Types of Sand

[fei8lo]

Hello All,

I just finished laying all the brick in my oven. I read on Brickwoodovens.com FAQ that Silica Sand must be used and All Purpose should not be used (I used their form but none of their instructions). I used all purpose sand in all the mortar for my oven. I been searching this site but only found a couple of entries with people using silica sand, will the use of all purpose sand be a major issue?

Thanks All.

[boerwarrior]

Re: Types of Sand

I have the same question!!

Did you ever get a reply?

Thanks
Neil

[fei8lo]

Re: Types of Sand

When I went to the building supply to pick up more Perlite. I spoke with one of the employees (he is on the forums here also) that said it should makes no real difference. The main difference will be the grading and size of particle in the sand mixture. The all purpose sand will still be made with silica as the majority of the mixture and should hold up just fine.

I figure it should be fine, but with all first time projects, you worry about every detail.

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Types of Sand

You're fine with regular sand. The main reason to avoid it is the particle size can be a bit big. When your applying your home-brew high heat mortar mix to your oven bricks and rings, we all try to keep the joints facing IN the oven as small as possible and you can't do that as well with ordinary sand.

I found that it is definitely worth your while to find a brickyard that carries #60 silica sand. That's what i used and it mixes a really smoooooth paste that's easy to work with and helps keep the (at least the inside of your dome) from having bigger joints than you wanted.

[deejayoh]

Re: Types of Sand

My first batch of homebrew, I bought "brickies sand". It turned out to have some pretty big grains (basically pea gravel) in it that made small joints impossible. I had to put the whole bag through a sifter to remove the big particles. It was a pain in the @ss. Next time I needed sand, I asked if they had anything finer. Turns out the shop had about 4 grades of sand, I just didn't know what to ask for. With fine sand, making up the homebrew was a breeze. Think it cost about $2 more than the brickies.

I don't know that it was silica sand - but fine sand is good.