Fired Brick Clamp part1

This past Friday I put together an improvised brick firing clamp to burn some of the test bricks Ive been making. The bricks are 100% clay with no sand or cement added. They were dry pressed in my mechanical ram press. I started the fire slow to cook out the remaining water in the clay. I fired it from 6:00pm till midnight with scrap wood and then closed it up till morning to continue the burn.

New brickmaking frogs.

I have made new frog plates for my small brick press. HENDRIX and KENNEDY are mine and my wifes' family names.

I think it gives a more prefessional look to my pressed brickmaking.

I am now also trying out drypressing bricks of pure clay. No sand or cement. These would need to be kiln fired to make hard and weather proof. More details comming soon.

First firing of the wood furnace.

The furnace is complete enough to test fire and run several checks.

Draft thru the flue and chimney is very good. Doors seal off the air ok but could be better. The tank is old and there are a few drip leaks to fix. I filled the tank about 1/4 way with straight water. Its a 250 gal tank. The fire was built up slowly to dry up the brick and mortar joints. Well water is about 59F deg. It took about two hours to get the water really hot. Just below boiling. It shouldnt take as long next time now that the brickwork is dry. Over all it was a success! Now to build the shed to protect it from the weather and finish the tube to the house.

Bricks Galore! Used Brick

Ive been searching over the summer for used bricks to build with. I finally found what I was looking for on Craigslist last week. About 20 miles from my home is this old corn bin. The owner wants it tore down and removed from his lot. There must be 8,000 plus bricks here for me. With the bin ruins also comes a large pile of brick rubble. The bricks are in mostly good condition though some are broken in pieces.

Are the clay tile holes along the side for grain drying?

There are four firebrick arches along the bottom.

Can anyone give me ideas as to how this worked? It has my curiousity up.

Wood heat furnace update July 11, 09

Done with the fire brick installation now. Have also finished the chimney with the addition of a tall stovepipe to aid fire draft.

I will pour the firebrick secondburn tray over the next few days. Then is will be time to set the water boiler tank for gap sealing.

Pressing firebricks

Ive been working on a home addition at my house for over a year now. I dug out along the foundation to lay drainage pipe and heating tubes from the wood furnace. The soil is a very sticky clay here. Perfect for the firebricks we have been making for the lining of the furnace.

After sitting in the sun for several days with no rain, the clay hardens into stiff clumps that need broken down for mixing with sand.

50% clay, 40% sand, and 10% portland cement.

Here is a pile of free creek sand taken from my property.

The mix is damp but not soggy. It will clump in your fist.

And here is the result from the press!

Making clay firebricks.

My oldest son William has joined me making bricks. I have contracted out to him the job of making the firebricks for my wood heat boiler. He has done a pretty good job for a near 16 year old kid. Using only a shovel, wheelbarrow, mixer and hand mold, he has made me 60 of these so far.

Wood boiler for house heating project

Im working on another project with my kids this summer. I want to build an outdoor wood fired boiler to heat our house this next winter. The idea is to save as much as possible on heating the house with propane by using wood heated water from this furnace.

The water tank is 250 gallons and will rest ontop of the firebox.

The heated water will be pumped underground to the house. It will pass thru a water tube radiator in the gas furnace airduct. The heat transfer will warm the air that is forced thruout the house.

Brick ruins in Clinton County. Updated 12-1-09

I took a drive after work one day last week and stopped by a couple ruins I had wanted to see up close.

This was an old two story farmhouse. Its hard to see from the road. Few know its even there. Thats a good thing because no kids have put graffiti on it.

I would love to find who the owner is and work out a deal for the old brick.

This is your typical one room schoolhouse. Built back in the 1880s.

The bricks are not to bad for being made on site in a clamp kiln.

The front door was replaced with a large barn door at one point by a local farmer. But often the loads on the brick wall cant take the wide span. Over the years the wall has crumbled some.

Here are a few updated photos of the farmhouse ruins I thought you may enjoy. Dated 12-1-09

Progress update for 6-11-09

Over the past few weeks we have put our homemade brick aluminum furnace to some good use casting stuff.

We reached temps higher than before. The aluminum melted very well.

This is a sword William cast from the scraps we had.

Hers an axe head he made also. Its rough but he likes it.

Some arrows he cast and later made into spear points.