First fireup test! April 12, 09

Even though the chimney isn't to its finished height yet, I was excited to try out the furnace to see how it may do with a small fire in it. Would the flue and chimney draw smoke? Very well was my observation! I found it to do very well. It may have had trouble though if it had been a windy day with the low chimney height it has now. I will fix that soon.


It feels really good to see it in action!


I made a small fire this time so not to crack any bricks. Just wanted to drive out the left over moisture in them and the mortar joints. Did see some steam coming out of a few places. Not to much though. Some of this brickwork had been drying out for a few months now.



Once the fire was hotter it drew through the flue great! Not to much smoke in the shed.

Brickmaking and furnace update for April 11, 09

Heres the progress on the furnace chimney! It wont be long now till its first smoke!


I love the warmer weather we now are enjoying here.

Brickmaking update for April 3, 09

Flue passthru for my furnace is finished. Now all that is left is to finish the chimney and add the doors.

I am also still trying to find a quicker method to create my radial bricks for the chimney. Running some tests.

Back outside. 3-26-09

With the warmer spring weather Ive had here, I set up my brickmaking outdoors to increase output.

By stockpiling clay and sand in bigger piles, I can mix up more and larger batches for the presses.

I have made alot of progress on the chimney base since the last post. I am nearing completion of the flue and base. Im starting to form up the chimney stack now. This is were its gonna really take shape!

Construction update 3-20-09

Poured some concrete for the bottom of the flue passthru and ash chute. It is a concrete made with sand and gravel from a closeby creekbed. In the mix is a portion of clay. The idea being to give it some ability to resist the heat of the gases as they pass thru the flue.

Furnace update for 3-06-09

Ive enjoyed the warmer weather and made some big progress. Poured the top concrete slab for the furnace.

Ive also added to upright slabs at the chimney base to help support the weight of the coming brickwork.

Brick smokestack

This is the brick smokestack at Saint Joseph's College in Rensselaer, Indiana. The pics are poor because of the snowy weather the day I was up there. I will try to get better pics when I can.

The raidial brickwork is larger than the standard bricks nearby.

The stack is over 100' I would guess.

Progress for Feb 22, 2009

Just a small bit of work done lately on the top of the front face. Wont be long now till I pour the top slab and finish this part of the furnace. Need the weather to warm up!

Brick furnace construction update Feb 15, 2009

Ive began work on the flue passageway thru the wall to the chimney. Aslo began closing off all of the brickwork gaps around the front door of the arch chamber.

Brick furnace update for Feb. 9

Heres my progress so far. Getting close to the top! If I had to do it over I would have added more cut bricks to surround the arch. But for my first work, it isn't too bad.

Brick furnace archway key

A two day spell of warmer air has given me the chance to lay some more bricks. When I made the plans up for the archway to the firebox I figured I needed twelve tapered bricks. Either I got the number of brick needed for it wrong or my inexperience at laying the mortar joints for them at an angle is showing. Rather than redo all of it I improvised and came up with a keystone of sorts. Im sure it will be strong enough for this project at least.

All along I knew I would have to cut off the tops of the arch bricks to keep the access door to the crucible shelf low enough for access. This works out ok for that also. I have some mortar joints I need to clean up, but its not too bad I think. Gives a strange diamond detail to the arch. I like it!

More bricks pressed

With the warmer temps here lately, I have managed to press another 38 bricks for the furnace.

I am trying a different red stain mix on some of the brick faces. Its a mix of redwwod deck stain like before, a small amount of yellow water based paint and a couple table spoonfulls of portland cement. I want to see if it helps give the face of the brick a harder, sealed surface than just using the red stain alone would.

Im also messing around again with the ingredients on a few sample bricks. So far Ive settled on a mix of about 50% brown clay, 40% sifted creek sand, and 10% portland cement.

For the test sample I have went with 25% brown clay, 25% yellow clay, 40% sand and 10% portand cement. The yellow clay comes from the same hillside but its in a seperate band Ive uncovered below the brown clay. It seems to be stickier than the brown is and I want to see if it will be more water resistant mixed into the brick. I will let you know my findings.

Brickmaking in Carroll County Indiana

Found this photo looking thru the historical files online for Carroll County. This photo was labeled to be from around 1882. The bricks were being made for local construction projects.

Xenia schoolhouse.

This little old schoolhouse is only about 5 miles from my home. It is at a crossroads of two rural county roads and the only thing left of the small town of Xenia in Carroll county, Indiana. What I find interesting is that it is so small, yet a two story structure. Why was it made this way? Most schoolhouses of the time were bigger one room, one floor structures. Any thought as to that? Ive seen the map for this town in an old book my dad has for Carroll county. If I can find the picture of the old plate map for the town of Xenia, I will post it here for you to see.

Another thing I noticed. Ive seen this before on other old brick buildings. The brick about a foot above the ground is weathered and peeling away. Im sure its from the cold and water freezing in the brick. But why at that exact height? Why not all the way to the ground? I know that when I build my garage with my brick, I will have a concrete wall from the foundation slab up about 1.5 to 2 feet so I can avoid this brick damage. Anyone out there that can explain more about why it happens like it does here?


I put this post together from memory of when I was a kid and had seen the old maps of the county. I couldnt find the books so far and was starting to doubt myself. I went online searching for info on the town of Xenia in Democrat township of Carroll county. On all of the later maps, say maybe 1880's and later, Xenia doesnt exist. But on one map it showed the image of a town layout at the crossroad where Xenia was without labeling it as such. Then I finally came across an older map from 1852 which vindicated my childhood memory. There it was printed out, Xenia!!

Building the inside brick arch.

I used an old water pressure tank as my arch form.

I had some trouble pulling the old tank out the next day. It had gotten stuck where the welded beads of the tank rubbed against the bricks. I was finally able to wiggle it out without cracking any of the bricks or mortar joints. Lucky me.

I still have alot of mortar work left to do on the inside of it. But it will have to wait for the weather to warm back up some. Next few days are gonna be below zero with wind chill.