Cob: commercial clay

[dtebb]

Hi Brad,

Almost any clay will work. The closer to your site the better obviously.
Clay from an industrial supplier would probably be very good quality with
few stones in it so easier to use in a mortar mixer or on your feet. My
clay came from two building sites here in Vancouver, BC. Bricklayers sand
is perfect. Any medium to fine grained sand will work. Don't use round
beach sand. We got our sand free from a cement plant in the city. White
clay (kaolin/porcelin) and white sand (silica?) is most often used for
finishing plasters. White clay is expensive to buy and is usually in powder
form. You are lucky if you can find it free.

Good luck,
Ian Marcuse


>I gather most people are using clay dug on site.
>
>Has anyone tried using clay from a brickworks or some other industrial
>supplier?
>
>Or are people getting clay from some building excavation site?
>
>I live in suburbia and don't really need to dig a big hole in the ground.
>
>And what about sand?  Do people use bricklayer's sand or something like
>that?
>
>
>Has anyone tried white clay with white sand?