Mortar required to build a 42" dome

[james]

Does anyone have the calculation for how much mortar they using building a 42" dome? A builder just asked me.

If you made your own mortar (either recipe), could you total up the weight?

Thanks.
James

[PizzaMan]

For my 42" dome I purchased:
4 5-gallon buckets of sand
2 60-lb bags of cement (not concrete mix)
3 bags of clay

After finishing the dome I have left over:
1 5-gallon bucket of sand
1/2 bag of cement
2+ bags of clay

I really does not take much to build this project. Just buy a little more than you might possibly need so you can pass on the leftovers to someone else!

[maver]

I used the 3 part sand, 1 part fireclay, 1 part lime and 1 part portland recipe and used just under a bag each of the portland and lime (80lb each) and just over a bag of fireclay (60#), call it 80#. I didn't count the sand bags, but I guess you would figure 240# give or take. I used some of the sand and fireclay under the bricks of the hearth.

[james]

Thanks for that,

I am estimating the following from the 3:1:1 recipe:

150lbs of sand
50lbs of Portland
50lbs of Fire clay

That's about 250lb of mortar. How does that sound?

What would our other builders say to that?

James