I'm 2 ft short of my clay height I need on a small pond renovation (existing dam leaked when we bought the place) The clay we dug out was good but I did make the pond a little bigger. So I need some clay mix to finish up. All I'm finding is what the dirt lords call "select fill". It has some clay in it but not as good what we been using from existing site.

Is this stuff suitable to finish on up?

Get 1/2 a 5 gallon bucket full. Get another 5 gal bucket, poke a bunch of holes in the bottom. Cover with 1/4" screen wire. Put the "select fill) in the bucket and compact it like they would compact it for your pond. Fill the rest of the bucket with water and leave it set overnight. If it drains out, then the answer is no.

ok, so bucket with holes get half full of the dirt and compacted. The screen goes in the bucket with holes first, then dirt? Other bucket is just to add the water?

Correct?

Not sure what your situation is but normally the top two ft of the dam is mostly freeboard so it may not have to be quite as premium materials as the lower part of the dam that has more water pressure.

Also you may be able to bring some of your better clay fill to the face of the dam from the backside, and build it all the way to the top, then use the premium fill to fill in where you borrowed your good dirt from. just a thought, Good Luck!

Do you have any decent clay on your own property?

Another option would be to excavate down to your clay layer and use that borrow pit as a forage pond or grow-out pond.

Take what you need to properly finish your main pond dam. Then use the clay layer to create a clay blanket on the bottom and sides of your new small pond. A well-compacted blanket that is 12" thick should seal up to 10 feet deep.

First bucket is to collect dirt. 2nd bucket is to hold the dirt that is compacted, then use 1st bucket for water once it's empty of dirt (which was put in the 2nd bucket).