What is a saggarmaker's bottom knocker?

A SAGGAR is a fireclay container, usually oval or round, used to protect pottery from marking by flames and smoke during firing in a bottle oven.

The SAGGARMAKER, is a skilled man, producing the finished saggar, using his thumb to make a near join between the side and the base.

The BOTTOM KNOCKER (a young boy) made the base of the saggar from a lump of fireclay which he knocked into a metal ring using a wooden mallet or mawl (pronounced mow).

The FRAME FILLER (a male apprentice) flattened a mass of clay and produced a rectangle which was wrapped round a drum to make the side of the saggar.

The finished saggar was fired in the kiln and lasted for 30 to 40 firings - if they were not broken

Pottery lads in 1921 with two mawls, the tool used for bottom knocking.

Pottery lads in 1921 with two mawls, the tool used for bottom knocking.
Photo: Gladstone Pottery Museum

 

A frame-filler and a bottom-knocker at work side by side in the early 1900's

A frame-filler and a bottom-knocker at work side by side in the early 1900's
A filled bottom ring on a shord (metal plate) sits on a lump of marl in the foreground.
Photo: Gladstone Pottery Museum

 

A saggar-maker at making the side of a saggar on a wooden former.

A saggar-maker at making 
the side of a saggar 
on a wooden former.

Photo: Potworks

 A saggar-maker assembling a base and side.

A saggar-maker 
assembling a base and side.

Photo: Memories of Stoke-on-Trent

 

A saggar being loaded with ware for firing.  A saggar being loaded with ware for firing.

A saggar being loaded with ware for firing. picture: The Potteries

Placing wares in saggars required special knowledge. Plates were 'reared'
or 'dottled'; that is carefully separated from each other by thimbles to prevent
the glaze from making them fuse together in the glost firing.

Placing saggars in a kiln

Placing saggars in a kiln

photo: Potworks