I built my own work table and wedging table based on plans from EAA- 1000. That’s a chapter of the Experiment Aviation Association. They use lots of tables to build planes. I just use them to make pots. The tables are solid as you could ask, especially with a couple hundred pounds of clay or buckets of glaze on the lower shelf. Perfect for the studio.
Over the past couple years I’ve recommended the EAA-1000 plans, and I did again recently for a friend setting up her studio at home. I realized the plans weren’t easily found on my site, so this post should fix that. With great appreciation to Bob Waldmiller and EAA-1000, here’s everything you need to get started…
I took my time and had my friend Skip helping with the construction. We had a mitre saw, which made cutting the 2x4s effortless. We also used a circular saw to cut the plywood, and a cordless drill to put in the woods crews. Lots of carpenters glue, and a few finish nails finished it off. It took us a couple weekends to build two tables. Skip kept one and I have the other. There was nearly enough plywood left to build the wedging table which I constructed using the sample approach as the work table, but with some modifications to make it slightly lower for better wedging, and not so wide. I also beefed up the bottom shelf for clay storage. I have had 400lbs on the shelf with no problem (and no movement during wedging either.)
After two years of use, the tables are still solid and working great. I sanded and resurfaced the table top with the same acrylic I used on the whole table originally last fall. I noticed some woodgrain rising in the surface, probably due to the near constant moisture on it. A bit of sanding and a small can of polyacrylic later, it looks like new.
Barley Hollow Pottery 