Do these firebricks look right?

[Breven]

I had a hard time finding firebricks in my area. Nothing at Home Depot or Lowes. Finally found some at a local brick and stone yard. Based on all the pics I've seen here, I expected them to look a little more yellow- but they look to be orange (though in this picture they seem to be much lighter than in real life). The pallet I took them off of had a sign that read firebrick, but nothing stating low, medium or heavy duty. How do I know if this is the right stuff?

Second question, this particluar store also carried fire clay. But the bags he gave me didn't specifically say that it was fire clay. It says clay mortar. The guys at the shop said, yep this is fireclay- just mix it with spec mix and it becomes refractory mortar. I guess I was expecting it to say fireclay on the bag.

Any ideas if I have the right material?

[dmun]

Re: Do these firebricks look right?

I don't know for sure, but they sure look like the "red" firebricks, which really aren't red at all. The high alumina content makes them look orangish (red + yellow = orange)

[Chef]

Re: Do these firebricks look right?

They look fine to me, we used three types of fire brick used yellow, new yellow and new red. If you look at our photos we used the red fire brick on the outside of the BBQ and for the hearth of the oven.

Also a trick we picked up was soak the fire brick before putting mortar on it, the mortar stuck to it MUCH better.

Malinda

[Chef]

Re: Do these firebricks look right?

Just went back to look at the photos take a look at #18 and #19 you can see the yellow brick and the red brick the darker red brick was soaked and put in place with mortar, the lighter orange tinted ones were not soaked and were just a dry fit. Looks just like what you have.

We used Fire clay and mixed our own I'll have to check with Phil as to the ratio.

Malinda

[Breven]

Re: Do these firebricks look right?

dmun-

If that's the case, are there any disadvantages if I use that brick rather than the yellow brick? I want to make sure I use the right stuff.

Chef, you're right, they do look like the same bricks you used. BUt you didn't use them for the whole oven, the majority is made from the yellow brick.

I'm worried that if I don't use the correct firebrick my oven might take 3 hours to heat up- or I'll lose heat too fast. Both are problems I don't want to run into.

I'm also confused on the fireclay...any ideas on that? Has anyone seen fireclay in a bag that is labled "mortar clay"? I'm not sure if that is actually fireclay or something else?

I've attached a few more pics...should be ready to start working on the dome floor this weekend, assuming I have the right bricks and mortar...

[asudavew]

Re: Do these firebricks look right?

I'm also confused on the fireclay...any ideas on that? Has anyone seen fireclay in a bag that is labled "mortar clay"? I'm not sure if that is actually fireclay or something else?

Basically it's just powdered clay for ceramics that hasn't been mixed into wet clay.

Check your local pottery outlets.

Check out this page:

Bailey Ceramic Supply - Clay - Dry Clays and Chemicals
Scroll down a bit and you will see a number of fireclays.

I even used a half bag of Kaolin in my oven.

As for the bricks. They look fine to me. How much do they weigh?

[Chef]

Re: Do these firebricks look right?

The guys at the brick yard told us the only difference was the color, no difference in performance.

We used fire clay in a bag marked Fire Clay the mix was 10 parts sand, 3 parts portland cement and 1.5 parts of fireclay.

Have fun, it is so worth the trouble!!!

Malinda

[dmun]

Re: Do these firebricks look right?

Because of the weight of both the material and the finish product, bricks tend to be a local product, still. There are regional differences in the color of local clays, and the bricks they make.

I used "red" firebricks - around here they are the same as the yellow ones: Even the same price. They work fine in my oven.

[Breven]

Re: Do these firebricks look right?

Gotcha...I figured that might be the case. I'll use them.
The fireclay thing is making me nervous. I asked the guys if they carried "fireclay" they said yes, then proceeded to hand me a couple of bags. But the bags said "Mortar Clay". I asked, is this fireclay? they said yeah...that's fireclay. Mix it with SpecMix (sand and portland cement) and that will do the trick. I was just wondering if anyone had heard of Mortar Clay and if that was in fact the same thing as fire clay.

[asudavew]

Re: Do these firebricks look right?

Where did you find the mortar clay ?

[Breven]

Re: Do these firebricks look right?

I only have one brick yard in the area. They sell brick, block, stone etc. They had the Mortar Clay, but they referred to it as Fire Clay.

[DrakeRemoray]

Re: Do these firebricks look right?

The fireclay I used just said "refractory" on the bag...so I had a similar question. But I did not use if for mortar, just as a bed to lay the floor on and used heatstop for the oven....

What do those bricks weigh each? I can't remember what they SHOULD weigh, but someone else probably does. That is generally a good way to know that they are not the high duty bricks, those are very light and generally very expensive...bottom line is those look ok to me.

Drake

[Breven]

Re: Do these firebricks look right?

What is heatstop? I haven't heard of that before...

Not sure what they weight. They weren't light though. I've never actually held a standard red clay brick in my hand, so I don't really have a frame of reference.

[bernerdog]

Re: Do these firebricks look right?

I just found my firebrick at a local brickyard and they were able to provide an MDS sheet showing alumina content of 30%, apparently perfect for low-duty firebrick judging from other posts I read. Mine are 9 inches, a bit larger than the red firebrick also sold by the same yard but the red had a lower temperature rating. The yellow higher rated brick cost $1.28@ for full brick or a split and weigh aout 6 or 7 pounds. Earlier, I found standard sized firebrick (smaller than mine) at a substantially higher price. They had a higher alumina content and presumably were medium or high duty which all seem to agree is not needed. Hope this helps.

[Breven]

Re: Do these firebricks look right?

I'm going to weigh my brick when I get home tonight. I did measure the length and they were 9 inches as well. I may go back and ask for an MDS sheet. Since I only had a choice between option A or option A, I jsut went with option A. I paid $1.02 per brick.
Thanks for the insight...