The Arch Has Sprung!

See: I can stand up in my new kiln - with my boots on, too!

This was absolutely amazing - to watch the arch actually spring from the arch support (where was my camera at that time?).
Howard & I added bricks to the arch one at a time from each side.
When we got to the last row, front-to-back, it was arch bricks (which are larger on one side than the other, so they will turn a circle).
This center brick is called a "key" brick, because it 'keys in' the arch.

Well, we put the key bricks in from front to back, and they only went in 1.5" of 4.5". I kept wondering how we would get them in all the way. Wouldn't we lift the wooden arch support holding the bricks up? We could lift it up just a fraction of an inch and have quite a bit more space on the top of the arch. No, it could lift the brick resting on the wall, which we really would not want.

What Howard did was to slowly tap the bricks in. He went from front to back many many times. The bricks kept going in further, a little bit at a time. As they moved, he started pounding the bricks - the arch support was holding firm. He pounded and pounded away. He pounded on all the bricks in the arch, not just the key bricks. As the key bricks got closer to all the way in, the arch started to spring from the wood form. It started at the sides of the arch, nearest where the arch sits on the side walls (actually the arch is supported by the skewback bricks, those cut at an angle).

When the key bricks, in the center of the arch, were all the way pounded in, the arch bricks sat just above the arch. H went under the arch, into the kiln. He carefully tapped the 2" x 6" pieces of lumber that were holding the arch support in place. One corner at a time the wood support fell away, and the arch bricks held. Of course, I was holding my breath. H was confident, as he has build many kilns over the years.

Then we took some photos and broke for lunch.

I have a lot of bricks to mortar now. The front & back walls need to be built to cover the arch support, then insulation on the top of the walls & the arch. Finally, the chimney will be mortared. We did a quick calculation of how many bricks will be needed for the chimney & how many bricks are left. It looks like every brick will be used. I'll have to count more carefully, and determine just how many more will be needed.