Freestone is a thick-bedded sandstone, not over hard, so called, because it can be worked freely and equally well in all directions.
[Clay]
Clay is a term used to describe a mass of fine particles, the most prominent property of which is plasticity when wet. Clays range from masses of pure kaolin to masses of kaolin and related minerals mixed with as much as 60% of impurities, which may be sand, lime, iron oxides, etc. The particles of a fine clay range around ¹/₁₀₀₀ of a millimeter in diameter, while the impurities may be, and usually are, of larger size, up to the size of sand grains.
All clays are of secondary origin, the result of weathering, especially of feldspars, though clays may also result from the weathering of serpentines, gabbros, etc. In some cases after the weathering of feldspar or limestones, the clay may remain just where it was formed, as a residual deposit; but, being so fine-grained, it is usually transported by rain water or by the wind and deposited somewhere else as a sedimentary bed. The quiet waters of a lake are favorable places for such deposits, and many clay beds represent former lake bottoms. Impure clays are often laid down on the flood plains of sluggish streams. In fresh water the settling of the clay is a very slow process, requiring days, or when very fine, weeks, before the water wholly clears. In salt water, however, the clay sort of coagulates, the particles gathering together in tiny balls, which settle rapidly, so that the water is soon clear.
According to their mode of origin clays are classified as residual, sedimentary, marine, swamp, lake, flood-plain, eolian, etc. But when their uses are considered a very different classification is made, based mostly on their composition, and we speak of China clays or kaolins, fire or refractory clays, paving-brick clays, sewer-pipe, stone-ware, brick, gumbo and slip clays.
The kaolin or china clays are residual clays, usually resulting from the decomposition of pegmatite dikes. They must be white when burned, free from iron oxides, and fairly plastic. A good deal of china clay is made by crushing feldspar.
Ball clays are sedimentary clays which remain white when burned, are usually very plastic, and free from iron oxides. They are mostly used in the making of various sorts of china.
Fire clays may or may not have iron oxides in them, but they must be free or nearly free from fluxing materials, such as lime, magnesia and the alkalies (sodium and potassium compounds). They may be more or less plastic, the essential quality being their ability to withstand high temperatures without fusing. Silica (as sand) tends to diminish the refractory quality; so that a clay otherwise suitable, if it has sand in it, becomes at best a second grade fire clay. In coal mining sections it is customary to term those beds of clay either above or below the coal, “fire clay”; but this is an unfortunate designation, for though some of them are true fire clays, the most of them are not.
Stone-ware clays are those with considerable sand and up to five per cent of fluxing materials. They must be plastic enough to be readily worked, and then burn to a dense body at comparatively low temperatures.
Sewer-pipe clays must be plastic, and carry a considerable amount of fluxing material, as the surface of the pipe is expected to vitrify in the burning.