What clays are used to make Kiln Shelves?
Technically kiln shelves (and posts for that matter) can be made from any material capable of withstanding the temperatures within a kiln without sagging or shrinking. Since clays are typically cheaper than metals, usually a clay material consisting of a combination of Cordierite and Mullite combined with Alumina Silicate to control thermal expansion issues will be used to manufacture inexpensive kiln furniture. The amount of Alumina Silicate added to the formula will often encourage a marketing game of “my High Alumina kiln shelves have more Alumina than your High Alumina kiln shelves”, which is a pretty poor game to play because the kiln shelves are often identical products from a single factory. For Dogwood Ceramic Supply’s purposes the term Cordierite Kiln Shelf, Mullite Kiln Shelf or High Alumina Kiln Shelf are interchangeable and we commonly use the term Cordierite Kiln Shelf or the simpler “Kiln Shelf” term to describe any kiln shelf manufactured with a combination of Cordierite
