Cutting an arc in fire bricks

[Neal]

Hi all

I am seriously thinking about this, and as winter is not that far off in New England, I am sure that I will have 100 stupid questions between now and spring when I can get started. I hope that you are a patient group.

My first question is if you intend to use insulating board below the cooking surface fire bricks and place the dome on the outside of the cooking bricks but on top of the insulating board, how are you cutting the arc in the firebricks so as to get a nice tight fit with the first course? My intentions would be to have the outside of the first course end up flush with the the butt end of the underlying insulation board so it too would have to be cut in a circle (plus the opening) requiring arc cuts.

Most tile saws I have seen do a good job cutting straight lines, but how do you cut a smooth arc? Are you using some other tool?

Thanks in advance.

Neal

[dmun]

You use multiple cuts to approximate the curve. Remember: your soldier course bricks have straight lines, it's not a real curve anyway.

[fxpose]

A 4.5" angle grinder with a diamond blade is very useful for shaving off bits and pieces off bricks as you go.

[Neal]

Approximate with the straight cut and fine tune with a grinder. Thanks.

In hindsight my post probably belonged in the getting started catagory and that is where I shall head.