Old mason in St. Louis showed me a trick for cutting fire brick last Tuesday

I was working a job in the Central West End and this guy who's been laying since the 70s walked up. He saw me struggling with a wet saw on some fire brick. Told me to score it with a trowel and smack it on the edge of a bucket. Worked perfect on the first try. Felt like an idiot for not knowing that. Any of you guys use that method or stick with saws for fire brick?

2 comments

2 Comments

jennysullivan4d ago

Wait, were you using a regular masonry blade on fire brick? That stuff eats blades for breakfast, scoring it with a trowel is more for splitting than actual cutting.

jennifer9654d ago

My uncle tried cutting firebrick with a regular blade once and it just started smoking and screaming at him, like the brick was fighting back. He ended up just using a cold chisel and a hammer after that, which took forever but at least didn't sound like a dying animal. Sometimes the old ways are better, even if they're slower (and way less fun to watch).