Comments on: Old red clay solids as firebrick alternative

By: Fire Bricks

Fire Bricks — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 09:21:06 +0000

I am from South Africa. Can you maybe tell me who in South Africa sells this firebrick product with the relevant Contact Details.

Jacques

By: Cleaning Old Red Bricks

Cleaning Old Red Bricks — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 04:31:53 +0000

Lucky you, if the old mortar just “popped off”!!! My husband and myself spent hours trying to remove the mortar cleanly from the red bricks we have. What a mission!! We even got hold of some acid, which still didn’t remove the mortar, but at least the red came up brighter. It is in our experience, a pig of a job!

By: mik

mik — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 02:55:30 +0000

Here in the States, the Germans who settled in Pennsylvania, brought with them the custom of baking in a ‘full-arch’ brick, and lime mortar wood fired oven. They are commonly called ‘squirrel tail’ ovens, since they were build on the outside of the back of a ‘walk-in’ fireplace. The ‘squirrel tail’ is really the flue that is placed in the back, away from the from arched brick door opening. The flue then arches over from the rear to the front, and about 5-7 courses above the opening. This facilitates the passage of smoke above the face of the user. The usual height was about 70″/179cm. A large brick was used to close off the flue, once firing temps were reached, and the ashes went down a specially placed loose brick just inside the oven door arch. The ash pit was then used to collect/store them for future use in soap making..(‘potash’..!). I can answer specific questions thru the aforementioned website. Thank you.

By: Nick

Nick — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 03:33:40 +0000

Hi Rado,
I am a little puzzled, but also content with life. I was hoping you could educate me as to why one type of brick is better than another when building a brick oven.
Will dry-pressed solids (hope I have used the right term), which are fired at 1000˚C+, be good enough, and last a long time, when used for the cooking floor and the dome? Or should I use fire bricks? I have very limited resources, and would have trouble affording fire bricks. What do you think?
Thanks in anticipation,
Nick.
PS: Love the website.

added by Rado:
Hi Nick,
Thanks for the note. This question is often asked so I will write about it a bit extra.

Inner cooking/firing part though is most often made out of firebricks, they have the right material body and withstand reheating or continuous usage. If it’s only a decorative house brick it will not work. House bricks are mostly fired in kilns into high temperatures so they get brittle and won’t absorb water which is logical for the building purpose.

When firebricks are manufactured a completely different clay body is used, they are fired into much lower temps, they also absorb lots of water. When you dip firebrick into a bucket with water you will literally hear how rapidly it absorbs the water in because these bricks are porous. Often the old solid red-clay bricks described above are being used for this purpose as alternative instead of proper firebricks and they work fine.

Like an unglazed bisque clay but strong, these reds absorb water as well. They perform well in this temperature range. However, they should be the correct clay type (real old type clay solids not an imitation for a clay), so the material won’t start pealing down in the heat and continuous reheating as per using the oven.

HOWEVER I know of also house bricks produced now-days that are suitable alternates for firebrick for building wood fired ovens, and come at 3 times lower price. E.g. are the Midlands cream color solid bricks produced in WA (I must place a picture of them here.)

If you knew of some brick type thinking they could be used, or if you are offered some bricks, first cut or brake one in half, wash any dust off with water and look for a white coarse sand in the clay body. You cannot miss to see this sand in. Also they should have NOT: color slip applied on the outside (usually up to 5mm – 1/4″ deco clay slip thickness whilst the inner main brick body is made out of a cheap stuff) and they should not be burnt in the middle at all, usually seen as black carbon color. The bricks must be made from correct clay, NOT from cheap material or masonry like cement based.

So, the part of the oven that faces the heat should be built out of heat resistant clay bricks, and the outer parts of the oven can be normal house bricks, blocks, stones, etc.

By: tim

tim — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 19:23:43 +0000

Dean , do not use your IFBs on the inside , they are great under the floor but have hardly any of the mass you want to make your oven work. Sell the extras to a potter or blacksmith and use perlite or vermiculite for your pour in insulation . if you can afford it ceramic fiber is an excellent 1st layer on top of your bricks
tim

By: Alike red clay brick materials.

Alike red clay brick materials. — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 08:43:15 +0000

Boiler red clay brick bed material and fireclay, all types of new and recycled for reusing old refractories.

By: Dean Young

Dean Young — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:31:28 +0000

I have a whole lot of IFB’s ( Insulating Fire Brick of the rating K23 and K26. They are of the softer type than the solid hard type which have a maximum range of 3000 Deg F.. I do want the bricks to hold the heat for cooking the pizza and breads. Should I just use my red…solid bricks instead and just use the IFB bricks for insulation. I just don’t want to chance having my bricks spalling or something terrible like that! Please…What would be the best thing to di?

By: darmowe mp3

darmowe mp3 — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:52:44 +0000

There are a lot of Red Clay Bricks in my neighbourhood. I like buildings made of red brick, but some of them need to be just washed up, cause red bricks easily catch dirt from the air.

By: Dekoracja Okien

Dekoracja Okien — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 09:58:24 +0000

Red Clay Bricks are awesome. I got a whole bunch of those for free from a friend recently and they really perform extraordinarily. Highly recommended.

By: R.Rossiter

R.Rossiter — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 10:34:28 +0000

I am trying to locate some bricks originally made by you
it is the Brindle {Brindel} not sure of the spelling. Could you please tell me where could locate some. I am in Taunton in Somerset.

Many thanks,

Roger Rossiter
RR BUILDING MAINTENANCE LTD.