Mississippi 44"

[wotavidone]

Anyone tried knocking the bulk of mortar off with the hatchet then dropping the brick in Hydrochloric acid to dissolve the rest off?

[Tscarborough]

If it is lime mortar, get a 55gl drum some agricultural vinegar and let chemistry do the work.

[Gulf]

Tscarborough: "If it is lime mortar, get a 55gl drum some agricultural vinegar and let chemistry do the work."
Wotavidone: "Anyone tried knocking the bulk of mortar off with the hatchet then dropping the brick in Hydrochloric acid to dissolve the rest off?"
I am sure that both of these techniques would work. However, I am afraid that it would result in a squeaky clean used brick build. My vision of old brick are bricks with a history. I like the look of the site-made white lime mortar on the face of the brick, the smut from a turn of the century flue, and also the chop marks left by this "old fart" on the face of the brick that were originally in the interior of a double wall construction.
I am not against using a little touch up with muriatic acid and neutralizing, but I am against removing all the history from "old brick".
Just sayin'

[C5dad]

Gulf,

Back in the day (OK 1992) I was responsible for a demo of a set of brick builidings that survived 3 major eathquakes from the 1890's on outside of San Francisco (my home grounds).

I hired a gentilman (old Italian - or he said daigo) to just knock the mortar off the brick using a chisel. Left over mortar, oh well. We were able to sell the bricks for 0.75 each because we could authenticate! One of the archetects got a hard on over the left over mortar on the bricks (with haze).

As he said, the bricks are just bricks unless they can tell a story! I was able to sell hundreds of pallets of brick (not to mention the wood beams) for a premium and recover more than the cost of demo!

So, do your best and be careful of the patina!

Chris

PS I am using 100+ yr old fire brick from a furnace (yes, it is CLEAN) in my oven. Cool thing - my great great grandfather was a brick mason at the mine where I got the bricks. So, think they are special to me??

[david s]

"One of the archetects got a hard on over the left over mortar"

As a teenager I wanted to be an architect, now I know why.

[Gulf]

C5dad: "So, do your best and be careful of the patina!"
Thank's Chris, for recognizing the aesthetic value of historical building materials .

C5dad"
"One of the archetects got a hard on over the left over mortar"

david s: "As a teenager I wanted to be an architect, now I know why".

Thank's Chris,
Thank'sDavid,
Now, if I can find a way to add a little T&A, I may even surpass Tu's thread (40" WFO in the New Orleans)as the Porno Bravo leader .

[Tscarborough]

The aesthetic of used brick is not the remnants of mortar it is the brick itself.

[Gulf]

C5dad (Chris):
"....the bricks are just bricks unless they can tell a story! ...So, do your best and be careful of the patina!....I am using 100+ yr old fire brick from a furnace (yes, it is CLEAN) in my oven. Cool thing - my great great grandfather was a brick mason at the mine where I got the bricks. So, think they are special to me?? "

I can really relate to that .

I will be glad when these 12 to 16 hour days (our annual outage at the mill where I work) ends . (They don't have an icon for "dog tired"). I am hoping to get back to work on the Mississippi Queen very soon.

[brickie in oz]

Originally Posted by Gulf

(They don't have an icon for "dog tired").

[Gulf]

Thank's Al,
That might just be my new avatar .