Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Primitive Technology: New Brick Kiln Design”.
A new spot next to the hut will make a good workspace, as the hut is too small, But there’s a large fallen tree. That’S too big to move by hand Like with most problems. Fire is the solution. Mosquitoes are around, but the smoke keeps them at bay.
As mentioned previously, the firesticks are easier to maintain than a bow or cord drill set.. When you get good with fire sticks, it’s less over all work to make a fire. This way., A hot ember, is produced within 45 seconds.
The hot ember is blown so that it ignites the tinder The mosquito won’t hang around once the fire gets going, kindling is added to the smoldering mass of crushed, dry leaves and flame appears. Now, the burning kindling is positioned under the offending log Fanning the flames. Wood is stacked around the log like a temporary kiln wall and finer sticks are fed. In Now the wood does the work of cutting the log in half saving, labor and tool wear By mid morning.
The log is nearly burnt in half. Levers can now be used to move the shorter segment of the log Where there are few obstructions, the log can be rolled by hand. The log is rolled right down the slope out of the way Now to burn and shift the rest of the section of log. This fire burnt overnight and the next day was ready to roll Again levers are employed to lift the log over uneven ground.
A large area is now usable. A pit about 1 m in diameter is dug to mix clay for bricks. No excavators were harmed in the making of this. Video pit is about 1m wide and 50 cm deep.
The ground is made flat to form bricks on Compacting the soil to from a brick making floor, The site is a short walking distance from a seasonal creek. With a bank of brick quality clay, The clay is gritty in texture, meaning it doesn’t need sand added to prevent cracking., It’s good enough for bricks, but not ideal for pottery and tiles Into the pit. One pot of clay makes about 2 bricks. 25 pots were collected, Water is added to mix the clay. A terracotta trough and brick mold made in a previous video Water is added to wet the mold between making bricks. Mold is set in place and clay formed into a brick on the spot.
Time lapse of 50 bricks, The brick kiln at the hut, ( bricks made in previous video ) Disassembling, the 100 brick kiln and taking them to the new worksite Avian brick foreman. The new firebox design is simply made with 4 rows of 3 bricks stacked on their sides, topped with another 4 parallel rows. The ware chamber is made as normal layers of 10 stacked on their side, ( less likely to crack than laid flat ). The kiln took a total of 75 bricks compared to the 100 of the old design Wooden stakes to hold the fire wood. This makes a pile of wood 75 cm cubed. The bricks are turned as soon as they can be to dry, faster, Damp bricks, loaded into the kiln for forced drying, Bricks stacked on their sides in alternating layers of 10 50 bricks in total, A fire to dry the bricks Fire in the bottom channel to dry Bricks, The next day, the bricks are dry and won’t deform.
When touched The firing proper begins. Wood is inserted into the 3 upper stoking channels. These are ignited with a fire in the lower middle channel. Roof tiles are used to keep the heat in the furnace, while still allowing a draft Constant stoking with wood is needed to raise the temperature. The heat can be seen rising up the layers of bricks. The fire can be stoked from both ends.
The top bricks just started to glow red before I ran out of wood at 2.5 hours. Next time, I’ll collect more wood for a 3 hour firing. The next day, the bricks at the top ( that got the least heat ) are water tested to see if They will dissolve., The others will be ok if these ones pass the test.
The resulting fired bricks, The calcium, rich wood ash from the firing is saved to make mortar later. Water is added and the ash mixed into a paste. The paste is formed into bricks for storage. These will be fired later to calcine them for mortar, when it is needed. The bricks passed, the water test, ( didn’t dissolve ) after 5 hours in water, The new brick yard .