom knuckle of your right hand, it'll steady your roll.' I was ready to blow the piece off, but I tried it. It felt weird at first, but after three tries, my gathers were way more even. That small tip saved me a whole afternoon of wonky glass. Anyone else get a random piece of advice that just clicked?

4 comments

4 Comments

erickelly1mo ago

Oh man, that's awesome! Just a tiny thing, but it's actually the bottom knuckle of your right index finger, not the whole hand.

corah751mo ago

My left thumb knuckle does the same thing.

colethomas16d ago

I mean, is this really that deep though? It's just a pipe hold, not like he told you to switch your whole grip style. Try it, don't try it, move on.

harris.andrew1mo ago

Actually, that whole "tiny thing" idea is overrated. Most of the time those random tips just mess up your own flow. I tried that knuckle thing last year and it threw my whole hand position off. Ended up with worse tension in my wrist. Sometimes you just need to grind through the wonky gathers to build your own muscle memory. What works for one person's hands can be a total waste of time for someone else.