Cutting fire brick

This must have been discussed before, but can a guy cut hard fire brick with a skill saw using
a masonry blade for a circular saw & lot's of water?Man the more I look into this the higher the price goes.

I first thought using steel in the build, cause I,m set up for that.I have a small machine
shop at home with welders & all.But the more I read about it not lasting I,m plan on
fire brick.It's going to take many, as you guys already know.Now it is the cutting I need
to figure out a cheaper way than renting a wet saw.

Fly

A wet saw with a diamond blade is the way to go. Craigslist will have a tile saw on occassion, try there, sell it when you are done.
A skilsaw is not the right tool. Too easy to get the thing wet, creating a serious shock hazard. Just not worth it to save a buck.
If the brick is thin, 1", an angle grinder with a diamond blade can be used to score it, then snap off the unwanted piece with a hammer.

I've done it. Since firebrick is brittle, you don't need to cut all the way through. You can just make one pass with the skilsaw, turn it over and score the other side, and a good tap with a masonry chisel will do the rest. If you get good at it, you can figure out how to do it scoring just one side.

P.S. That dust the skilsaw throws up isn't good to be breathing, wear a mask.

Jim Fitzgibbon : You can do it with a skill saw, and i even know people who have taught themselves with regular brick to do it with a Brick chisel. I would waste
a lot of material myself ! Right now on Craigs List within a hundred miles of my house are three wet saws!

Also check want ads, penny savers, and my personal favorite Habitat for Humanity's Re-Stores, while staffed by volunteers, I find they are usually smart and
there are a sprinkling of retired types with a great knowledge of building, and general contracting,

I can get 1' x 1', stone tile to 18'' x 18'', cheap and re-gift for house warnings, B'days and X mass, I can lose 1/2 a day wandering in my nearest Re-Store !

For the Craft ! Big Al

Jim; A masonary blade on a 4" grinder will work just fine. I've been doing it for the last few weeks. Use a face shield and a good dust mask. I'm still on my first blade , cost was under 5 bucks. You have to come at it from all sides takes about two minutes. Use Gloves !! I was suprised how easy they did cut. No water needed. Tom

A 9 inch angle grinder and diamond blade can cut prety much any massonry material. Firebrick is no exeption. I paid my blade about 30 euros. From a guy a guy who had finished his house and had a new one spare. A good idea is to soak the brick overnight before cutting.

That's mad, i was checking ebay.com, and if you want a 9 inch angle grinder diamond blade, you'll have to import it. As you don't seem to have any in the us. Over here, they're everywhere.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=angle+grinder+9&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313&_nkw=angle+grinder+9+diamond&_sacat=0

Any diy shop has them.

Not a cutting question but a Fire Brick Quality question... I've come across a local CL ad selling a bunch of "Mex-R-Co" Viking Fire Brick. They look to be of good quality but the only info I can find is that the Company was bought out in 1959 and a lot of people collect them for the cool stamp. 92 bricks for $100. Any advice? Intended for outdoor RMH.

I copied this from http://genforum.genealogy.com/mo/audrain/messages/175.html of all places

In 1903 some businessmen in Mexico recognized the quality and uniqueness of the fire clay in the area. They raised money and established the Mexico Brick and Fire Clay Co. In 1910 they sold it to a young engineer named A.P. Green. In 1915 he incorporated as the A.P.Green Fire Brick Company. By 1937 it was said to be the world's largest fireclay plant. In 1930 a young man named J.B. Arthur left Green's to form his own company, the Mexico Refractories Co. Other companies came in and by the 50's Audrain County was known as the "Fire Brick Capital of the World". Brick from Green's was used to make the first launching pad at Cape Canaveral.
Mexico Refractories brick was stamped Mex-R-Co. Mexico Refractories was bought by Kaiser Refractories (I think in 1959) and is now a part of NRMC. Green's was bought originally by U.S. Gypsum and I think is now owned by RHI Refractories

For $100, I'd be all over it. For an outdoor RMH, I think these bricks will perform under extreme conditions.

A few years back I picked up about 700 bricks for less than a buck each, sold half of them for 2 bucks each within 3 weeks.

Sounds like a good deal then. Thanks Ken! I'm going to email the chamber on that site to see what other info I can find out for curiosity sake. I'll post if anything interesting pops up.

I purchase the bricks from Craigslist and they are in good shape structurally however the majority have one side painted. I'm guessing some sort of high heat paint. Any concerns with this? Should the paint face the fire or away from the fire? I did a test with the painted face away from the fire and got a nice sideways burn just how I see in the videos. The various levels of paint decay make for a pretty cool looking Core structure.

This is a video I made showing my 1st burn, I made for a few friends to try and peak their interest.

I'd put the painted side facing into the combustion chamber. If it outgasses during a burn, the fumes will be drawn up the flue with the smoke. IF the paint burns of completely after a few burns, no more worry.

I'm thinking you might want to wire brush any paint on a side that will be a mortar joint.

Thanks Again Ken.