Yixing

Teachronicles
Posts: 436
Joined: Tue Dec 12, 2017 1:13 am
Location: SF Bay Area, CA

Fri Jun 26, 2020 5:34 pm

@TeaTotaling yeup, it's the Zag one.

@Mark-S yeah it was more than $150

@Victoria the hairline on the side only goes half way up the pot, starting on the underside actually. That is why the staples are only in the lower half. I'll be away from home till tomorrow evening, I can get a pic of the inside then, but, the staple holes don't go all the way to the inside, which is why water/tea won't leak out of them.
User avatar
TeaTotaling
Posts: 519
Joined: Sat Apr 25, 2020 3:08 pm
Location: Ohio

Fri Jun 26, 2020 6:26 pm

@Teachronicles Oh noooo! 🥺 How did it happen?? Did it take an accidental fall??

It pains me to see, I can only imagine how hard you must have taken this. I feel your pain. Thankfully the repair looks to be on point.
Teachronicles
Posts: 436
Joined: Tue Dec 12, 2017 1:13 am
Location: SF Bay Area, CA

Fri Jun 26, 2020 6:34 pm

TeaTotaling wrote:
Fri Jun 26, 2020 6:26 pm
Teachronicles Oh noooo! 🥺 How did it happen?? Did it take an accidental fall??

It pains me to see, I can only imagine how hard you must have taken this. I feel your pain. Thankfully the repair looks to be on point.
It was rough when I first noticed them, forsure. At first I thought I had caused it from not properly preheating the pot the first time I used it. But I'm not so sure now, based on the sound of rubbing the lid to the pot, a friend thought the clay sounded very delicate. They took a look at it and said they thought it might have been firing cracks that were just exacerbated with use. The lid may very well have been me as I set it down hard/dropped it into the lid opening one time, but they were skeptical of that as well. Either way, it is fixed up, looking good and ready for brewing, with extra extra caution now.
Mark-S
Posts: 735
Joined: Sun Nov 24, 2019 6:05 pm
Location: Germany

Fri Jun 26, 2020 7:08 pm

Teachronicles wrote:
Fri Jun 26, 2020 6:34 pm
The lid may very well have been me as I set it down hard/dropped it into the lid opening one time, but they were skeptical of that as well.
I really doubt that. Lids are not that fragile in my experience.
User avatar
Bok
Vendor
Posts: 5782
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2017 8:55 am
Location: Taiwan

Fri Jun 26, 2020 7:59 pm

Mark-S wrote:
Fri Jun 26, 2020 7:08 pm
Teachronicles wrote:
Fri Jun 26, 2020 6:34 pm
The lid may very well have been me as I set it down hard/dropped it into the lid opening one time, but they were skeptical of that as well.
I really doubt that. Lids are not that fragile in my experience.
You maybe haven’t seen a Zhuni in the flesh like @Teachronicles’s the lid skirt is almost paper thin... so fragile yes, very much so. But- I doubt a crack like the one seen on the lid would be caused by setting it down, that looks more like a heat crack, I got a couple of pots with this, quite common with antiques.

The only way to know if that crack was caused by firing irregularities would have been to do a sound test before it happened.

Very nice repair by the way, I think it looks better like this actually! Nice job by Hassan. He is really talented and has a fine sense of aesthetics.
Mark-S
Posts: 735
Joined: Sun Nov 24, 2019 6:05 pm
Location: Germany

Fri Jun 26, 2020 8:40 pm

@Bok

Oh, I did not know that @Teachronicles lid is almost paper-thin. It did not look that thin on the photos. I don't own a Zhuni pot, but I have seen many people handling Zhuni pots (even antiques) without extra caution. On YouTube there are many examples, like this one:



(Painful to watch :lol:)

I never would have guessed that you could damage a lid by dropping it too hard on the teapot. :oops:

About the heat cracks... on teachat someone recommended pouring the hot water over the lid into the pot to prevent cracks. He said that the lid would not be as fragile as the body. Is this a bad advice? Sorry if this question is dumb. It seemed reasonable to me.
User avatar
Bok
Vendor
Posts: 5782
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2017 8:55 am
Location: Taiwan

Fri Jun 26, 2020 10:55 pm

@Mark-S not a dumb question at all. I would go further: I warm a Zhuni or any old pot from the bottom side outwards > upside outwards > inside. The lid doesn’t need to be preheated.

By paper thin I was only referring to the lid skirt.

Many people are careless. The pot from the video sounds quite thick walled and possibly not pure Zhuni either. I don’t see anyone with antiques doing that... that would be a bit mental to risk 1000s worth for a haphazard break.
User avatar
OCTO
Posts: 1120
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2018 6:25 pm
Location: Penang, Malaysia

Sat Jun 27, 2020 2:12 am

pantry wrote:
Sun Jun 21, 2020 9:39 am
Bok wrote:
Sun Jun 21, 2020 8:51 am
also does not hurt to have more than one pot... :lol:
It hurts my wallet, Bok
@pantry

The pain won't last... :lol: :lol: :lol:
User avatar
OCTO
Posts: 1120
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2018 6:25 pm
Location: Penang, Malaysia

Sat Jun 27, 2020 2:25 am

Mark-S wrote:
Fri Jun 26, 2020 8:40 pm
Bok

Oh, I did not know that Teachronicles lid is almost paper-thin. It did not look that thin on the photos. I don't own a Zhuni pot, but I have seen many people handling Zhuni pots (even antiques) without extra caution. On YouTube there are many examples, like this one:



(Painful to watch :lol:)

I never would have guessed that you could damage a lid by dropping it too hard on the teapot. :oops:

About the heat cracks... on teachat someone recommended pouring the hot water over the lid into the pot to prevent cracks. He said that the lid would not be as fragile as the body. Is this a bad advice? Sorry if this question is dumb. It seemed reasonable to me.
It would be fair to say that the ring from the teapots are not heard accurately. Personally, I prefer to test the ring in person rather than through video. Each person's audio is projected differently from their devices. There is no harm in testing the ring of your pot, as long as it's done carefully and correctly.

Cheers!!
Mark-S
Posts: 735
Joined: Sun Nov 24, 2019 6:05 pm
Location: Germany

Sat Jun 27, 2020 4:53 am

@Bok

Thanks :)
Bok wrote:
Fri Jun 26, 2020 10:55 pm
I don’t see anyone with antiques doing that... that would be a bit mental to risk 1000s worth for a haphazard break.
In the video he does the same to a mid-Qing Zhuni pot. :lol:

@OCTO

And do you think it's careful enough in the video? I usually drop the lid a little on the opening instead. Is this a good method?
User avatar
Youzi
Posts: 533
Joined: Tue Sep 24, 2019 1:03 pm
Location: Shaxi, Yunnan, China
Contact:

Sat Jun 27, 2020 6:29 am

Mark-S wrote:
Sat Jun 27, 2020 4:53 am
Bok

Thanks :)
Bok wrote:
Fri Jun 26, 2020 10:55 pm
I don’t see anyone with antiques doing that... that would be a bit mental to risk 1000s worth for a haphazard break.
In the video he does the same to a mid-Qing Zhuni pot. :lol:

OCTO

And do you think it's careful enough in the video? I usually drop the lid a little on the opening instead. Is this a good method?
I usually just use one of those thin wooden tea scoops to lightly tap the body. It has the same effect, but 0 risk. It's much safer then all the other methods involving the lid etc.
User avatar
TeaTotaling
Posts: 519
Joined: Sat Apr 25, 2020 3:08 pm
Location: Ohio

Sat Jun 27, 2020 9:21 am

Bok wrote:
Fri Jun 26, 2020 10:55 pm
Mark-S not a dumb question at all. I would go further: I warm a Zhuni or any old pot from the bottom side outwards > upside outwards > inside. The lid doesn’t need to be preheated.

By paper thin I was only referring to the lid skirt.

Many people are careless. The pot from the video sounds quite thick walled and possibly not pure Zhuni either. I don’t see anyone with antiques doing that... that would be a bit mental to risk 1000s worth for a haphazard break.
I will be changing my method. Makes more sense to start bottom to top. I was preheating under warm sink water top to bottom, with the lid on, before warming the inside.

I make sure the sink water is warm to start, then progressively increase the temperature. After sufficiently warming under the sink, I heat water to ~180°F and let the pot come to temperature. Next ~205°F, let that sit for a couple minutes. Then I start brewing with fresh water off the boil.

@Bok does this sound safe, in your opinion? @OCTO, @Youzi, @steanze, @.m., and anyone else feel free to critique or further share your methods. I'd rather learn the right way, instead of the hard way.

Might be time to start using modern pots more often than not.
User avatar
steanze
Vendor
Posts: 985
Joined: Mon Oct 09, 2017 4:17 pm
Location: USA

Sat Jun 27, 2020 9:48 am

TeaTotaling wrote:
Sat Jun 27, 2020 9:21 am

I will be changing my method. Makes more sense to start bottom to top. I was preheating under warm sink water top to bottom, with the lid on, before warming the inside.

I make sure the sink water is warm to start, then progressively increase the temperature. After sufficiently warming under the sink, I heat water to ~180°F and let the pot come to temperature. Next ~205°F, let that sit for a couple minutes. Then I start brewing with fresh water off the boil.

Bok does this sound safe, in your opinion? OCTO, Youzi, steanze, @.m., and anyone else feel free to critique or further share your methods. I'd rather learn the right way, instead of the hard way.

Might be time to start using modern pots more often than not.
Depends on how much it cools down between the sink and when you pour 180f water. Which depends on your room temperature. If I want to be careful, I pour room temperature water in the pot, then I empty about half, and add hot water from the kettle slowly (you can first pour the water from the kettle in a pitcher and from the pitcher to the pot if you want to be extra careful), then when it's full let rest for 30 seconds-1 minute, pour half out, refill with hot water from the kettle, rest for 30 seconds - 1 minute, pour all out, add tea and start brewing.
User avatar
TeaTotaling
Posts: 519
Joined: Sat Apr 25, 2020 3:08 pm
Location: Ohio

Sat Jun 27, 2020 9:51 am

@steanze Good point. Room temp hovers around 71. I leave hot water from the sink in the teapot while bringing the kettle to 180°F, so it's pretty instantaneous. I'm all about being extra careful.

Antiques are great, but I have taken a newfound interest in modern pots. I'll give the older pots time to rest, so as not to risk overuse. Modern for me ✋🏻

Thanks for sharing!
Last edited by TeaTotaling on Sat Jun 27, 2020 9:58 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
steanze
Vendor
Posts: 985
Joined: Mon Oct 09, 2017 4:17 pm
Location: USA

Sat Jun 27, 2020 9:55 am

TeaTotaling wrote:
Sat Jun 27, 2020 9:51 am
steanze Good point. Room temp hovers around 71. I leave hot water from the sink in the teapot while bringing the kettle to 180°F, so it's pretty instantaneous.

Thanks for sharing!
One thing I like about the approach I suggested is that I don't need to go back and forth between tea table and sink. I just dump the water in a waste water bowl, so everything happens at the tea table. It is fast and convenient, and it eliminates the need to transport the teapot from a place to another, which always adds some risk.
Post Reply