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The Clay Hole University · Hand Building

How to Use a Pottery Bevel Cutter for Clean Mitered CornersPrintable pottery guide

Crisp, mitered slab corners with a bevel cutter: which face goes down, what the numbers on the tool really mean, the angle for any shape, and how to bevel the hatched edges on a paper template, with a log for every corner you test.

$5.005 guides, 1 free
  • Skill level: Beginner
  • 24 printable pages
  • 4 video picks
  • 8-question quiz + answer key

Flip through the free sample
  • Instant download
  • Prints on any printer
  • The lesson stays free
The printable, at a glance

What is the How to Use a Pottery Bevel Cutter for Clean Mitered Corners printable guide?

It is the free “How to Use a Pottery Bevel Cutter for Clean Mitered Corners” lesson rebuilt for paper: what a bevel cutter is and why a mitered corner hides its seam, the cut in six steps, the two names every angle has, the angle for any number of sides, beveling the hatched edges on a paper template, the knife and ruler method for any angle, and joining the corner so it holds. Built to be printed, kept beside the table and written in.

Prefer to read it online first? The “How to Use a Pottery Bevel Cutter for Clean Mitered Corners” lesson is free, and always will be.

  • 24printable pages, US Letter
  • 8quiz questions, with a full answer key
  • 4hand-picked videos, each with a QR code
  • 11glossary terms in plain language
  • 2workbook pages you fill in yourself
For anyone who wants corners that look built, not stuck together

One wire, one angle, and a corner with nothing to hide.

A butt joint puts the end of one wall on the side of the next, and you spend the evening smoothing it over. Bevel both edges and the walls meet right on the corner instead: crisp outside, strong inside, and a texture or a carved line runs straight round it.

A bevel cutter makes that cut the same all the way along, every time. The two things nobody tells you are which face goes down and which way the tool counts its angle. Get those two right and a box closes square, a hexagon closes, and an octagon is just arithmetic.

This is also the guide that makes our paper templates sing. Every hatched edge on a template is a bevel waiting for this tool, and the guide shows exactly how to read the printed angle, nick the edge, turn the piece and cut it in one pass.

Look inside

Real pages, ready for the table

These are actual pages from the guide, shown here with the sample watermark.

  • Page 3 of the “How to Use a Pottery Bevel Cutter for Clean Mitered Corners” printable guide: before you begin, shown with the sample watermark
    Before you beginOne page before the first cut: what you will learn, what you will need, what is worth knowing first, the common pitfalls and what success looks like.
  • Page 4 of the “How to Use a Pottery Bevel Cutter for Clean Mitered Corners” printable guide: seven names, one tool, shown with the sample watermark
    Seven names, one toolThe opening of the guide and what a bevel cutter actually is: a wire on a fixed angle, the settings most tools come in, and what each one is for.
  • Page 14 of the “How to Use a Pottery Bevel Cutter for Clean Mitered Corners” printable guide: reading a corner that went wrong, shown with the sample watermark
    Reading a corner that went wrongThe last three failure cards, from a wavy face to a broken point, then the first of the questions that come up at the table.
  • Page 17 of the “How to Use a Pottery Bevel Cutter for Clean Mitered Corners” printable guide: every angle you test, shown with the sample watermark
    Every angle you testA log for every corner you test: the tool and setting, the clay and thickness, whether it closed and the one change for next time, with two questions to answer after a few rows.
Flip through the free sampleTen pages, free, no email required.
Why this one belongs on paper

A page that lives beside the slab

A bevel gets cut with clay on your hands and a slab on the table. Paper goes there with you.

  • The angle table at a glance

    Triangle to octagon, each with the cut from upright, the cut from the table and how much shorter the inside face comes out.

  • The bevel, on one page

    The cut, the angles, the template marks and the fixes for a corner that disappoints, on a single sheet for the table.

  • A log for your own tool

    A few rows in, you know which way your bevel cutter counts and which settings close a corner in your clay.

  • It does not mind clay

    A page can sit next to a wet slab and a half beveled panel, and it never locks its screen while your hands are full.

How this one is built

Rebuilt for paper, not printed from a web page

Every guide in the series is set from scratch for print. Here is what that meant for this one.

  • Read against our other lessons

    We checked it against our template design, leather hard, lidded box and joining lessons, so the guide says what those pages say about the same slab and the same corner.

  • Checked against our own templates

    The way our paper templates mark a bevel and count its angle was read from the templates themselves, including the edges the origami packs lean the other way.

  • The angles, done by hand

    Every angle in the table was worked out and checked, along with how much each one shortens the inside face, so the numbers agree with each other and with the drawings.

  • Written for a reader in any studio

    The lines about our own studio are written so they make sense to a potter at any table, at home or anywhere else.

  • Video notes that claim no more than the videos

    Each video note was written from the video’s own title and description, so it promises only what the video says it covers.

  • Codes that keep working

    Every link is a short Clay Hole address. If a page moves, we point the address at its new home and your printed copy still goes to the right place.

Why the University is free

The lesson is free. It always will be.

All of the teaching in this guide comes from the free “How to Use a Pottery Bevel Cutter for Clean Mitered Corners” lesson, and that lesson is not going anywhere.

A bevel cutter is about the simplest tool on the table: a wire, a body and an angle that never changes. What it buys you is a corner that reads as a corner.

Make a square box first, at 45 degrees, where the numbers cannot trip you. Then pick a template with six or eight corners and build it.

Dan Pearce, founder of The Clay Hole
The series

Build a little pottery library

Each printable guide in The Clay Hole University series is one free lesson rebuilt for paper, with workbook pages, a glossary and a quiz whose answer key explains every answer. Its number never changes, so the guide you print this year sits in the same place in the series next year.

Put any five printable guides in your cart and the cheapest one is on us. Put in nine and the two cheapest are on us. It happens automatically at checkout, no code to remember.

See every printable guide, or every printable we sell on one page.

  • 5guides in your cart1 on us
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Sits next to

Three lessons that pick up where the bevel leaves off

Each one is free to read online, and the codes in the guide take you straight there.

Questions

Good to know

How is this different from the free lesson?
The teaching is the same, and the free lesson is not going anywhere. The guide is that teaching rebuilt for paper: a learning dashboard at the front, the angle table, a log for every corner you test, a one page reference, a glossary and a quiz with an answer key that explains every answer.
Do I need to own a bevel cutter?
No. The guide teaches the tool, and it also teaches the knife and ruler method, which cuts any angle at all, including the ones a fixed tool cannot.
Is this too early for me?
It is marked Beginner. It assumes you can roll a slab and make a scored and slipped join. The arithmetic is one division, and the table does it for you.
Does it work with any paper template, not just yours?
Yes. Any pattern that marks its bevels works the same way once you know which way it counts the angle, and the guide shows how to find out on a scrap. It reads our own templates in detail.
Do I need to be a member of The Clay Hole to use it?
No. It works at any table, at home or in any studio. The line about our own studio, that members can use our bevel cutters, is written so it makes sense to a potter anywhere.
Do I need a fancy printer?
No. It is set for an ordinary home or office printer on regular US Letter paper, with nothing important near the edges, so normal printer margins cut nothing off.
Does it print in black and white?
Yes. The text and the tables are black on white, so they print clearly in grey. Color is used for headings, small labels, the step numbers and the drawings’ numbered callouts.
Can I read it on a screen?
Yes. It is a regular PDF that opens on a phone, tablet or computer, and every code in it is also a link you can tap.
Can I print just part of it?
Yes. The angle table, the test log and the one page reference are the pages most worth keeping beside the table. They are numbered pages like any other, so you can print those and read the rest on a screen.
How does delivery work?
It is a digital download. The link arrives by email and on the order confirmation page right after checkout, so you can have it printed before your next session.
What happens if the guide is updated?
Every edition carries its version number on the last page. When we correct or improve one, the new edition replaces the old one in the shop, and we can send the updated link to anybody who already bought it.
Can I share it?
It is licensed for your own use. Print as many copies for yourself as you like, on as many of your own devices as you like. Please do not pass the file on, upload it or use it with a class or a group without asking us first.

Square edge, face down, one steady pull

Get the angle right on a scrap, cut every edge the same, and build a corner you never have to smooth over. The guide keeps all of it in front of you at the table.

Get the guide · $5.00

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