How do people use shorts and how short is a short?

[noora]

I use them for pulling stringers and twisties, that way I can leave the stringer/twistie on the rod and thus avoid ending up with a jar full of stringer shorts too :-) I also use them as punties when pulling stringer or twistie from a full rod, again so that I can leave a handle. And one of these days I'll chuck samples in the kiln and see which are suitable for fusing (I know some can go dull).