Where to buy Yixings made out of REAL yixing clay

[chrl42]

I have noticed cheap teapots with a high gloss on the outside and when using close inspection, the inside is dull and poorer quality clay on the inside.

The inside has minor scuff marks and again reaks.

I am going to boil the sucker.

A high gloss on the outside with dull inside is normal even on some expensive Yixings. The outside is sometimes polished very smooth for better looks. It's also possible to find shiny ones that have had dyes, chemicals, or even shoe polish applied to give a shiny or seasoned look.

Many, if not all of my Yixings have some marks inside from when the were made. I on't think this is necessarily a problem, unless the marks are chips or cracks.

The smell is another story; I would boil it, and if it still smells bad afterwards, I wouldn't use it.

Yixing teapots go thru the last stage of polishing with a horn of some sort before going into market. So every yixing teapots have natural glossy surface to some degree.

However, artificial glossing is another story.
Most common way of 'coating' the pot is using a paraffin, an element of a candle Or waxing with a Hong Cha extract. Those are usually done on teapots that are too ugly to be shown on the market.

My acquaintance has told me, it's wrong to go with any pot that has unnatural gloss in the first purchase. I tend to look at the lid outside and inside when I purchase Zhuni pots.

[hop_goblin]

Well, you can find "real zisha" pots very easily. I would buy from 5000friend. His pots are nice and typically made of genuine zisha. However, the quality of pots vary according to clay. He sells mostly aged pots which IMHO are much better than the industrial clay stuffs you find today. Even if a pot was made in the 80's you can see the difference in quality, both in craftpersonship and clay. However, take his claim of the pots being from the qing dynasty with a grain of salt as an authentic qing will generally cost you much more than what you will pay for at 5000friend. Generally, they are pots made of that style and not one that was made before the ROC. OH BTW, 5000friend is an Ebay store.

[chrl42]

I appreciate both your inputs. I boiled the two pots and they smell good. Wouldn't boiling the pot expose shoe polish and gloss added? I boiled the two very nice pots for about an hour.

They look cleaner and the quality of the clay's luster has not changed. I hope my addiction to Yixing stops.... this stuff is expensive...

Sleepydrakos, boiling a pot an hour will no way expose added gloss.

I've seen some people tend to boil their yixings for 24 hrs, just to check out if the clay is alright to use. New pots don't necessarily have to be boiled that long, but I've heard a story coating of the pot had exposed and scraps floated with water.

And Yixing teapot is too attractive being just to stop addicting now!

[MarshalN]

His goods arent' cheap, but I think the quality is good ...

Stéphane has a sterling reputation.

I didn't realize passing hongni pots off as zhuni still qualifies you for sterling reputation....

[keelyn]

Shoe polish should be hydrophobic, meaning it repels water. If hot water beads up (like on a freshly waxed car) rather than coating the surface of the pot, you might have a teapot that has been coated with something undesirable like a wax or shoe polish.

[betta]

Shoe polish should be hydrophobic, meaning it repels water. If hot water beads up (like on a freshly waxed car) rather than coating the surface of the pot, you might have a teapot that has been coated with something undesirable like a wax or shoe polish.

Therefore I prefer to use hot bleach solutions to remove everything including the wax.

[betta]

Betta? How much bleech and what is the ratio to water? It seems these pots were not rubbed w/ shoe polish. I boiled the pot and brewed tea, and the results were great!

What other test do you or anyone in here know of to check your Yixing, in addition to the bleech?

Much Appreciated,

David

David, there're couple of types of bleach sold in the market. The one used more ofter is in the form of denture tablets. You can use 2 tablet for inner pot and 1 for outer pot. There's no such a fix rule about the ratio of water to tablets, but all kind of bleach work much better at temperature above 40°C but not until it boils!
In my case, I treated also my pot using normal bleach powder for all purpose. It is even far stronger than denture tablets and it is chlor based bleach. It means, once you boil the bleach solution, the chlor will also be evaporated, so it's also save. Guang of Houde also recommend a normal bleach solutions apart from tea seed (detergent) like this. Some people retrict themselves to use only diluted bleach solutions but I've made experiments by applying strong bleach solutions to my pots and it didn't spoil the pot either, so you shouldn't be worry about it. Rather, pay attention not to boil too many pots at the same time as they can get chipped as they hit each other in the pan.

[orguz]

Hello I am new to this site and read the many topics on this site, i bought from 5000friends too. To be honest the smell alone has put me off I am not using those pots anymore. They should not artificially be made to look aged. I knew before buying that the claimed date of production for those pots can't offer those attractive prices. I bought them for their nice shape and design. My point is this; There is no need for a consumer to remove the stains from teapots by soaking the pots in vinegar solutions and extensive soaks with denture cleaning tablets (my case), in order to use them. Just wanted to share my experience