You can move this picture: drag it, press and hold then drag on a touch screen, or use the arrow keys.Printable guide 06.19

The Clay Hole University · Advanced Throwing

Using a Propane Torch on the Pottery WheelPrintable pottery guide

The two jobs a torch is for on the wheel, how to hold the flame, and why it never belongs on a pot you just want dry.

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

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

What is the Using a Propane Torch on the Pottery Wheel printable guide?

It is a printable workbook edition of The Clay Hole University’s free “Using a Propane Torch on the Pottery Wheel” lesson. It covers the only two jobs a torch has at the wheel, a shoulder that has to hold a sharp angle and a thin, soaked flare that has to take a collar, what the flame actually does to a wet wall, four kinds of torch side by side, eleven steps for holding the flame, the dangers, and the faults with their causes. On paper it adds a torch log, a one page card for beside the wheel, a quiz with a full answer key, and a glossary.

Prefer to read it online first? The “Using a Propane Torch on the Pottery Wheel” lesson is free, and always will be.

  • 22printable pages, US Letter
  • 8quiz questions, with a full answer key
  • 4hand-picked videos, each with a QR code
  • 17glossary terms in plain language
  • 2workbook pages you fill in yourself
Why a printable, for this one

The hardest part of a torch is knowing when to put it down

A torch takes the water out of one band of a wet wall in seconds. That is exactly why it is so easy to overuse, and why so many potters end up torching every piece out of habit.

This guide keeps it to the two jobs that need it: a shoulder that has to carry a sharp angle or a lean wet clay cannot hold, and a flare so thin and soaked it would fold the moment you collared it. Everything else is a water problem or a patience problem, and the guide says which.

On paper, the stop signs sit by the wheel where you need them, and the torch log shows you, a few rows in, whether you are reaching for the flame for the right reasons.

Look inside

Real pages, for a tool that needs a light hand

These are actual pages from the guide, shown here with the sample watermark. The full guide has none.

  • Page 8 of the “Using a Propane Torch on the Pottery Wheel” printable guide: the kinds of torch, shown with the sample watermark
    The kinds of torchHandheld trigger torch, MAP-Pro, butane and weed burner, side by side: the fuel, what each is like, and where it fits.
  • Page 11 of the “Using a Propane Torch on the Pottery Wheel” printable guide: the dangers, shown with the sample watermark
    The dangersBurns, fire, melted equipment, bad air, the cylinder and your pot, each with what to do about it.
  • Page 15 of the “Using a Propane Torch on the Pottery Wheel” printable guide: the torch log, shown with the sample watermark
    The torch logOne row every time the flame comes out: which job it was, how many bursts, where you stopped and how the band held.
  • Page 3 of the “Using a Propane Torch on the Pottery Wheel” printable guide: before you begin, shown with the sample watermark
    Before you beginWhat you will learn, what you need, the pitfalls and what success looks like, before page one.
Flip through the free sampleTen pages, free, no email required.
Paper beats the screen here

Why a torch lesson belongs on paper

Both your hands are busy, the wheel is turning and there is an open flame in one of them. That is no time to be scrolling a phone.

  • No screen near the flame

    A printed card propped by the splash pan holds the stop signs where you can see them without putting the torch down.

  • It holds what one look cannot

    How many bursts, where you stopped, how the band behaved a minute later. Written down, a pattern shows up after a few pots.

  • It keeps the two jobs in front of you

    The first panel of the wheelside card asks whether this is one of the two jobs at all. Most of the time the honest answer is a sponge.

  • One card lives by the wheel for good

    The two jobs, the flame and the stop signs on a single page, with everything else taken out.

How the guide is built

Built around two jobs and a flame you judge by eye

Every guide in the series is designed as a workbook first and a document second. For this one, that means:

  • A learning dashboard before page one

    What you will learn, what you need, the mistakes that get made first, and what a firmed band actually looks like.

  • The complete lesson, redesigned for paper

    The two jobs, the seven facts behind the flame, when never to reach for it, the kinds of torch, and how to hold the flame step by step.

  • A labeled drawing of where the flame goes

    A sharp shoulder and a flared rim in section, with the inner cone, the band, the top that stays soft and the splash pan marked.

  • The dangers, with a section of their own

    An open flame next to water, plastic and people, set out plainly so nobody learns them the hard way.

  • Videos you can reach from a printed page

    Four videos chosen for what they show, from a long two camera session to a fourteen second rule of thumb, each with a code that goes straight to it.

  • Plain words for the jargon

    A glossary from the inner cone and the flame lock to MAP-Pro and the weed burner, written the way we would explain it at the wheel.

Why the University is free

The lesson is free. It always will be.

All of the teaching in this guide comes from the free “Using a Propane Torch on the Pottery Wheel” lesson at The Clay Hole University. No paywall, no sign-up.

A torch is the most dramatic tool in the studio, and the one people most often use for the wrong reason. Two jobs, and that is all. Explaining that should not cost anybody anything, so the lesson stays free.

The University is free and stays free. The guides are the version rebuilt for paper with an unreasonable amount of care, and buying one keeps the free side going.

Thank you. Genuinely.

Dan Pearce, founder of The Clay Hole
Collect them

Build a little pottery library

Every guide carries a permanent number. This one is 06.19, the nineteenth guide in Advanced Throwing. The series is designed to live together in a binder, section by section, so the craft ends up on your shelf in the order you learn it.

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

  • 5guides in your cart1 on us
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Where this leads

The two jobs, in full

These lessons pick up where this one leaves off. Each one is free to read now.

Good questions

Before you buy

Is this different from the free lesson?
The teaching is the same, and the free lesson is complete. The printable adds a torch log, a one page card for beside the wheel, a printed quiz with an answer key, and a glossary.
Does it tell me how far away to hold the torch?
It tells you how to judge it, which is more useful than a number. Every torch throws a different flame, so the guide reads distance from the flame itself: the bright inner cone stays off the clay and the soft outer flame does the work.
Which torch should I buy?
The guide compares four kinds and says where each fits, without recommending a store. For an ordinary pot on the wheel, the handheld propane trigger torch is the everyday choice.
Is it too advanced for me?
It is written for potters who already throw shoulders and collar necks. If you are not there yet, the free lessons on sharp shoulders and collaring come first, and this guide will still be here.
I am not at The Clay Hole. Is it still useful?
Yes. The two jobs, the flame and the dangers apply at any wheel. The page about torches at our studio is marked as ours.
Do I need a fancy printer?
No. It is designed 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.
Can I print it in black and white?
Yes. Nothing depends on color.
Can I use it on an iPad or laptop instead?
Yes. Every QR code in the guide is also a tappable link, so on a screen you just tap instead of scanning. We would still keep the screen away from the flame.
Can I print just part of it?
Yes. The torch log and the wheelside card each stand on their own page, so you can print fresh copies whenever you need them.
How do I get it after I buy?
Right after checkout you get a download link by email and on your order confirmation page. Each link works up to seven times.
What if the guide gets updated?
Every edition carries a version number. When we correct or improve a guide, everyone who bought it gets an email with the new edition at no charge.
Can I share it with my class or studio?
Please don’t. It is licensed for your own personal use. Anyone can read the full lesson free online, and the printable is here if they want their own copy.

Ten seconds, a pause, and down it goes

Print the wheelside card tonight and prop it by the splash pan. Next time you reach for the torch, read the first panel before you light it.

Get the printable · $5.00

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