Well, bless your heart, you wanna know where to buy fire bricks, huh? It ain’t rocket science, but it ain’t like buyin’ turnips neither. Let me tell ya what I know, kinda like my old hen pecking around for grains.
First off, you gotta figure out what kinda fire bricks you need. Some are just plain bricks, ya know, for buildin’ stuff. But fire bricks, they gotta stand up to heat, real hot heat, like a devil’s breath on a summer day. I heard tell they make ’em from special clay, somethin’ called “refractory clay,” sounds fancy, don’t it? The better the clay, the more they cost, just like them fancy apples cost more than the bruised ones.
Now, where to find ’em? That’s the real question. The first place that pops into my head is them big stores, like Lowe’s. You know, the kind that sell everything from hammers to toilets.
- Lowe’s: I seen folks buyin’ all sorts of bricks there, maybe they got fire bricks too. They sell stuff for fixin’ up your house, buildin’ walls and such. Worth a look-see, I reckon. Figure you can go there and ask them young whippersnappers workin’ there, though sometimes they don’t know nothin’ from a hole in the ground.
- Home Depot: Same kinda deal as Lowe’s, big place, lots of stuff. They might have what you need, or they might just stare at you like a cow lookin’ at a new gate. Can’t hurt to try, I always say.
If them big stores don’t pan out, you gotta get a little more crafty, like a fox sneakin’ into a henhouse. Think about places that sell stuff for fireplaces or stoves, you know, where fire is the main thing.
Some folks say you can use somethin’ called “soapstone” instead of fire bricks. Said it’s a rock that can take the heat. Never used it myself, but I heard it’s good. Kinda like usin’ a gourd for a water dipper when you ain’t got a cup, gotta make do with what ya got.
But if you really want them fire bricks, and them big stores don’t got ’em, then you gotta find a special place. I heard tell there’s places that just sell bricks, all kinds of bricks. They call ’em “dealers” sometimes, makes ’em sound important, don’t it?
One fella told me about somethin’ called “Glen-Gery.” Sounds like a place where they make bricks. They even have a way to find places that sell their bricks, a “filtering system” they call it. Sounds complicated, like milkin’ a cow with three hands. But if you can figure it out, you might find a place near you. That’s the key, near you, ‘cause who wants to drive all day just for some bricks. Time’s precious, more precious than a good rain in July.
You could also try lookin’ online. Now, I ain’t no whiz with them computers, but my grandson, he’s a smart one. He showed me how to type stuff in and find things. You could type in somethin’ like “fire bricks near me” and see what pops up. Just be careful, there’s a lot of snakes in the grass on that internet thing.
And don’t forget to ask around. Talk to your neighbors, talk to the fella at the feed store, talk to anybody who might know. Word of mouth is a powerful thing, like a rooster crowin’ at dawn, everybody hears it eventually. You might just find someone who knows where to get fire bricks cheaper than a flea on a dog’s back.
Remember, good fire bricks ain’t cheap, especially the really good ones that can take a lot of heat. But skimpin’ on fire bricks is like skimpin’ on good shoes, you’ll pay for it later. If you’re buildin’ somethin’ that needs to be hot, don’t be a penny pincher.
So, to sum it all up, look at Lowe’s, Home Depot, search online for a brick dealer like Glen-Gery, think about soapstone as an option, and most importantly, ask around. Finding fire bricks might take a little bit of diggin’, but with a little bit of luck and a whole lot of persistence, you’ll find what you need. Good luck to ya, and don’t get burnt!
