The standard size of bricks in Europe is about 228 mm by 108 mm by 54 mm. The bricks are often cut in 3/4 2/4 and 1/4. But remember to take the thickness of the grout into consideration when cutting. For example, 2 half bricks and the grout equals one whole brick. 1/2 bricks are also the same length as they are deep, so a brick that is turned side ways for example in a corner looks like half a brick. When laying down the brick, the thickness of the grout should be close to 12mm, however, it's important to reach the designed height each layer, and since a brick can vary in thickness due to the hardening process, one layer of bricks plus the grout underneath should equal 6.3333...cm or 20cm every 3rd layer. A very popular pattern to lay the bricks in is called running bound, it's a pattern that is both good looking and structurally sound. Bricklaying patterns usually repeats every 4th layer. If you got any questions regarding bricklaying, feel free to respond here and I'll give you my twitter handle.
GS, I would use either cedar or cypress for the mold. Neither will warp or rot and both have excellent water soaking capabilities. Make sure you use a 200 grit sandpaper on the wood before assembly for a very smooth surface.
Thank you for the suggestion Don. I am looking into some pvc boards currently but having a difficult time finding any that will ship to my area. I may take a look at cedar or cypress if I can't get my hands on any pvc.
I throw pots and you will want to learn how to properly wedge the clay. That will take all the air bubbles out. You will want to wait until it is bone dry before you fire it or it will explode. Also you will want them to dry very slowly or it will crack. Remember, there will be shrinkage. Typically it is 11%
Appreciate the tips @HEADDYNAMICS. Yeah there is going to be a learning curve for sure. I'll watch some videos, read more articles, and try to educate myself a bit more before getting too serious with it.
It won’t be long before you’ll have your own primitive brick making series! I have no experience with this but I have faith if people have done this for thousands of years that you’ll learn what works best soon enough.
Coat the inside of your mold with sand, or maybe wood ash immediately before loading your clay. There’s a video on TH-cam that I saw recently of some guys making bricks (they were middle eastern) and they were kicking out probably a 1,000 bricks a day, per man, minimum. And they were using a single brick mold(one brick at a time). Good luck buddy. Thanks for the video
Like the hands on project you are working on there GS. I would like to save you alot of hassle before you think about that idea of large area of bamboo then putting a brick walkway through. Please plant a small say 4x4 ft area with bamboo let it grow & spread then try to dig deep enough down through roots to place any amount of bricks through the area.I think after this test bed as i would call it would give you your answer as far as laying a pathway of brick through bamboo. Even if you can get them flat initially the roots grow with such ferocity that you would have a wobbly mess of wild level bricks you would never think of walking on. We had a 20x40 underground pool with the 8in flat cindeblocks surrounding it about from edge to 6ft away from coping to walk on. Even though i occasionally had to dig some up to fix underground water pipe leaks . No matter how tightly you placed the brick the bamboo grew in from outside the fence & slit every crack in between bricks & turned them up down & sideways making them unwalkable after a short time during a swimming season. Hope that gives you something to think about GS.
I like the small bamboo forest idea. Sounds relaxing. Seems like once you get your clay mixture prepped you can really crank out those bricks. You need a huge potato masher 😁 Another great Grand Outdoors video!
Hope you think about the type of bamboo you plant. Where I am in Virginia, there are lots of bamboo patches, but close to my house, an entire neighborhood is struggling to clear their backyards out. The bamboo grows really tall, but spreads big time. I found some that look good for building. 50-60' talk and about 3-4" in diameter. I will be cutting some to take home and dry.
Townsends mentioned using sand as a mold release. If making a multi-form consider forming them on flat sand if you don't care as much about consistency and going straight for speed
Talk about some strange timing . I was at a small flea market yesterday standing by a vender with antiques with several other people and he pulled out a strange looking contraption and asked if anyone knew what it was . No one knew , It was a metal mold for making 4 bricks at a time from the 30's . He showed us how it opened up and closed . No one bought it ( I'm not sure what his asking price was ) but I thought of you and today I see this video .
I am a first timer like u , i started using a wooden mold but i noticed that the clay is so sticky even when i soak the mold , so i made another mold out of iton and made the clay very wet and it worked like charm, no cracks no bending or warping and after i fired them , the got some tiny cracks but none exploded ,but for some reason they turned yellow instead of orange or red xD
With your mold there are two things you can do to make your life easier. The first is not to lift the mold, but to push out the brick. If you get a piece of wood the same size as the holes in the mold top and bottom then put it on top of the mold, you lift the mold with your fingers while pushing down on the piece of wood with your thumbs, that way the top edges of the clay don't stick and curl like that. Second thing is to coat your mold with vegetable oil (i.e sunflower oil) just before you stick the clay into it (and after each new brick), that will stop the clay sticking to the wood and will just burn off when you fire it. Indeed, the oil combusts so raises the temperature in the kiln faster.
I have a few questions please: 1. Can you take good clay from any soiĺ? 2:What is te ratio for (100%)clay and sand ? 3: must be the sand sifting any way? If you like answer to me please.
Aha! Took me a minute to see what you were missing. Either coat the mud in a light coating of sand before going into the mold or quickly coat the inside of the mold before loading it. It will greatly help with the release.
Thanks Mdvlman. I read something when I got home the day after recording this about a 30/70 sand/clay mixture. I have a pile of sand out there and will be trying that next attempt.
@@GrandOutdoors also give it a light tap on each short side with a mallet just before flipping it ... It'll knock it off the sides a little better. And slightly less wet clay
I have to ask. Do you have your three duct tape, three pipes and 10 leather? If you are looking to make traditional adobe style bricks, like here in New Mexico, you would add the straw/grass/yucca as a binder. Whether you use a binder or not, moisture content is crucial. If it's too wet, you'll have moisture trapped in the center that could end up cracking in extreme heat or cold. I'm not a Brickologist though.
hay bud, check out a guy in australia called Primitive Technology. he makes everything from scratch in the bush. he does not talk during the video's but it easy to understand. cheers.
Typically clay molds are made out of plaster of paris. You could make a negative with wood, cast it with plaster of paris and you have a very easy cheap mold that the clay doesn't stick to.
Nice job! The whole place is looking great. You may want to check Townsends channel on you tube. They reenact 19th century living and have a few videos on brickmaking and how they fire them.
Heya Grand Spartan. You'll want to add some temper as you mentioned - a bit of straw or even some fine gravel or crushed shell. Lots of folks mentioned letting the bricks dry to "leather hard" before even considering firing them; otherwise, they'll go "boom." ;-)
Looks good, but still check @Primitive Technology on youtube, he has alot of videos of exactly what you are wanting to do and does make a kiln and even roof tiles out of clay bricks and shingles and fires them
Check out the Nito Project for how tos and Natural building for more You Tubes. There are quite a few on how to mix and for cob or rammed earth or… Handmade House TV might have something too🤔😉😓
Does that clay stain your hands and clothes? It looked like your hands cleaned up. It will be fun to see how this project progresses. I am sure it will be a process. I know you will get it figured out if anyone can, and people have so I am confident. Thank you for sharing it with us.
For the wood you're going to need Bosnian flamed maple. It may be a slight hassle to get hold of, but it's going to be worth it. You'll essentially have to go to Bosnia, hire a local guide to help you illegally poach a tree which could set you back 30k bucks and then ship the log back. But you'll have the most beautiful brick moulds in the entire world, and doesn't that just make it worth it?
Spartan, quit complaining about the deer eating your sunflowers dad-gum it. Get some white vinegar, soak some old t-shirts in that stuff and lay them around the plants that you most dearly want to protect i.e. Sunflowers. You can also spray your plants directly, it keeps bugs, rats, raccoons, snails, fruit flies, and all kinds of furry monsters off of your plants. Plus its good for the plants in general. 1 tablespoon of vinegar per gallon. Check your soil acid levels to match your plants acid/base pallet.
You have to be careful when applying something like that to your plants/soil. I had mine tested before planting season and applied all that I needed to get it right. Vinegar will naturally lower the ph and increase its acidity. That can cause big problems long term especially if you spent the money like I did on lime to increase the pH and lower the acidity. Sounds like you'd also have to reapply it after the plants get wet. Not including rain, the sprinklers water everything once each day for 45 minutes then the intense sun dries it all up. That would be a pain to have to do every day that you could make it out there and hoping they didn't get to it in between those days. If I lived out there it wouldn't be a big deal. The only thing I had planted out there were some sunflowers as anything of value is always behind a fence. Pretty good luck with the fencing last year.
When I have time to get back to making some more of these I'll try mixing a bit of sand with each one. This particular clay has a decent amount of sand already mixed in with it. May not quite be enough to get the proper affect.
I hope to revisit this as soon as the weather warms up. Maybe we can learn how to do this together in a couple months. I've done a bit of research since last time. Let's see if I can now apply what I've learned!
The standard size of bricks in Europe is about 228 mm by 108 mm by 54 mm. The bricks are often cut in 3/4 2/4 and 1/4. But remember to take the thickness of the grout into consideration when cutting. For example, 2 half bricks and the grout equals one whole brick. 1/2 bricks are also the same length as they are deep, so a brick that is turned side ways for example in a corner looks like half a brick. When laying down the brick, the thickness of the grout should be close to 12mm, however, it's important to reach the designed height each layer, and since a brick can vary in thickness due to the hardening process, one layer of bricks plus the grout underneath should equal 6.3333...cm or 20cm every 3rd layer. A very popular pattern to lay the bricks in is called running bound, it's a pattern that is both good looking and structurally sound. Bricklaying patterns usually repeats every 4th layer.
If you got any questions regarding bricklaying, feel free to respond here and I'll give you my twitter handle.
GS, I would use either cedar or cypress for the mold. Neither will warp or rot and both have excellent water soaking capabilities. Make sure you use a 200 grit sandpaper on the wood before assembly for a very smooth surface.
Thank you for the suggestion Don. I am looking into some pvc boards currently but having a difficult time finding any that will ship to my area. I may take a look at cedar or cypress if I can't get my hands on any pvc.
I throw pots and you will want to learn how to properly wedge the clay. That will take all the air bubbles out. You will want to wait until it is bone dry before you fire it or it will explode. Also you will want them to dry very slowly or it will crack. Remember, there will be shrinkage. Typically it is 11%
Appreciate the tips @HEADDYNAMICS. Yeah there is going to be a learning curve for sure. I'll watch some videos, read more articles, and try to educate myself a bit more before getting too serious with it.
you can also use fishing line to cut the bricks in half and lay them over to thin them out
I was thinking the same thing.
It won’t be long before you’ll have your own primitive brick making series! I have no experience with this but I have faith if people have done this for thousands of years that you’ll learn what works best soon enough.
Hands got the spa treatment! A walkway sounds great! Don’t forget to have the family put names on a few of the bricks!
bricks look great! When you decide on the final version don't forget to have a signature to imprint on them.
Thanks John! I may look into getting a stamp for the bricks one day.
Coat the inside of your mold with sand, or maybe wood ash immediately before loading your clay. There’s a video on TH-cam that I saw recently of some guys making bricks (they were middle eastern) and they were kicking out probably a 1,000 bricks a day, per man, minimum. And they were using a single brick mold(one brick at a time). Good luck buddy. Thanks for the video
Looking great and that was just the tester. Looking forward to the next episode
Thanks 👍
Like the hands on project you are working on there GS. I would like to save you alot of hassle before you think about that idea of large area of bamboo then putting a brick walkway through. Please plant a small say 4x4 ft area with bamboo let it grow & spread then try to dig deep enough down through roots to place any amount of bricks through the area.I think after this test bed as i would call it would give you your answer as far as laying a pathway of brick through bamboo. Even if you can get them flat initially the roots grow with such ferocity that you would have a wobbly mess of wild level bricks you would never think of walking on. We had a 20x40 underground pool with the 8in flat cindeblocks surrounding it about from edge to 6ft away from coping to walk on. Even though i occasionally had to dig some up to fix underground water pipe leaks . No matter how tightly you placed the brick the bamboo grew in from outside the fence & slit every crack in between bricks & turned them up down & sideways making them unwalkable after a short time during a swimming season. Hope that gives you something to think about GS.
Spartan gone back to his 2ed childhood playing in the mud. Lol.
I like the small bamboo forest idea. Sounds relaxing. Seems like once you get your clay mixture prepped you can really crank out those bricks. You need a huge potato masher 😁 Another great Grand Outdoors video!
Thank you Sean! Once I get this power taken care I'll be jumping back over to the bricks with some new knowledge to apply!
Hope you think about the type of bamboo you plant. Where I am in Virginia, there are lots of bamboo patches, but close to my house, an entire neighborhood is struggling to clear their backyards out. The bamboo grows really tall, but spreads big time.
I found some that look good for building. 50-60' talk and about 3-4" in diameter. I will be cutting some to take home and dry.
Good tests GS. Thsi is something I know nothing about though sir. Good luck with it!!
Thanks Goyle 👍
Closing in on 2K congrats
Thank you Tristen!
GJ GS your standard brick size is 3-5/8" x 2-1/4" x 8" It is cool watching your videos.
Townsends mentioned using sand as a mold release.
If making a multi-form consider forming them on flat sand if you don't care as much about consistency and going straight for speed
Need to make sure to leave room for a cup holder in the bricks !!
Talk about some strange timing . I was at a small flea market yesterday standing by a vender with antiques with several other people and he pulled out a strange looking contraption and asked if anyone knew what it was . No one knew , It was a metal mold for making 4 bricks at a time from the 30's . He showed us how it opened up and closed . No one bought it ( I'm not sure what his asking price was ) but I thought of you and today I see this video .
I am a first timer like u , i started using a wooden mold but i noticed that the clay is so sticky even when i soak the mold , so i made another mold out of iton and made the clay very wet and it worked like charm, no cracks no bending or warping and after i fired them , the got some tiny cracks but none exploded ,but for some reason they turned yellow instead of orange or red xD
"iton"?
With your mold there are two things you can do to make your life easier. The first is not to lift the mold, but to push out the brick. If you get a piece of wood the same size as the holes in the mold top and bottom then put it on top of the mold, you lift the mold with your fingers while pushing down on the piece of wood with your thumbs, that way the top edges of the clay don't stick and curl like that. Second thing is to coat your mold with vegetable oil (i.e sunflower oil) just before you stick the clay into it (and after each new brick), that will stop the clay sticking to the wood and will just burn off when you fire it. Indeed, the oil combusts so raises the temperature in the kiln faster.
I have a few questions please:
1. Can you take good clay from any soiĺ?
2:What is te ratio for (100%)clay and sand ?
3: must be the sand sifting any way?
If you like answer to me please.
Aha! Took me a minute to see what you were missing. Either coat the mud in a light coating of sand before going into the mold or quickly coat the inside of the mold before loading it. It will greatly help with the release.
Thanks Mdvlman. I read something when I got home the day after recording this about a 30/70 sand/clay mixture. I have a pile of sand out there and will be trying that next attempt.
@@GrandOutdoors also give it a light tap on each short side with a mallet just before flipping it ... It'll knock it off the sides a little better. And slightly less wet clay
*look up commercial brick building process. They use this method
@@Honestreview-om5hx Thank you Nick! I want to get back to making some more of these soon.
I have to ask. Do you have your three duct tape, three pipes and 10 leather?
If you are looking to make traditional adobe style bricks, like here in New Mexico, you would add the straw/grass/yucca as a binder. Whether you use a binder or not, moisture content is crucial. If it's too wet, you'll have moisture trapped in the center that could end up cracking in extreme heat or cold.
I'm not a Brickologist though.
Thanks Mr. Leslie. I'll do some more research and make them a little thinner next time. The moment of truth for cracks will be when we fire them.
Looks fun
hay bud, check out a guy in australia called Primitive Technology. he makes everything from scratch in the bush. he does not talk during the video's but it easy to understand. cheers.
Not to shabby.👍
Typically clay molds are made out of plaster of paris. You could make a negative with wood, cast it with plaster of paris and you have a very easy cheap mold that the clay doesn't stick to.
Nice job! The whole place is looking great. You may want to check Townsends channel on you tube. They reenact 19th century living and have a few videos on brickmaking and how they fire them.
Thanks @cekirkjr! I'll have to check them out and see if I can pick up some pointers!
Heya Grand Spartan. You'll want to add some temper as you mentioned - a bit of straw or even some fine gravel or crushed shell. Lots of folks mentioned letting the bricks dry to "leather hard" before even considering firing them; otherwise, they'll go "boom." ;-)
Try using a cement mixer.
Check into the additional materials to add to the clay to make it a fire brick quality.
Thank you Jack. I hope to get back to this soon and work out all the kinks.
Maybe try a cement mixer.
That would take the lumps out .
you got every thing i want practice
Looks good, but still check @Primitive Technology on youtube, he has alot of videos of exactly what you are wanting to do and does make a kiln and even roof tiles out of clay bricks and shingles and fires them
Thanks Shattered Souls! I've seen some of his video before. I may take another look at the few where he makes bricks.
That looks awesome but I understand the thickness. They need the GS logo on them lol.
That would be cool!
Plaster or concrete mixing attachment on a drill for the clumps? Especially when you start producing a lot of them.
If you own a spud bar or tamping rod, you could probably use that to mash up your clay more easily
Check out the Nito Project for how tos and Natural building for more You Tubes.
There are quite a few on how to mix and for cob or rammed earth or…
Handmade House TV might have something too🤔😉😓
New subscribe from Somalia
Hope everything works out 👍
could you spray the mold with cooking spray?
Might try that out!
Does that clay stain your hands and clothes? It looked like your hands cleaned up. It will be fun to see how this project progresses. I am sure it will be a process. I know you will get it figured out if anyone can, and people have so I am confident. Thank you for sharing it with us.
Thank you Marc! It all washed off no problem. I just found a couple good resources a moment ago and will be looking forward to attempt number two!
Sory, i forgot something.
I talk about fire clay bricks.
I’m surprised you didn’t need to add an aggregate! Was this pure clay or did it already have naturally occurring sand in it?
How did this turn out? Update please!
The start of this video done with a drone?
The start and wnd was a drone yes
AlphaWolf you know I don't own a drone! I just have very long arms that stretch!
@@ALPHASHEPHERD1 that part of the world have watch towers for fires etc? Thats why I asked and if Spartan had used a Drone, I was gonna ask the brand.
@Junior It is a DJI mini 2
@@GrandOutdoors appreciate the 📏 answer.
Thought I seen them old timers using just cold ash from a fire to cover their molds .??
Thank you Joey! I might have to try that next time!
I think I'd want to dig a little pit and stomp it, great vid man
Thank you M R. The thought did cross my mind!
you shouldn't have a bottom. both sides open. fill up with clay and pull out the mold and start a new one.
I read somewhere that hair helps bind the clay together.......still laughing from earlier. Try wax on your molds.
What is the ratio clay and sand (% ) please?
Pretty sure bricks shrink when you fire them.
And then make a forge?
I'll be making a kiln out of the first bricks to fire all the rest.
Sometimes this reminds me of 7 Days To Die IRL. Just the zombies are missing. 😅
For the wood you're going to need Bosnian flamed maple. It may be a slight hassle to get hold of, but it's going to be worth it. You'll essentially have to go to Bosnia, hire a local guide to help you illegally poach a tree which could set you back 30k bucks and then ship the log back. But you'll have the most beautiful brick moulds in the entire world, and doesn't that just make it worth it?
no, no it does not
Soliciting for a tree that far, when you can find something similar in the states. SMH
Not worth it...
@@paradigmshift4501 /woosh
Use metal forms.
How do u get the clay tho from the ground or from a store?
th-cam.com/video/gxokk9kF9Us/w-d-xo.html
Pulverize it before you put water in the bucket...
Then run it thru a sifter...
Then add your water...
-TH-cam University
Spartan, quit complaining about the deer eating your sunflowers dad-gum it. Get some white vinegar, soak some old t-shirts in that stuff and lay them around the plants that you most dearly want to protect i.e. Sunflowers. You can also spray your plants directly, it keeps bugs, rats, raccoons, snails, fruit flies, and all kinds of furry monsters off of your plants. Plus its good for the plants in general. 1 tablespoon of vinegar per gallon. Check your soil acid levels to match your plants acid/base pallet.
You have to be careful when applying something like that to your plants/soil. I had mine tested before planting season and applied all that I needed to get it right. Vinegar will naturally lower the ph and increase its acidity. That can cause big problems long term especially if you spent the money like I did on lime to increase the pH and lower the acidity. Sounds like you'd also have to reapply it after the plants get wet. Not including rain, the sprinklers water everything once each day for 45 minutes then the intense sun dries it all up. That would be a pain to have to do every day that you could make it out there and hoping they didn't get to it in between those days. If I lived out there it wouldn't be a big deal. The only thing I had planted out there were some sunflowers as anything of value is always behind a fence. Pretty good luck with the fencing last year.
doing ok gs
Make the molds from plastic, not wood. Slides off like a babys dirty diaper.
Might pick one of those boards up and see if I can make a mold out of it.
Think your supposed to mix sand in the clay
When I have time to get back to making some more of these I'll try mixing a bit of sand with each one. This particular clay has a decent amount of sand already mixed in with it. May not quite be enough to get the proper affect.
Why do my bricks keep crumbling??
I hope to revisit this as soon as the weather warms up. Maybe we can learn how to do this together in a couple months. I've done a bit of research since last time. Let's see if I can now apply what I've learned!
@@GrandOutdoors that would be nice !