How can Craft Crank sculpture clay be so plastic and smooth with this much grog?

The super-smooth clay on the left is "Industrial Crank" from Potclays in the UK, I have removed the grog (our test code number L3868). First I did our standard tests on that body, then I dried some, slaked it in water, screened the grog out and then dewatered the remaining clay to plastic form. The grog yielded weighed the same as the clay portion of the recipe yet this body is known for amazing workability and toughness! How is that possible with so much aggregate in the recipe? The base clay body is extremely smooth, sticky and highly plastic. Mixtures of just ball clay and feldspar (e.g. 75:25) will yield this type of material, some ball clays will produce as little as 6% drying shrinkage using this ratio. The grog they use is also special: The particles have angular shapes and a narrow range of sizes, from about 35 mesh to 70 mesh (most is of the coarsest size). This narrow range of sizes means dramatically less particle surface area. These factors produce much less disruption of the plastic properties of the base clay. How could you make a body like this? Slurry up about 75% ball clay and 25% feldspar and wedge the grog into that.

Related Pictures

Adding 10% STKO 22 S grog to a smooth stoneware does this

This is Plainsman M350. A freshly trimmed foot and the same piece after firing at cone 6. Although this amount of grog is enough to make this body impractical for throwing it is not enough to significantly reduce the drying shrinkage (it dropped by at 0.5%). However, it does speed up drying, providing more channels for water exit. This body has very high dry strength, that alone eliminates a lot of drying cracks that would otherwise occur.

A vitreous sculpture clay. Vitreous enough for functional ware!

This is P5867, a chocolate brown burning super-plastic base clay (to which 20% coarse grog is added) matures at cone 6. Yet this body is common used at cone 10R. The grog stabilizes the fired matrix enough that it stands up in the kiln. And it fires to a dense product that can withstand any weather. It does have a porosity of 4%, but that is coming from the grog. Several manufacturers around the world make bodies like this, some can have almost double the grog this one has. These two mugs employ engobes on the inside (a brown and a blue, applied at the leather hard stage - L3954N), enabling a smoother glaze surface.

Links

Glossary	Sculpture In ceramics, clays with added aggregate are free formed or molding into shapes that are slowly dried and fired in a kiln. The process requires much skill.
Glossary	Grog Grog is a term used in ceramics to describe crushed brick (or other fired ceramic) aggregate that is added to sculpture and structural clays to improve drying properties.
Articles	Drying Ceramics Without Cracks Anything ceramic ware can be dried if it is done slowly and evenly enough. To dry faster optimize the body recipe, ware cross section, drying process and develop a good test to rate drying performance.
Troubles	Cracking of Clays During Drying The best way to avoid drying cracks when making ceramics or pottery is to avoid doing the things that cause it. Do not just blame the clay, anything can technically be dried.

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