The Cardew Wheel (NZ Version)
This is the story that I’ve heard about how we have a few Cardew Wheels in New Zealand. In the 1960s Peter Stichbury travelled to Abuja in Africa to work with Michael Cardew and when he returned home to NZ, brought back the plans for the Leach Treadle wheel and the Cardew Special wheel.
The Leach Treadle wheel was then made by Seaboard Joinery in Auckland and sold to potters throughout New Zealand and was also bought by the Education Department as part of the pottery equipment distributed to schools in the 1970s. I have 3 of these types of wheels and they are the most delightful tools to make pots on.
I knew Peter Stichbury for many years and remember visiting his studio as a teenager. The Cardew wheel was one of Peter’s main tools used to make his pots and I’ve been keen to have my own Cardew wheel for ages.
They are rare, maybe only a dozen were made and I’m very lucky a friend managed to find one and sell it to me. I have spent a little bit of time painting the woodwork and adjusting the mechanism. These wheels (also built by Seaboard Joinery) utilised wheels from Bren Gun carriages that were surplus World War II equipment – these became the heavy flywheel.
The wheel is spun by a motor driving a belt that rubs against the flywheel, spinning it up to a maximum speed, then you take your foot off the pedal, the motor switches off and the wheel slows down due to the drag of your hands on the clay. For small pots, once up to speed, you’re already centred and dropping the hole, so then the entire throwing and ribbing process is done as the wheel speed slowly drops, the final drag of the wire under the pot also stops the wheel rotation. So the best way to describe such a wheel is a partly motorised momentum wheel and they are a delight to use, different from the treadle, but still have the same body position and a lovely gentle feel when making pots.
