Chip's 42 in Minnesota

[mrchipster]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

Excellent progress, just make sure you keep that inside nice and clean, trust me.. you do not want to get inside afterwards.. its a pain in the arse

The floor is a mess but it is covered in a sheet of 1/8 inch plastic and I do clean it up at least 2 times a day. I use an acid brush (no acid) to brush the inside of the dome at the end of each chain installation (or sooner if I am moving slow.

The brush removes a lot of excess mortar and makes cleanup much easier. Then I wipe down the inner surface with a sponge and rag to remove excess mortar.

The bricks I am using are used fireplace brick and they are getting slightly stained from the FB mortar but not serious. The drip marks you see in the photo are water that was on the brick from just wiping the last chain down.

I am planning on hitting the inside with a little diluted muratic acid tomorrow to clean things up a little better prior to closing the dome which may happen tomorrow or Thursday if the the weather does not hold.

That way I can have minimal cleanup issues for just the last 3 or so chains.

Chip

[mrchipster]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

While working today I found that it has become much harder to avoid lining up joints the higher up the dome progresses.

For that reason I have begun to cut a number of varying sizes of bricks to allow me to select from three distinct sizes as I fill the chain.

It is very hard to predict exactly how the joints will line up so being able to select a brick width at the time of placement saves the mortar from becoming set in the bowl.

On chains 12 - 14 I have been able to set 7 or 8 bricks and on chains 9 - 11 I was only able to set 5 or 6 at a time. To me this is significant because I am almost vertical at this time.

The bricks are holding quite well and I have only had 2 bricks slip out of place today. I guess I moved my IT to quickly.

BTW I had to cut the clamp off of my IT as at the higher angles it was just getting in the way I just have a very small L shaped piece of angle at the end at this time and it is working well.

Chip

[chidding]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

Excellent progress, just make sure you keep that inside nice and clean, trust me.. you do not want to get inside afterwards.. its a pain in the arse

[mrchipster]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

Well, I have made more progress after taking the weekend off to build a garage for my brother in law.

I know that sounds like work but it was quite fun and a distraction from the day to day.

After getting to chain 11, I think I am finally getting a handle on the FB Mortar and am finding it easier to set bricks and use less mortar. My brick cutting skills have been enhanced due to building a jig for the saw. I will post more on the jig in the future. It is based on another posted on the site and was quite easy to build.

I was able to put in 3 chains today and that included cutting the bricks. Yesterday I built the cutting jig and only got 1 chain installed.

I must mention one thing. I found at chain 11 that the angle of my bricks was becoming to elevated (vertical) and I had to take a drastic measure and grind the tops off of all of chain 11 to get the bricks back into alignment. I used a 7 inch diamond blade attached to an angle grinder. All came out well but I was not paying close enough attention to the top angle of the bricks and they became about 10 degrees to vertical and I needed to grind them back. It was easier to do this than to try and put in bricks that were wedged the wrong direction.

The bricks had been set on Friday and I did not grind them until yesterday. So they were fully set and the mortar was very firm.

I am on chain 15 with 2 bricks set, the top is about 15 inches in diameter from completion. I am out of round by about 3/4 inches but I think that is more of a characteristic of rectangular bricks causing V's and distorting the circle. I am not sure if the slight out of round is an issue.

The top is level within about 1/4 inch and I. am very pleased with that.

Photos are of my progress at about noon today.

Chip

[david s]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

The best one I've found is HEMP HAND PROTECTOR from the body shop. Most bricklayers don't use anything, I think the skin of your hands gets used to continual exposure to cement. I think lime is way worse, you really know about it if you have a cut or abrasion on your hands.

[brickie in oz]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

You should try it. Best kept secret for concrete work passed along from a friend of mine named Erik (Frenchie).

Chip

Id get beaten up at work.

[mrchipster]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

Hand lotion!!!?

Ya Sure ... You Bet Ya!!!

I have mortared up to chain 9 and have not worn gloves and my hands a baby soft. and my nails are not cracking. You should try it. Best kept secret for concrete work passed along from a friend of mine named Erik (Frenchie).

Chip

[brickie in oz]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

Hand lotion!!!?

[Tman1]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

It's coming along...

[mrchipster]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

Hint of the day.

When applying mortar to bricks and when tapping them into place have your mortar container (in my case SS bowl) directly under the work area, That way mortar that squeezes out or is dropped will fall right back into the bowl.

Chip

[mrchipster]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

Today's progress

Up to chain 7 with inner arch bricks in place. _Still need a little clean up of a couple of the Arch bricks with the grinder - When they were mortared in they did not fit exactly as planned and need some trimming but I need to have the mortar firm up a bit befor hitting them with the grinder.

I pre-cut the Inner arch bricks into a wedge shape and then custom cut each brick as I went until I reached chain 7 and then closed in the inner arch.

[mrchipster]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

I have been out of town and did not make any progress for several days -- but progress was made last night and today.

First I would like to address the hand tools I use to work on the oven - Photo attached

1) Rubber coated gloves. - These are used to handle bricks when moving them, cutting them and mortaring them into place. They are very rough and the glove keep your skin in place.

2) Marking pens and pencils - Permanent marker - I lake the large sharpie it holds up for about 1 day of marking bricks and leaves a nice line on the brick that does not wash off from the wet saw spray. Cons - not real accurate.

Pencils - for precision marking and taking notes. if you use on brick it will need sharpened often but it will wash off so no permanent marks to worry about.

3) 8oz measuring cup. and not shown a 24 oz plastic yogurt container. Used to provide a precise measure of dry mortar and water so my mix is always consistent. - Also not shown - I put a 1/2 gallon plastic milk jug in the freezer 1/2 full of water. that way I can add water if it is fully frozen or pour very cold water for mixing with mortar. Mortar will stay usable longer if mixed with cold water.

4) Stainless mixing bowl - 2 of these one for cleaning and one for mixing small batches of mortar. why stainless - it does not break and is very easy to clean

5) Small drywall knife - nice for cleaning up and pushing around mortar.

6) Hand Lotion - Put on before during and after working with mortar. it will save your hands.

7) Silicone Spatula - I prefer this over a masons trowel for these small bricks and odd angles.

8) Angle tool - Measures angle of bricks and shims I use to angle bricks on the brick saw.

9) Bullet level - Checks for level on short distances.

10) 36" level - Level of longer distances - I also have a 6 ft level that I use.

11) Rubber Hammer - Perfect for nudging the bricks into place and squeezing out the mortar. many light taps are better than a few hard smacks. Also pushing on the brick while tapping works very well.

12) 3M scrub pad - makes short work of partialy set mortar

13) Sponge - I prefer a grout sponge with rounded edges but you may have other preferences.

14) Towel - used to dampen bricks - clean up floor of oven and wipe down bricks etc...

15) String attached to magnet - Used to measure from center of oven to inner and outer sides of bricks also checks angle for brick cuts. Hint- mark the string with permanent marker at inner and outer walls of oven for quick check of dimensions.

16) Indispensable tools with brick holders. - Using the ball bearing center and magnets for positioning More than one tool can be use at a time. Set one brick, set the second brick on the opposite side of the oven and by the time you are done setting the second brick the first tool is ready to be removed.

17) Measuring tool with magnet ends - This tool is set to the internal radius of the oven and is used to check and mark positions and locations. It can also be used to hold a brick in place so it does not slip into the oven. With magnets on both ends it can be used to hold metal objects like knife blades and mechanical pencils, etc...

18) Plastic door and window shims (not shown) - I also use plastic door and window shims on the wet saw to position the bricks for cutting. Home Depot sells packs for a couple of bucks.

[ggoose]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

Chip,

I had the same leftover mortar problem; I just smeared it on the outside of the dome for additional thermal mass...

Your arch is looking good

gene

[mrchipster]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

Today was slow but I learned a few things ? building the inner arch might not be as easy as it looks. And there are some easy lessons to be learned.

As you will see from some of the photos that I took. I learned that transferring the top of the previous brick geometry to the next brick above was easy to do once the lower brick was cut. That way it was easy to set up for the cuts for the upper brick. Using my indispensable tool, I was able to then determine the cuts for the upper brick on its topside. The photos will show, the markings made to the lower and upper bricks and the shapes translated.

I am now at chain five, and will begin making my inverted V cuts on the next level.

The chain five bricks are almost identical to the chain four bricks. and I had a few extras from chain four, so I cut chain five identical to chain four.

The transition bricks to the inner arch are quite easy to cut because of the techniques being used.

I finished my first bag of FB mortar today. I have been mixing it in batches of approximately 24 ounces volume measure. And I am able to lay somewhere between six and nine bricks with that amount of mortar. I always seem to throw away or waste a little bit of mortar by either dropping it, having a dry out, or there's just not enough left to place another brick.

[mrchipster]

Re: Chip's 42 in Minnesota

Now that's a beast! Bet she sounds good too!

Nice smooth powerful dual belt drive wonder - it just hums and does not slow for anything I toss at it.

I keep my hands in safe positions because I know it would not care if it was cutting brick, stone flesh or bone.

Chip