Never got around to posting these. And I will be brief. Someday i will put it all together.
Digging the "clay" . Truth be known it is more silty than clay. It is what we have. Willifred digging the clay and pounding into fine clumps.
We mix with about 40% volcanic sand. Sifting out stones.
What gets sifted out. A stone in a raw brick will cause the brick to burst during firing.
Stacking the bricks. Black bricks are charcoal dust 'brickettes", our fuel source.
more brickettes and you can see the sprinkling of the dust.
Close up of the sand.
The kiln is built up with measured charcoal dust between layers. Kiln is started by firewood in the opening like in the old days. using a pipe to push firewood way in on the second day.
After a few hours doors are closed up until folowing day. then more firewood added. sometimes air vents are left and sometimes it is closed up completely.
The first part is getting the moisture out of the bricks. Above picture it is mostly steam rising out of the bricks. It takes about 48 hours
or more for the moisture to get out of the 28,000 bricks. Then the heat needs to rise slowly up to 1300F
Look closely and you notice the heat waves on top. this is about 3 meters high
Me standing on the wall looking down when the burnign has reached top
