Fire Brick Pricing

[CajunKnight]

I went to a local manufacturer / distributor today and checked the price on fire bricks. $1.75 eack. This is a standard 2x4x9 brick. The other manufacturer in my area had them for $1.50. I was talking with the salesperson and explained how I planned to use them and when I said I would be cutting a great deal of the bricks in half he said he had a better idea. He showed me their seconds or commons. These bricks have some imperfections such as chipped corners, cracks or just a bad pour and a small void in the edge, some didnt look bad at all. He quoted me a price of $0.39 each. Thats right thirtynine cents each. If the bulk of my brick can be purchased at this price I dont think I am looking for used bricks any longer.

[gjbingham]

Good find! Sounds like they should work fine. I'm betting that if you get 200 - 300 of them, you can find enough bricks with good surfaces on at least one side for the floor. For the dome, according to others, the finished side of the original brick is stronger than a nice flat surface obtained by cutting the brick in half. That might be tougher. I used the cut surfaces if the edges or my "new" bricks were too rough.

[Frances]

Hey presto, an affordable oven! Good for you, buy those bricks.

My bricks were seconds, too. Worked out great... only they still cost me about 3 Euros each...

[Jed]

Use the seconds!

Most of the each brick is out of sight, and only a few of the brick need to have even one good face. By the time you sort through a couple hundred brick, you can find plenty with good looking faces, and if not, buy a dozen pretty brick for the exposed locations.

I paid $1.75 per brick (with the discount...) and this is one of the single most expensive parts to the oven.

JED