Below were some previous posts on the subject white clay pipes.
Pat Tucker
---- Original Message --------
White clay pipes are not made of kaolin but of white ball clay. Calling them
kaolin was a mistake in the first place and everyone should stop doing it.
See Iain Walker's article reprinted in Schuyler's reader of previously
published historical archaeology articles. Most everyone professes to have
read this reader but I seriously have my doubts.
Mcb
---- Original Message --------
Kaolin is the anglicized pronunciation of the part of China from which the
name was adopted into English, per normal practice. The conflation of the
two is widespread, undoubtedly because both Kaolin and ball clay are used in
ceramics. They are chemically distinct entities with a very similar
appearance. They do have different working characteristics in ceramic
manufacture.
It is another example of how "first published" achieves primacy despite
being corrected by subsequent work.
The Pamplin pipes website also has kaolin as the clay of choice for earlier
pipes. It does, however, have a nice series of thumbnails of Pamplin types.
http://anthromuseum.missouri.edu/minigalleries/
pamplinpipes/pamplinpipes.shtml
Lyle Browning
-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Smoke
Sent: Monday, October 01, 2007 10:41 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Clay Pipe Identification
My government computer will not allow viewing of Photobucket, youtube,
myspace etc. so I will not be able to look at the pictures until this
evening. ALL clay has kaolin in it. I have been ranting against the
use of the term "kaolin" for pipes for more than 30 years, I picked up
my rant from Ian Walker after I had him read some of my stuff back in
the 70s. Anyway, here is the best explaination I have worked up on
the differences so far.
What is Ball Clay?
Ball clay is an extremely rare mineral found in very few places around
the world. Its name dates back to the early methods of mining when
specialized hand tools were used to extract the clay in rough cube
shapes of about 30 cm. As the corners were knocked through handling
and storage these cubes became rounded and 'ball' shaped. It also is
sometimes referred to as plastic clay.
For more details:
http://www.ima-na.org/about_industrial_minerals/ball_clay.asp
And....http://www.wbb.co.uk/web/website.nsf/0/a960b9cb0cff152d80256caf004c74
c7?OpenDocument
What is the Difference between Ball Clay and China Clay?
The mineral kaolinite forms a major component in both ball clay and
china clay (which is also known as kaolin). But the two materials are
quite different from each other.
China clay (mostly composed of kaolinite, mica and quartz minerals)
remained in the place where it was formed as the feldspars in the
granite decomposed. In South West England, the funnel-shaped deposits
of china clay remain located amidst their parent rock - the
surrounding "granite matrix".
However, ball clay is a sedimentary clay - carried far from where the
kaolinite was first formed. Rivers and streams washed away the
decomposed granite, mixing it with other clay minerals, sands, gravels
and vegetation as they flowed down from the uplands to form the
deposits of ball clay in low lying basins. In ball clays, there are
usually three dominant minerals: from 20 - 80% kaolinite; 10-25% mica,
and 6-65% quartz. In addition, there are other from 20 - 80%
kaolinite; 10-25% mica, and 6-65% quartz. In addition, there are other
'accessory' minerals and some carbonaceous material (derived from
ancient plants). The wide variation in minerals make-up, and in the
sizes of the clay particles result in different characteristics for
individual ball clay seams.
And yet even more info on Clay:
http://www.bsu.edu/web/jcflowers1/rlo/lceramicsclay.htm
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