What is Grog in Pottery? — Spinning Pots

Understanding the lesser-known terms, materials, and processes in the world of pottery can be fairly exciting, and one such material is “Grog.” Also popular as chamotte and firesand, this raw material is an ideal choice for ceramic pottery. With a fairly high composition of alumina and silica, grog brings in some of the best features for enthusiastic potters.

How is the grog prepared?

Grog is generally produced through the process of firing specific fire clays at high temperatures & screening the same to specific particle sizes. Now, there is another method that comes into play. This method requires the Grog to be produced from pitchers. In this case, the particle size distribution is a bit coarser compared to any other material used for preparing clay bodies.

Grog is mostly porous & packs in low-density particles.

What are the properties of Grog?

Grog is packed with a minimum of 40 percent alumina, 30 percent silica, 4 percent iron (III) oxide, magnesium oxide, and 2 percent calcium oxide. Given the presence of all these materials in its composition, the melting point of this ceramic maker is approximately 1780oC. However, its boiling point goes higher than 9000 C.