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cutting kiln posts, attn: judy motzkin

updated fri 28 jan 05

 

Janet Moe/Paul Bailey on thu 27 jan 05


j e motzkin wrote:

> One of my all time best and treasured tools is a masonry
> chisel. Get regular hard bricks or soaps, score a line
> and tap with a chisel to make 1/2 or 1/4 brick posts.
> simple. You can get 4 posts out of each brick. cheap.
> Also good for breaking up old kiln shelves for smaller
> posts.
> judy motzkin

Hi Judy,

I am about to start cutting hard bricks to use in building my kiln, for
the burner ports and flu as well as for posts. After reading your
message I headed to Home Depot to buy a masonry chisel, all excited
because I love to get new tools and this is one I can afford! There
were many to choose from. There was the short crow-bar type and then
there were shorter ones with a hand guard. The hand guard seems like a
good idea to me. The chisel part came in all different widths from about
1 inch to about 4 inches. Am I right in thinking that the wider one
would work best? Another question, what do you use for scoring the
bricks? Thanks!

Janet, Denman Island, BC, Canada
We had 2 weeks of beautiful snow and weather just below freezing, then
it warmed up and it rained and rained. All the snow is gone from the ski
hill too. Boo Hoo!

Paul Herman on thu 27 jan 05


Janet,

To cut bricks, what you need is a 'brick set' chisel. Get the wide one,
about 4 inches or so. And if you like tools, get the 2 inch one too.

To score a brick, draw a line around it where you want it to break. Put
the brick on a sand or dirt surface. Take your brick set and tap on the
line with the hammer and chisel. Make a little groove in the brick on
all four sides. The two inch one is good for that. A few light taps can
make an adequate groove. It's like cutting glass.

Then take the wide brick set, hold it on the groove and whack it with a
hammer. If it doesn't break, hit it again. After a few times the groove
making gets easier, and you start to get the hang of it.

I visited Denman Island once, and spent the night in a little log house.
What a great place!

good bricks,

Paul Herman

Great Basin Pottery
Doyle, California US
http://www.greatbasinpottery.com/

----------
>From: Janet Moe/Paul Bailey
>To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
>Subject: Re: cutting kiln posts, attn: judy motzkin
>Date: Thu, Jan 27, 2005, 2:35 PM
>

> Hi Judy,
>
> I am about to start cutting hard bricks to use in building my kiln, for
> the burner ports and flu as well as for posts. After reading your
> message I headed to Home Depot to buy a masonry chisel, all excited
> because I love to get new tools and this is one I can afford! There
> were many to choose from. There was the short crow-bar type and then
> there were shorter ones with a hand guard. The hand guard seems like a
> good idea to me. The chisel part came in all different widths from about
> 1 inch to about 4 inches. Am I right in thinking that the wider one
> would work best? Another question, what do you use for scoring the
> bricks? Thanks!
>
> Janet, Denman Island, BC, Canada
> We had 2 weeks of beautiful snow and weather just below freezing, then
> it warmed up and it rained and rained. All the snow is gone from the ski
> hill too. Boo Hoo!