I finished reading Robert Tichane’s book Clay Bodies about a week ago. At the onset, I wondered what I was in for: the guy’s a PhD and former head of Corning Glass.  But I want to learn, and with me, the more technical stuff, the more geektastically wonderful.

Clay Bodies was very readable, while providing a lot of detailed information. The end of every chapter has a reference list, for those who want more information. It’s cleanly organized. The margins are big. Everything is in Celsius, which meant that I ended up making a Celsius – Fahrenheit – Orton cone chart as I read along. (Important ones: 900C = c.010, 1200C = c.6, 1250C = c.10.) Not what I’m used to… but the rest of the world works in Celsius, so I may as well learn, right?

I’m going to have to read it again to try and digest all the information on silica. Silica above 50 microns, for example, acts more as a filler, because it won’t go into solution well… not enough surface area. (This is between 250 mesh, at 53 microns, and 325 mesh, at 44 microns. Another thing I had to look up.) Another fun fact I picked up was water separation: different particle sizes fall through water at different rates. But the big surprise was that silica kept coming up in different ways, and size matters.

My next conquest: Daniel Rhodes, when I can procure a copy.