JohnnyK Posted June 7, 2016 Report Share Posted June 7, 2016 I bought a used kiln from a little ole lady who was moving and decided to give up on her ceramics hobby. As part of the deal and in an effort to help clean out her garage, she gave me six 50# boxes of clay which are bone dry. What would be the best way to go about reclaiming these bricks? JohnnyK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted June 7, 2016 Report Share Posted June 7, 2016 Break it up, put it in a bucket of water for a day or two, then put the mush in a pillow case on a concrete floor for a few days, rotating/mixing it twice a day. When it's firm enough to use, wedge or pug it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callie Beller Diesel Posted June 7, 2016 Report Share Posted June 7, 2016 What Neil said, but mix your slaked down clay with a drill and a paint mixing bit so it smooths out first. Especially if you don't have a pug mill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcia Selsor Posted June 7, 2016 Report Share Posted June 7, 2016 Sledge hammer works well.Slake it down and dry to workable moisture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pres Posted June 7, 2016 Report Share Posted June 7, 2016 An alternative to Neil's trick is to hang the pillow case outside in a shady area where the wind will get to it. The bag will evaporate water, the weight will drain out some water, and the clay will not have to be rotated very often. You can peel the bag off the clay when drier, cut and invert the outside to inside, slash cut the rest a few times and then pug, slash cut some more and re wedge. best, Pres Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeU Posted June 7, 2016 Report Share Posted June 7, 2016 Inside, I use a canvas tote bag hanging over a bucket. Works nicely for modest quantities-maybe 25-30 lbs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyK Posted June 7, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2016 Thanks for all your suggestions. I'll get out my 10lb sledge and get cracking! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnolia Mud Research Posted June 7, 2016 Report Share Posted June 7, 2016 I have re-hydrated bags of dry clay by putting the "block" in a plastic bag, usually the bag that it came in from the supplier, and then immersing the bag into a bucket of water. I leave the bag in the water for a couple of weeks and then test to see if it is soft enough to wedge, if too hard back to soaking. If the original bag is damaged or missing, I use a thin walled plastic trash bag. Polyethylene plastic bags allow water to slowly migrate from the water side into the clay side until the diffusion reaches equilibrium and then the migration slows way way down. This technique has reclaimed cone 04, 5, and 10 clay that was three years old in about 3 weeks. No having to crush, soak, and redry before wedging. If you let is soak longer than necessary, it will not become soup from being over watered. Also there is very little un-mixing of the clays and spars used in the clay body recipe that can occur from creating a slurry. LT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark C. Posted June 8, 2016 Report Share Posted June 8, 2016 Try a 9# hammer while listening to Merl Travis's 9# hammer song. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
preeta Posted June 8, 2016 Report Share Posted June 8, 2016 i remember reading in one of the threads that LT is talking about. and then i found this youtube. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glazenerd Posted June 8, 2016 Report Share Posted June 8, 2016 Being mechanical minded: has anyone ever used an auger bit to drill a series of holes in the block to speed up absorption? An auger bit would produce shaving instead of dust: which could just be thrown back into the soak bag. Random thought of the day. Nerd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MatthewV Posted June 8, 2016 Report Share Posted June 8, 2016 Ruining an auger bit over $20 of clay just doesn't seem like a good idea. Some would kill the edge, some clay might be smooth enough to just dull it a little. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcia Selsor Posted June 8, 2016 Report Share Posted June 8, 2016 you do have to get the lumps out. the smaller and dryer the chunks are, the faster they will absorb water and get into a slurry. I have a nice little home made machine for mixing slurry. http://community.ceramicartsdaily.org/gallery/album/728-paper-clay-home-made-mixer/ 1/4 hp motor mounted to channel iron that slides into larger channel iron mounted for the height of a 5 gallon bucket. I dry my recycled clay on or on plaster. Marcos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcia Selsor Posted June 8, 2016 Report Share Posted June 8, 2016 Being mechanical minded: has anyone ever used an auger bit to drill a series of holes in the block to speed up absorption? An auger bit would produce shaving instead of dust: which could just be thrown back into the soak bag. Random thought of the day. Nerd If I can catch the clay before completely dry, I use dowels to poke holes down into the block. Then squirt water into the holes. Then water into the bag. If the clay is just too stiff to wedge. Slice it bread thickness and dip in water and rebag. let it sit over night. Marcia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glazenerd Posted June 8, 2016 Report Share Posted June 8, 2016 Marcia: Your post is an example of what 50 years teaches you, that text books do not. Will add that to my mental rolledex. Nerd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viking Potter Posted June 16, 2016 Report Share Posted June 16, 2016 Being mechanical minded: has anyone ever used an auger bit to drill a series of holes in the block to speed up absorption? An auger bit would produce shaving instead of dust: which could just be thrown back into the soak bag. Random thought of the day. Nerd Yep, been there done that. Powdered about 20 LBS this way, ton of work, for the same results everyone else gets by letting it soak. Also wore out the bit. Hammer is good. Drill is bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darcy Kane Posted August 28, 2016 Report Share Posted August 28, 2016 i remember reading in one of the threads that LT is talking about. and then i found this youtube. This works slick and I have tried poking holes, crushing, geez you name it. This method is stupid easy, tidy, and I have a zillion 5 gallon buckets around anyways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
No Longer Member Posted August 28, 2016 Report Share Posted August 28, 2016 i remember reading in one of the threads that LT is talking about. and then i found this youtube. This works slick and I have tried poking holes, crushing, geez you name it. This method is stupid easy, tidy, and I have a zillion 5 gallon buckets around anyways. If you have the same exact volume of usable wet clay, all you would have to do is weigh both wet and dry, subtract the difference and you know exactly how much water needs to be replaced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.