next to last row

Today I mortared hard bricks for the 23rd row, and mocked up the soft bricks.
Lots of measuring - and trying to use the odds & ends of soft bricks remaining.
I'm trying to save the last really good back-up bricks for when they will be needed soon.

I can see my stock of really good hard bricks is going down fast.
There are a couple of stacks of hard bricks still to have the old mortar ground off, approximately 40 more bricks. Then there are about another 40 bricks that have a whole lot of junk ground off, that may or may not get done. Last resort bricks they will be called. Only to be used in desperate measures like for the top of the chimney, if a few more bricks are needed.

The arch will lie on the 24th row. The right & left sides of the kiln will have the bricks laid in soldier courses. This means the hard brick will lie from in to outside of the kiln wall. This will facilitate the angle iron that will hold the bricks in tight - and keep the arch from falling.

I will mortar the 24th row of bricks on the back wall, but not the front wall. I think it will leave it easier to handle the arch support from the front.

Before the arch support is laid, I have to cut skewback bricks to help support the arch.
The photo shows the arrangement of bricks in the arch. There will be 5 rows of bricks laid in the exact same way from front to back of the kiln. Howard & I decided to lay the arch without cutting any bricks. He has made kilns in this manner and assures me they work just fine.

I have finished reading Daniel Rhodes Kilns: Design, Construction, and Operation which was first published in 1968 and updated in 1981. It is amazing to me how much of the info is still current - 99%. He has some great kiln designs in the back, and my kiln is just a variation of a couple of his designs.
I seriously considered a catenary arch kiln, but it would have had 2 fireboxes on opposite sides of the kiln, with 2 stokers needed. I really want a kiln that could be fired by one person, with the option of 2 persons if desired.