More bricks needed

The more things change the more they stay the same - or something like that.
Paul didn't make it on Monday, but did spend one hour on Tuesday, his last day here, grinding mortar from 8 bricks. The bricks that were easier to clean have been long done. Only the bricks that are more of a challenge remain. I spent a couple of hours grinding bricks on Monday, but only an hour today, Wednesday. Tuesday I did not work on the kiln. But I did send out a plea for more hard bricks to pottery organizations I belong to in Eugene & Southern Oregon. No one is knocking down the door to sell me bricks, yet.

On Monday, I took measurements to estimate how many more bricks I will need to finish the chimney. Howard had showed me how to do this: I had the chimney mocked up to the end of the corbel, when it will go straight up. From this point on there are 7 bricks needed for each row of chimney. With a tape measure, I determined I need 67" from the the top of the last corbelled row, to get through the top of the roof of the kiln shed. Each 2.5" x 4.5" x 9" brick is laid such that the 2.5" side is the rise part of the row. By dividing 67" by 2.5", I find I need at least 27 rows of bricks to clear the top of the roof. 27 rows times 7 bricks per row makes 189 bricks needed as a minimum. This will just barely clear the roof, I will need to build the chimney a few rows higher, just to be able to attach rain flashing. A stainless-steel rain guard will be fastened to the top of the chimney - just how is yet be determined.

I have put aside bricks needed for the bag wall, and door. Am currently drying out bricks to be ground that will fill the burner ports when wood is the fuel being used. I have enough bricks to be used as peep hole plugs.
Did some counting of the remaining bricks available: Can scrounge up about 100. Can clean perhaps another 20 or so. If I count broken bricks, I can include another 25 or so. But I'm still short.
In the meantime, I try to grind a few bricks everyday, so the job doesn't get overwhelming. I'm going stronger on making pots for the first firing. Even if the kiln was to get finished in a week, I have a few weeks of making & glazing pots before any firing can be done.

While dismantling the chimney on Monday, I placed each row of the chimney is in its own stack, so I can replace everything in good order. The last row of bricks corbelled in is row #21. Originally, I had planned to put the damper above that row, but found it to be too tall for me to reach without using a ladder. I would like the dampers to be more accessible than that, so needed to figure how much lower I could put them. On top of row #16 looked to work best: I could reach the dampers to open/close them, and there was still plenty of room to handle the kiln-shelf pieces from the outside even when they would be completely shut. Per Howard's advice, I worked out how I would indent the front & back portions of row #16 about 3/8". This would then serve as a shelf for the dampers to slide on, and help to keep them from warping.
Row #17 would be of "splits" (1.25" x 4.5" x 9"), which are nearly the same height as the dampers, and will allow them to slide easily in & out. Row #18 will have "lintels" (2.5" x 4.5" x 13.5") whose extra length bridges the 9" width of the dampers. I didn't have my camera out at the kiln site while doing these mock-ups. Will make sure these rows get photographed when I get to laying mortar on the chimney bricks.