Kiln brick question

[Rebekah Krieger]

Awesome! 

[Guest JBaymore]

Any high duty hardbrick is going to work just fine in a salt kiln for a LOT of firings.  And the more the lining gets slagging from salt buildup and erosion ....... the better the fired pots will be.  The best firing is usually the last one after you decide that this will be the last firing because the kiln is no longer safe.

The one "downside" is that a hard brick kiln or one with a hard brick lining is exopensive to fire.  On the average a hardbrick has a mass of about 8 pounds.  An insulating firebrick has a mass of about 3 pounds.  So every hardbrick that you heat up to temperature, you are heating about 5 pounds of extra material every firing.

For salt use... try to build with ah hardbrick lining and then an insulating brick outer layer (except for headers every 4th course or so).  It will lessen the firing costs over a fully hardbrick kiln.

best,

..........................john

[Rex Johnson]

If this is them, still hard to tell, but hopefully not common fireplace brick often confused with refractory brick when  described as 'firebrick'.

If they are refractory bricks, I'd say yeah, and ditto the smaller kiln since it's salt and you're playing around with.

Hard refractory brick takes alot more fuel to get to temperature as compared to soft brick.

 

 

[Mark C.]

The thing about determining common fireplace bricks is they are not named stamped  on sides and are more irregular in dimension and are much lower duty temp wise and should only be used in cooler chimney areas-they are also a bit more porous looking.You can see them at lumber  and building material supply stores.

[Rex Johnson]

ditto what Mark sez...

They are cheap, usually $1.50-$2.50 new at any yard that handles cinder block and brick materials.

I have them around to use for saggars and makeshift chimneys.

[Marcia Selsor]

yes, the stamped name is really important to trace back what type of brick you have. They look very clean as in no mortar. Saves a lot of work. I have used salvaged bricks before, and cleaning them is time consuming. Wear wrist braces when moving them bricking up hard brick doors trashed my wrists at an early age. Be protective. Firebrick s are 9" x 4.5 x 2.25" and weigh 5 lbs. each

 

Nice find

Marcia

 

 

[Rebekah Krieger]

Hello! Yes all do the bricks are stamped and I traced back the manufacture of one of them to a kiln brick company in the early 1900's  Chicago. (Probably not a ceramics kiln, probably lime and coke kilns) 

they were 45 cents each and I got about 600. The rest were too dinged up. I was ready to start but due to the coyotes I need to build a better chicken coop first