Firing up the brick clamp part 2

Saturday morning I went out to find the fire out but for some coals in the firebox. The bricks were still very hot though the glow was gone. I restoked up the fire and had it glowing again in about an hour. During that time I added a curtan wall of red brick around the firebrick to help hold in the heat that was excaping from all the cracks. It made a big improvement in the overall heat and glow inside.

Black sooty smoke is bellowing from the top just after I put more wood on the fire.

After about 10 hours I shut it all up and let the cooldown begin. Sunday I opened it up to see the results.

Out of 24 clay brick I had made and burned in the clamp, none broke! A few had cracks. They were in various states of firing. Over half were underfired to different degrees. A few had glazed overheated spots on them. And six or so had the nice orange almost red look from the iron oxide in the clay. About a third had a noticable ring to them when tapped instead of the thud when tapped of an underfired brick would.

Overall I rate this firing as a success. I made marked improvement over last years attempt. I got rid of the milky chalky haze last years bricks had too. None of the bricks from the last try were very tough or had a good ring when tapped. These had many that did. Just wait for my next try!!!

Before and after!