Trying to source materials southwestern Ontario, Canada

Hello All, I am new to the forum, and have been researching rocket mass heaters for about a month now. I've tried finding some aluminum firebrick and fire clay at building centers and commercial supply stores but it seems that no one knows what I am talking about. I have managed to find a masonry heater builders directory and emailed a few people but have not received any replies. I would like to know if there is anyone here from Ontario, or if anyone knows of any distributors of high quality fire clay and refractory brick in my area.

Pottery supply stores would be another place to look if building supply places are coming up short. "Aluminum firebrick" may be confusing them, as the correct term would be "high alumina firebrick", and you don't really need special firebrick, ordinary firebrick will work.

Glenn Herbert wrote:Pottery supply stores would be another place to look if building supply places are coming up short. "Aluminum firebrick" may be confusing them, as the correct term would be "high alumina firebrick", and you don't really need special firebrick, ordinary firebrick will work.

Wooohooo I actually found a supplier selling 2.5" medium duty firebrick, they are North of Barrie Ontario, it looks like they are an outdoor brick pizza oven supplier.

Would medium heavy 9″ x 4.5″ x 2.5″ bricks be good enough for an 8" RMH? there is no heat rating listed on the suppliers website.

http://outdoorpizzaovens.ca/product_category/build-your-own-pizza-oven/

Steve Harvey : This list from ernieanderica.info (our site Moderators) should help you focus on your actual needs ! Good luck and good hunting !

For the Good of the Crafts ! Big AL

Those would certainly work, though you also need a lot of good insulation around them to keep from losing too much heat. You want to minimize the mass that the fire has to heat up before it can concentrate on making itself freaky hot. The most efficient combustion core would be made of insulating castable refractory cement, however that is softer and easier to damage by feeding wood etc. If the store has "splits" (1 1/4" thick), those would be a lower-mass way to build, especially for the heat riser.

So I found a really cool resource, it is a geology report of Ontario. It has a lot of facts about the types of clay around where researcher took samples and tested the clay. there are a lot of abandoned tile yards on the list. How bad would it be to take a few pales of clay from these places, or somehow contacting the land owner and asking permission to take a small amount of clay from these unused places?

http://www.geologyontario.mndmf.gov.on.ca/mndmfiles/pub/data/imaging/MDC015/MDC015.pdf

TAVISTOCK (40) An abandoned tile yard is located on the concession XV of East Zorra Township, 3 km (2 miles) southeast of Tavistock. Sample 62-565: A 0.6 m (2 feet) section con sists of dense, tough, stoneless, blue-grey clay mottled with rusty brown.

Steve Harvey : Go for it ! You have nothing to lose, If that doesn't work out for you, wait for warm weather, launch a canoe upstream and float down past there,

almost certainly the Clay Will be sticking out there saying'' take me''! Good luck and Good hunting ! Big AL

Hi Steve fellow South Ontarian here. you will want permission to access those sites, I live in the area and it may say "abandoned" but it doesn't mean "unowned and un-guarded". There should be signs up with company name etc to call if you want to ask for permission to take a bucket or two of clay. You can also try asking various art depts of college/universities if they have any scrap clay. tell them what you are using it for and they should be able to help you out You can also get clay powder from art supply stores, might have to shop around for good pricing but might be worth it. I found barrels on Kijiji from a guy along number 6 going into Hamilton from the 401, spent like 10$ per barrel.

Fallon

PS you really should check out Ernie n Erica's vids and download their plans, I attended their workshop in 2013 and learned TONNES!

Fallon Wilson wrote:Hi Steve fellow South Ontarian here. you will want permission to access those sites, I live in the area and it may say "abandoned" but it doesn't mean "unowned and un-guarded". There should be signs up with company name etc to call if you want to ask for permission to take a bucket or two of clay. You can also try asking various art depts of college/universities if they have any scrap clay. tell them what you are using it for and they should be able to help you out You can also get clay powder from art supply stores, might have to shop around for good pricing but might be worth it. I found barrels on Kijiji from a guy along number 6 going into Hamilton from the 401, spent like 10$ per barrel.

Fallon

My brother said that Bronte Creek in Oakville is a good source of red clay. I think I will get a few buckets from there. Also he said you can ask construction site supervisors if you can take some, typically at early subdivision construction. They usually have tons of the stuff, and don't mind if you take a few buckets. There is an abandoned tile yard near my house as well that I know for sure is unguarded and is used at a walking trail now by locals. I will also check that out as well, it is very close to the speed river.

The barrel I got is a closed top one so I have some major cutting to do. Also it previously contained very berry scented oil and the smell is overwhelming but kinda nice. I will have to try to figure out a place I can clean it out without a lot of houses around the smell of berries will probably linger around for a while, it is that strong. At least the stuff is not flammable and my rocket mass heater exhaust will smell awesome for awhile.

The stuff around Hamilton is probably good stuff. There used to be a brick factory along the 403 south of Waterdown. I think the old chimney is still there and can be seen from the highway. The "clay pit" (farther east and north of the 403, near Waterdown Road) was a common party place for kids (back when I was one). Thick sticky red clay, not the kind of thing you want to get stuck in (don't ask how I know this).
A couple of years ago I saw you could order cases of fire brick online for pretty cheap from Home Hardware and pick it up.

Greetings to you locals. I'm in Burlington now, bought property near Fergus.

Roy Hinkley wrote:The stuff around Hamilton is probably good stuff. There used to be a brick factory along the 403 south of Waterdown. I think the old chimney is still there and can be seen from the highway. The "clay pit" (farther east and north of the 403, near Waterdown Road) was a common party place for kids (back when I was one). Thick sticky red clay, not the kind of thing you want to get stuck in (don't ask how I know this).
A couple of years ago I saw you could order cases of fire brick online for pretty cheap from Home Hardware and pick it up.

Greetings to you locals. I'm in Burlington now, bought property near Fergus.

Thanks for the tip, I will definitely check this out. I was also given a tip from a reputable masonry heater builder Alex from Stove Master in Caledon. It was really awesome of him to share information with me through email for free. I really admire his ethics for doing so. He mentioned a place in Oakville, it is a pottery supply store that sells powdered fireclay. I also like the fire brick from the pizza oven supply store I posted about above.

Stove Master link: http://www.stovemaster.com/html_en/home.html Thank you, Alex!

Here is the link for fireclay.
http://www.psh.ca/index.php?cat_id=111

Do you have contact info for that supplier?

Hi Trevor; Welcome to Permies!
That is a very old thread you posted to.

I did a little searching and I found a pottery supply house in Oakville, ON
Here is the link.
https://psh.ca/

They list Hawthorn fireclay under bulk materials.
Give them a call and see what they offer.
If they still sell it please let us know.

For some reason we can get fireclay easily and cheaply here in the states but Canada it seems to be hard to locate.