Stoneware Dinnerware

Stoneware is frequently used as a material in dinnerware sets, along with glass, earthenware, porcelain, and plastic.

Stoneware is a type of semi vitreous or vitreous ceramic ware. It usually has a very fine texture, and is made from fire clay of the non-refractory type. It is dense, tough, resistant to scratching, is more opaque than porcelain, and is usually only vitrified partially. It is brown or grayish in color due to several impurities in the clay, and usually gets glazed after it is fired.

Stoneware is useful for many things, mostly because of its incredible strength. It is used in garden products, kitchen products, electrical products, and even for use in laboratories. There are a lot of different variations in the formula for stoneware, but a general viewpoint of the ingredients is that it could contain any number of the following: 0 to 100% fire clay; 0 to 30% quartz; 0 to 15% ball clay; and 0 to 15% chamotte.

Stoneware is usually only fired once, at a temperature of anywhere between 1100 and 1300 degrees Celsius. Sometimes stoneware is fired twice, though this is usually only done to make a higher quality glaze finish.

There are, in general, five different categories of stoneware in use. There is traditional stoneware, fine stoneware, chemical stoneware, thermal shock resistant stoneware, and electrical stoneware. All of these are made a bit differently, and are used for different purposes. For example, electrical stoneware is usually used in electrical insulators, etc.

The very first forms of stoneware have been found in China. Many agree that the late Shang dynasty was the setting in which stoneware first came about. By the time the Han dynasty came about, stoneware was being produced in large quantities. Early stoneware was also used in America, and in various other countries around the world at later times.

More information on stoneware can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoneware.