Armed Polite Society

Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: Ben on October 25, 2020, 09:56:36 AM

Title: Cutting Fire Brick?
Post by: Ben on October 25, 2020, 09:56:36 AM: Hey, do you guys think a chop saw with the standard 30 grit wheel would work okay to cut fire brick? Or any other non-masonry blade workarounds? If I have to, I'll make the drive to get a masonry specific blade for my circular saw today, but I just need to cut one brick, so if I can do it efficiently with something I have in the shop, that would be great.
Title: Re: Cutting Fire Brick?
Post by: MillCreek on October 25, 2020, 10:33:32 AM: I have done this with a hacksaw. It was slow, but got the job done.
Title: Re: Cutting Fire Brick?
Post by: Larry Ashcraft on October 25, 2020, 12:32:58 PM: My grandson lined his forge with fire brick, so he had a lot of cutting to do. He used a 4 1/2 inch angle grinder with a diamond cutting blade. I built a 40' brick sidewalk a few years ago, and had to cut a bunch of pavers for the landing. I used the same grinder with masonry cutting discs from HF ($7.99/10 pack). I discovered that genuine DeWalt discs last twice as long but cost three times as much.
Title: Re: Cutting Fire Brick?
Post by: K Frame on October 25, 2020, 02:56:42 PM: Hammer and chisel works fine as well.

Sent from my SM-G981U using Tapatalk
Title: Re: Cutting Fire Brick?
Post by: RoadKingLarry on October 25, 2020, 02:59:18 PM: Detcord.
Title: Re: Cutting Fire Brick?
Post by: RocketMan on October 25, 2020, 05:38:08 PM: You do realize this is a perfect justification to buy a good tile saw. Who turns down a chance to buy new power tools?
Title: Re: Cutting Fire Brick?
Post by: Ben on October 25, 2020, 06:22:48 PM: Quote from: RocketMan on October 25, 2020, 05:38:08 PM
You do realize this is a perfect justification to buy a good tile saw. Who turns down a chance to buy new power tools?

:laugh:

Maybe whenever I have a real project instead of one brick. I ended up using the hacksaw. Worked okay, other than this was a lengthwise cut to lower the height of the brick, so more material to work through than an end cut. Next time I'm at the big box, I'll pick up some of those grinder masonry disks just to have around.
Title: Re: Cutting Fire Brick?
Post by: RoadKingLarry on October 25, 2020, 06:58:58 PM: I've got a couple of diamond grit hacksaw blades, I've used them for some ceramic stuff in the past. They're about the diameter of a fat pencil lead.
Title: Re: Cutting Fire Brick?
Post by: Kingcreek on October 25, 2020, 07:27:24 PM: Probably work ok. You don’t have to cut full depth. Score it and break it on the line,
Title: Re: Cutting Fire Brick?
Post by: charby on October 25, 2020, 08:35:03 PM: Quote from: Mike Irwin on October 25, 2020, 02:56:42 PM
Hammer and chisel works fine as well.

Sent from my SM-G981U using Tapatalk

x2
Title: Re: Cutting Fire Brick?
Post by: MechAg94 on October 25, 2020, 10:58:51 PM: Quote from: Mike Irwin on October 25, 2020, 02:56:42 PM
Hammer and chisel works fine as well.

Sent from my SM-G981U using Tapatalk
Would it help to use a hacksaw to start break point?
Title: Re: Cutting Fire Brick?
Post by: charby on October 25, 2020, 11:29:08 PM: Quote from: MechAg94 on October 25, 2020, 10:58:51 PM
Would it help to use a hacksaw to start break point?

I score it with a masonry chisel before fracturing.
Title: Re: Cutting Fire Brick?
Post by: K Frame on October 26, 2020, 09:57:00 AM: IIRC most common fire brick of the kind we'd use for fireplaces and the like isn't particularly hard and is fairly porous, making it fairly easy to cut.

Stuff used in kilns or furnaces that have the potential for impact are a lot denser.