finishing up the fire box area and starting the chamber

First of all, I am sore! And my son is at school today so no lifting help. :(
This dolly is my friend and good lifting technique. Lots of small loads and hopefully I'll survive without too many aches and pains.

Last night I got my hubby to show me how to cut the hard firebrick. He has a wet tile saw with a diamond blade and I was shocked at how easy they are to cut!

I am trying to do as few cuts as possible but I need to do some half bricks. I marked them to fit exactly with a pencil and a quick cut on both sides of the brick with the saw is all it takes. Hubby (Russ) also suggested just using the wet tile saw to cut the insulating fire brick (IFB K23) I am using on the exterior layer of the kiln. I hesitated. I I had read somewhere that I really shouldn't get them wet but was worth a try. WOW! This is the way to go. Because of the wet tile saw there is little to no dust generated (that's the dangerous part of cutting IFB). They cut like butter as the saw is complete overkill.

Here is the IFB being added to the left side of the kiln. I found key shaped IFB so it's a little tricky to figure out how I could use them in my kiln design. They were new and SUPER INEXPENSIVE and I have a whole pallet so my intent is to lay them sardine style. Then I only have to trim the end corner pieces square. This will well over insulate the kiln so it may take much longer for the kiln to cool down but maybe there will be some benefits to slow cooling? I guess I will be finding out. To most this design makes no sense. IFB are usually your most expensive part so most people do not overuse them. I have so many that it is not an issue so designed accordingly. 

As with the interior walls, I am staggering joints for stronger wall. I know it is insulation overkill but maybe it will also cut down on fuel? Will have to wait and see.

Ran into a sizing problem from not getting my original base measurement right. Grrr..and only myself to blame. The IFB around the front of the kiln overhangs  about 1". I can add a metal channel for extra support when I add the ironwork. Still haven't decided if that is the way to go yet.

So here's the kiln build so far. It's supposed to rain a few days so I'll probably be stalled again. I am impressed with how tight everything is fitting with little to no gaps. I need to start getting some ironwork support up and figure out my spyholes.