Hydrobats are made of Hydrostone plaster making them more durable than regular plaster bats. All Hydrobats are casted with two rubber grommets that won't wear out and keep a tight grip over bat pins. Hydrobats are designed to absorb moisture from your pots allowing you to release your work without the use of a wire cutter. So go ahead and start making that dinner plate set you've been putting off --you'll never wire cut through the bottom of a piece again.
If you like throwing on plaster bats, you will love using a Hydro-Bat! The Hydro-Bat was developed in Philadelphia by Mark Lueders. Because the Hydro-Bat is made of Hydro-Stone instead of the standard pottery plaster, it’s full eight to ten times stronger than similar products. Hydro-Stone is a US Gypsum material containing cement and crystalline silica so it’s very absorbent, AND very strong -- you will find the surface of our bats to be scratch resistant, while the bats’ water-absorbing properties fully eliminate the need to cut your pieces off of the bat with a wire.
The Hydro-Bat has been designed to fit on standard wheel heads with bat pins placed ten inches apart. Each bat features durable hard rubber grommets that have been cast into the underside, so you can be assured of a snug fit when you place one of our products on your wheel. Likewise, these grommets will not swell or change shape -- you will find they will fit perfectly over your standard ⅜” bat pin. Our smaller Hydro-Bats (8.5” and 10” diameter) are perfect for maximizing your space when you throw smaller forms, such as bowls or mugs; because the grommets on these bats is just 6” apart, we carry an adapter to make sure that they will fit onto any wheel. If you have a pottery wheel with no drilled bat pin holes, no problem! Many of our customers have used our Hydro-Bats with a bat gripper with great success.