What is fire clay and where to get it in

nature

All refractory are based on fire clay, what it contains,

alumina and silica. In fact all high heat
resistant firebricks are made of fire clay. Like heat
resistant mortars, insulation, pottery, ceramics, ceramic
blankets or ceramic tiles on space shuttle, origins of
these start from the fire clay, its melting starts at 1600
Celsius C or 2912 Fahrenheit F point. Only special
manufacturing technologies of those expensive
materials change their properties and usage
applications. But we are not going to space, at least not
for now.
What is Fire Clay?

Fire clay is a normal mud, simple as that, but a mud

with higher Alumina (AL) content. Has usually whiterlighter color. Whitish to yellowish, pinkish, light
brownish. Its also cheap as mud. Refractory or pottery
suppliers sell it. Even if it comes in dry powdered form
in bags, fire clay is still very heavy (physical properties
calculators for various refractory materials.) You only
need one bag per dome if you buy the clay in dry
powdered form. Commonly Alumina content of fire clay
ranges between 24% 34% Al and Silica from 50% to
60 percent percentage calculator.
In mass sense, even when in a dry powdered form with
density of 1.303 gram/cm3 or correspondingly 0.753
ounce/cu-in, fire clay is still a heavy product; when
compared with cement for instance. Every time I lift the
bag I notice that. With this online fire_clay volume vs.
weight tool, measuring units can be easily
converted/calculated.
Where to find & collect fire clay in nature?

OK, maybe no one sells fire clay in your location. No

worries you wouldnt be the only person in this
situation. Close your eyes and think about this, give it
a go a several times. Think of a place outside where
you saw mud of a lighter color. I mean a place with
water soil erosion or excavation work going on. When
wet, mud is soft and sticky without any organic matter
in it. Not like a top soil, dont confuse these two
(organic material would burn off.) Mud can be found
usually deeper below top soil. Its everywhere around
us but can not be seen until its uncovered. You have to
find a spot where it is not mixed with sand or rocks, and
remember the light color. You need to uncover a mud
which has similar structure to the play dough (when
wet.) Sounds like interesting outing doesnt it(?), I
wouldnt mind to go out with a good friend (if I had
one;) and do this now. Just dig it out.
Fire clay shrinks about 10 to 15% after water dries out
so take home an extra bucket more. You can make a
test if you like;
1. Stretch and flatten piece of the clay into 13cm or 5
inches long strip

2. With a sharp object make 2 marks in it EXACT

10cm or 4 between the marks
3. Leave the clay to dry
4. Re measure when dry to see the shrinkage
difference
Some Potters still keep their own clay source spots as
the worlds best kept secrets. Own sourcing was very
common years ago but for sure its many artists hobby
and pride not buying commercially packed modern clay
bodies. Its different however with quantity producing
potters. Lots of enthusiasts dig for the clay. Mix fire
clay with sieved fine sand (Loam is great) to make the
top refractory mortar! Mix it with coarse river or creek
sand and make clay adobe tiles out of the stuff. Mixing
send into a wet clay by walking in it, or mixing sand
with clay both in dry form and then adding water in,
second example requires less effort and is much more
faster. As these adobes dry, they shrink a bit and
should be covered with plastic so the drying speed is
slower (otherwise you create propeller instead), that
prevents banding and cracking. More grog is added into
the clay, for adobe tiles, less shrinkage and cracking.
Never add straw or wood saw into body of adobe or
mud bricks for creating wood fired oven dome,
because it burn off just as organic material does. Its
being added into heat insulation only to create
honeycomb like airy lightweight effect (air is the best
insulation and such material doesnt absorb much
heat!) House building bricks are different to refractory
application. Clay adobe and bricks must be dense and
less porous, solid and heavy. These adobes are joined
by sand clay mortar 50:50 sand:fireclay ratio.
Although inner face of the dome made of adobe or mud

bricks is quite fragile it cooks very nicely; if you touch it

harder with e.g. a pizza paddle it drops off some clay
because mud bricks and adobe are unstabilized, they
would have to be clay bisque fired in kiln in a slow
temperature speed-increase to at least 950 degrees
Celsius to harden. If you have a chance to fire your fire
clay in an electric or gas kiln do a test firing with one
adobe.
When making arches of the dome by using wooden
template: If you can support dome side wall bricks to
prevent the dome arch pushing on them and possibly
collapsing, then the best mortar you could use is 50:50
fire clay:sand mix. Fine sieved sand that is or pebbles
can give hard time in places where tiny gap between
bricks is desired. Cement is used only to make the
mortar to dry faster, to set as you work to progress
fast. Also experts in manufacturing and selling
firebricks tell you that, no need for refractory cements
everywhere, these are expensive and used by
industries for theirs hi temps kilns and furnaces or for
castables.
Fire clay sand mortar mix dries very slowly, but if
you support the side walls by pouring concrete cladding
behind them, leave it cure and then form arched ceiling
using the 50:50 fireclay : sand mortar is the best
option. When I go fast I use a little of Portland cement
in the mortar so its setting in 2 hours. Portland cement
is already a bit refractory but its wise to replace one
half of the amount with lime. Lime is calcium and it
takes over the cement when it burns out in heat. Old
ovens were built using only fire clay with lime not
cement. These ovens work forever, many of them are
being fired daily for decades and never cool down.

Where else can I find Fire Clay?

Soft pottery clay body usually 10 15Kg per
packaging. Ask for clay with more alumina content,
stoneware clay, and it can be coarse not too fine.
Normally it is whitish color. You dont need to go for
expensive clay, just pick one type for higher
temperature and light in color. REMEMBER: dont be
confused, when you see the soft-wet clay in bags it can
be darker but when it dries itll change to lighter color.
Then there are also clays which are white when wet.
Usually the shop has dry samples. Dont forget to ask
for clay which they stored for a long time, itll be harder
in plastic bags, not too fresh in pottery terms, potters
dont want dry clay to work with when throwing on
potters wheels so you can get a better price to pay for
it too. Often they run discounted sales of these nearly
dry clays to get rid of it. So you brought your clay home
now but what to do next you may ask? Take the clay
out of plastics bags. Use wire or stronger fishing line to
cut it in thin slices. Leave it to dry.
After about a week in an airy place the clay will be dry.
Sit on some low comfortable soft seat on the driveway
and use a hammer to brake it into almost powder. Its
not hard at all but it takes some time. You will need
about a bucket to mix the mortar, and half a bucket for
the sand : fire clay (50:50) bed to lay hearth floor bricks
onto and level them up nicely into one smooth surface.