Mississippi 44"

[Gulf]

Re: Mississippi 44"

Thank's ya'll very much,
With that encouragement, which I really needed after what has turned into being a little more "time" investment than I thought it would be, I hope to get back to work on The Crescent Lady.

I have given Tu long enough to name his "mistress"

[Amac]

Re: Mississippi 44"

The Crescent Lady.

Nice work Gulf - I would have gone for "The Mississipi Queen"
Emmylou Harris - Evangeline (Audio) - YouTube

[Gulf]

Re: Mississippi 44"

Nice work Gulf - I would have gone for "The Mississipi Queen"
Emmylou Harris - Evangeline (Audio) - YouTube

That was definately my second choice and it was very close. It is just that even before I broke dirt I knew that it was going to be a "New Orleans" theme for this build . If I had of chosen Mississippi Queen I would have used this one by Mountain.

Edit: I should have added this.

Amac,
I haven't heard Evangeline in a long time. It was great to listen to it again. Thank's.

[Tscarborough]

Re: Mississippi 44"

Lord knows I have heard that song by dozens of singers, but EL does it well.

[Gulf]

Re: Mississippi 44"

Lord knows I have heard that song by dozens of singers, but EL does it well.

I heard that T,
And I also heard her version about 100 times today in my head. So much so that I will have to Welch on the name. Mississippi Queen it is. I figure that since it is not finished, it is technically not born so I can still change its name .
Thank's Amac,
I'll credit you with naming my oven from the "Old Country"
I'll leave The Crescent Lady for who ever is from the "real deal" .

[Amac]

Re: Mississippi 44"

I'm honoured Gulf - I like Emmy Lou but i wouldn't say a big fan. I just loved that on The Last Waltz. Didn't realize until i looked it up that it is a Robbie Rodertson song.

[Gulf]

Re: Mississippi 44"

It will be a few weeks before I can actually work on The Mississippi Queen again. Work calls . I was able to get off early enough the last two arternoons though to hatchet clean 148 more old brick. I hauled them this evening from under the hill to dry in the shed near the build. Probably about 3 and a half hours work total.

I don't know what old brick go for nowadays. I haven't had the need to do so in about 30+ years, but it feels good to reclaim and save a buck or two .

[Tscarborough]

Re: Mississippi 44"

.60-.80 cents minimum, up to a buck-fiddie each. Well worth cleaning. I am not sure how you are doing it, but done right, you could clean a pallet (530ish) or 2 in three hours.

On a sturdy wood base, use a 4" brick-set, and one good blow will remove 100% of the mortar, 75% of the time. Use other brick to shim it to about an 80% angle (shiner side up), place the brick-set at the upper joint between the mortar and the brick, and give it a medium blow with a 2-3# engineer's hammer.

[Tscarborough]

Re: Mississippi 44"

148 brick in 3 hours!?

[Gulf]

Re: Mississippi 44"

148 brick in 3 hours!?

Well it is a long way up the hill and I'm not as spry as I used to be .
A brick set works well on modern mortar whitch seems to be more ridgid than old lime mortar. The old lime mortar doesn't usually break clean in one strike. To clean bricks like this I use a hatchet. I hold the brick in the left hand and the hatchet in my right .

[wotavidone]

Re: Mississippi 44"

Anyone tried knocking the bulk of mortar off with the hatchet then dropping the brick in Hydrochloric acid to dissolve the rest off?

[Tscarborough]

Re: Mississippi 44"

If it is lime mortar, get a 55gl drum some agricultural vinegar and let chemistry do the work.

[Gulf]

Re: Mississippi 44"

Tscarborough: "If it is lime mortar, get a 55gl drum some agricultural vinegar and let chemistry do the work."
Wotavidone: "Anyone tried knocking the bulk of mortar off with the hatchet then dropping the brick in Hydrochloric acid to dissolve the rest off?"
I am sure that both of these techniques would work. However, I am afraid that it would result in a squeaky clean used brick build. My vision of old brick are bricks with a history. I like the look of the site-made white lime mortar on the face of the brick, the smut from a turn of the century flue, and also the chop marks left by this "old fart" on the face of the brick that were originally in the interior of a double wall construction.
I am not against using a little touch up with muriatic acid and neutralizing, but I am against removing all the history from "old brick".
Just sayin'

[C5dad]

Re: Mississippi 44"

Gulf,

Back in the day (OK 1992) I was responsible for a demo of a set of brick builidings that survived 3 major eathquakes from the 1890's on outside of San Francisco (my home grounds).

I hired a gentilman (old Italian - or he said daigo) to just knock the mortar off the brick using a chisel. Left over mortar, oh well. We were able to sell the bricks for 0.75 each because we could authenticate! One of the archetects got a hard on over the left over mortar on the bricks (with haze).

As he said, the bricks are just bricks unless they can tell a story! I was able to sell hundreds of pallets of brick (not to mention the wood beams) for a premium and recover more than the cost of demo!

So, do your best and be careful of the patina!

Chris

PS I am using 100+ yr old fire brick from a furnace (yes, it is CLEAN) in my oven. Cool thing - my great great grandfather was a brick mason at the mine where I got the bricks. So, think they are special to me??

[david s]

Re: Mississippi 44"

"One of the archetects got a hard on over the left over mortar"

As a teenager I wanted to be an architect, now I know why.