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beginner questions / mortar

updated thu 15 nov 01

 

John Baymore on tue 13 nov 01



Does anyone have a good recipe for fire clay mortar? I'm helping build a
wood kiln and we need something to dip the bricks in. I've seen some site=
s
for fireplace building which just use fire clay and water. For kilns and
the
hotter temps, are there any ingredients that need to by added, or is a
straight fire clay mortar still good for dipping kiln bricks?


Mike,

A lot depends on what you want the mortar to do. Straight fireclay and
water is great for doing some leveling. I use it all the time. When bot=
h
dry and fired it has little to no "bonding" effect between the bricks. I=
f
the leveling factor is all you aree looking for...... go fo it.

If you need them to "stick" to each other.... you need a bonding mortar o=
f
some sort. You could play with all sorts of homemade mixtures..... or ju=
st
go buy some good commercial mortar. It is only about $35.00 for a 50 lb
drum of most of the typical ones for high fire use....... Trowleze,
Sairset, and so on....... and they work very well. (Follow directions.)=
=

So it really makes little sense to "experiment" too much on the homemade
stuff. Look under "refractories" in the phone book.

BTW..... if you are planning on highfire work..... make sure that you hav=
e
the right kind of firebricks.

Best,

..............................john

John Baymore
River Bend Pottery
22 Riverbend Way
Wilton, NH 03086 USA

603-654-2752 (s)
800-900-1110 (s)

JohnBaymore.com

JBaymore@compuserve.com
John.Baymore@GSD-CO.com

"Earth, Water, and Fire Noborigama Woodfiring Workshop 2002 Dates TBA"=