Random thoughts from the moose cave.

I'd make some enquiries about that if i was you. I dont have enough info or experience to give real reccomendations in this matter.
I think you need to slow cook them first to dry moisture out. Also sometimes things like brick can explode, river rocks do it sometimes around campfires. I think its to do with expansion. Its more likely that they will crack, burn (eventually) and disintergrate.
but yeah i think i'd ask a brickie or something what they thought.

more info.
Common red clay brick are used for chimneys and wood-fired ovens.

Substitute for firebricks can be old red clay solid bricks. NB must be old. new types can be not solid red clay.
http://www.traditionaloven.com/articles/95/old-red-clay-solids-as-firebrick-alternative

Heres an idea.
Cover your brick hearth with a layer of washed river sand. This will protect concrete and eventually melt to form a refractory layer on the concrete brickwork

Oops... Itouch brainfart. Found him elsewhere. Can't direct him from here... Will try later from a computer.

It isn't the location that was inspirational about the video, it is all the stuff he was able to make, including the log cabin, from the ground up with just a saw, axe, mallet and chisel.

yeah, wood is cool that way.

being on the prairie and all, my cabin is aluminium. trees are scarcer here.

but I got more tools than that guy does...

I totally wish that I had clay bricks.

but I don't. I own about 400 white concrete bricks. and ownership is a critical issue just yet.

I am going to use them as fireproofing. the stove will not be closer than 12" to them at any point. they will rest on and against cement board, then plywood.

if some of them crack, well...they dint burn.

I'm off to work.

not much wind yet, think ima light the barrel today.

and start my trench. the old fashioned way. with a shovel and an adz...

Just don't dig with your face. Don't want to get trench mouth.

I'll try to remember that, ed...

I will yield to 2packs, but concrete doesn't like high temperatures. It turns back to cement as some temperature.

Rocky, at that distance they should be fine....it's usually not the radiant heat that does the damage....it's direct fire on the brick that will cause problems.

I have seen Cinder blocks 8x16's fail after being exposed to just one fire, seen it twice in the same spot too....my grandmother did not believe me...for some reason, when I told her not to use cinder blocks for a fire pit....brush pile....didn't help that they put logs in there the size of telephone poles and larger. She didn't believe me so much that she had to do it a second time. Cost me about 80 block.....yeah my blocks too.

where the hell you been...?

let's talk mortar...

do I need a special backerboard, or is plywood good enough?

why don't any online brick masons speak american...?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eX_AHUJq-0&feature=fvw

oh very busy....very.....I think about you guys often though.

There is a product called Durock or wonderboard, it's the tile backer board that is actually made from cement....there is another that some stores push called Hardee Backer board....it's basically highly compressed paper...very dense cardboardish kinda stuff....I put down some today, and I hate it....but that one would also work, but if you can find one of the other two they would be the best. There is another newer one called Denseshield...or something like that, it's a blue/grey sheetrock looking product, that one would probably work also.....but if you can find the cement based boards go with them....they all cost about the same....roughly 80 cents per square foot. Depending on what surface you are gonna build this thing on....you might need to glue the backer board down as well.

The brick probably wouldn't transfer enough heat to even heat up plywood anymore than room temp....but I'd feel much safer by not using wood....wood being what it is, tends to swell and shrink with the amount of humidity....being that close to a wood fire, the air will be very dry at times....so it would probably just add to the problem. Flexing will cause the mortar to fail....so not using wood is more of a bonding issue than a heat or fire hazard.

They make a product called Sand Topping Mix....it's made by Quickcrete....if you can find some, that would be the easiest way to set and "grout" the brick....it's a premixed product....so you don't have to mess with buying loose sand plus a bag or two of masonry cement. It's not the prettiest stuff....Quickcrete has always been known for using very aggressive aggregate....sharp little rocks, so the mortar won't be creamy....but as I said it's just easier to deal with. I use it for all kinds of stuff......it always helps to add a bit of "milk" to the mortar.....most stores that carry mortar will have some sort of admix or latex additive....if the store handles quickcrete, they almost always have the milk as well.....it's cheap enough, and gives the mortar some flexability.

Feel free to call me anytime hoss.

I want a skim coat of mortar under and behind the bricks, yes...?

and how best to cut them. on the budget of a church mouse.

They need to be set in at least a half inch bed of mortar...but I'm not exactly sure what you mean....getting a bit groggy here....since you have so many...just a simple wide chisel would prob work, you will break a few that way....sometimes I just use my trowel....whack....but it depends on the brick.

Is cutting the bricks a space issue? 'Cause easiest is just not to bother. We put down cement board the size required by code then added enough that none of the bricks needed to be cut. So, yeah, it's a little over-sized (not much) but I can see where space might be an issue for you.

how 'bout a chop saw?

got to cut some so I get a pattern of sorts. I don't want this to look like I got drunk and decided to lay bricks.

and space is definitely an issue.

if I can master the cutting of the bricks, I would like to do a pattern.

prolly herringbone on the floor.

I like that one a lot.

It's a small place, I want to enjoy what I gotta look at. Itsa gonna be a long winter, I think...


and there is a quikrete plant right on the edge of the metropolis near me. that's how we get lakes here. I should be able to get anything there. (that's where I get my blast sand)