What are uses for CLAY found from the ground

[CanadianEH]

i live in Canada and at my house if you dig about 1 foot down anywhere you hit clay is there any uses for this human or tool uses.

[gryffynklm]

Clay + heat = Bricks, pottery, Marbles......

[hunter63]

Clay can be a valuable resource for containers and pots.
Most need to be processed to be able to be used, as raw clay won't be of much use.
There are many grades of clay.

http://www.practicalprimitive.com/sk...ssingclay.html

[Old Professor]

What Hunter 63 said!

[randyt]

Clay makes great balls for sling ammo.

[MrFixIt]

The "white" clay found in S GA was eaten by many people. Supposedly was good for the digestive system...?

[kyratshooter]

Even if the clay is not high quality it can still be a valuable resource. I have helped build several horno ovens at historic sites. Some are now 20 years old and still in use baking bread for demonstrations and staff use.

https://www.google.com/search?q=horn...h=655&dpr=0.95

It can also be used to chink cabin walls, seal chimneys, build blacksmith forges, form water tanks and feed troths for livestock.

In early America clay provided building material once the settlers decided they needed more than crude shelters. West of the Mississippi it was used as a base for adobe and east of the Mississippi it was used as a base for fired bricks. All those old historic brick houses were made from local clay.

[finallyME]

So, you want to know the uses of clay found from the ground. I am just wondering where else do you find clay? I can't think of any type of clay that didn't come from the ground.

[Rick]

Clay Aiken came from his momma, Mr. Smarty saddle bags.

[Canoetripper]

This is a sticky question

[phreshayr]

I have taken clay from the ground here in Alaska and use it to make pottery vessels. After the clay is collected, I dry it out completely. Once it is dry, it can then be smashed and crumbled into a powder which is then sifted through a screen. The sifted clay is then remixed with water and made into the desired finished shape. Once the project is thoroughly dry, I then dig a hole in the ground, fill this depression with dry sawdust and bury the clay project in the sawdust. Now build a fire on top of the sawdust and burn for quite a while. Once the fire is safely burned out, leave the area and come back the next day to retrieve the cooled down clay project. If you retrieve the project too soon after firing it, it will crack once the hot clay is touched by the colder outside air. There are good youtube videos on all these steps if you do the research to find them. I plan on putting up a series of videos demo-ing this on my channel but just havent had the time yet.

[hunter63]

I have taken clay from the ground here in Alaska and use it to make pottery vessels. After the clay is collected, I dry it out completely. Once it is dry, it can then be smashed and crumbled into a powder which is then sifted through a screen. The sifted clay is then remixed with water and made into the desired finished shape. Once the project is thoroughly dry, I then dig a hole in the ground, fill this depression with dry sawdust and bury the clay project in the sawdust. Now build a fire on top of the sawdust and burn for quite a while. Once the fire is safely burned out, leave the area and come back the next day to retrieve the cooled down clay project. If you retrieve the project too soon after firing it, it will crack once the hot clay is touched by the colder outside air. There are good youtube videos on all these steps if you do the research to find them. I plan on putting up a series of videos demo-ing this on my channel but just havent had the time yet.

Do you have a vid for this process?

[Lil K]

Going along the lines of enjoyment, just make some cool pots or sculptures

[phreshayr]

Do you have a vid for this process?

No I don't have any videos up yet on working with local clay. It is however on the list to do someday. Sorry.

[hunter63]

No I don't have any videos up yet on working with local clay. It is however on the list to do someday. Sorry.

Ya Thanks anyway.......always enjoy your vids....

[canid]

Remember also that not all 'clay' is. Organic mud is often taken to be clay, which is sometimes a major constituent (fine silt is also common), and does not have the same versatility in use. It can have much lower dimensional stability when drying or absorbing moisture and can be much less strong.

[Batch]

Down here all we have is marl. Which is calcium carbonate. It was mixed at a 5 part marl to one part sand (we got plenty of sand) for pottery.

The calcium Carbonate is also kiln to a fine powder and is an ingredient in concrete.

[swenlet]

yep, that clay found from the air is pretty hard to work with. :-)

[1stimestar]

phreshayr thanks for the info. When I was in college I took several pottery classes. To take anything beyond the basic 100 level classes, you had to have a contract with the teacher on what kind of thing you were going to work on for the semester. I focused on making covered dishes but one of my friends focused on digging her own clay. This was in Colorado. I don't know what type, if any, clay is in the Interior up here but would be interested in exploring that a bit. I found it fascinating.

[phreshayr]

phreshayr thanks for the info.............. I don't know what type, if any, clay is in the Interior up here but would be interested in exploring that a bit. I found it fascinating.

I have seen where somewhere around healy I think it was, there is some good quality clay that is known and sought by potters. I dug mine at Earthquake Park in Anchorage after flying in to Anchorage from work before heading out the highway to our rural home. I have learned that there is clay quite common where I live but does take some extra work to improve the quality. I wouldn't be at all surprised if you have some locally up in your neck of the woods as well