Herringbone Firebox

Vaultboy

Hi everyone! I work for my father in upstate NY. He has been doing masonry for 25+ years and has never had to do a herringbone firebox. Well, the next fireplace that we are going to do has a herringbone firebox. He asked me today to check online and see if I can find any info. Google only came up with the precast fireboxes and I don't think that will suffice. For this company we are working for we usually do rumfords but this lady is set on a herringbone. Well my question is have any of you ever done a herringbone? Any advice would be appreciated. I looked around this forum and there is a lot of really nice work. I will have to post some pics of our work here too. Thanks everyone.

artisanstone

Most of the fireboxes I build are herringbone. I lay the whole thing out dry on a flat surface, then mark and number the cuts. It's not too bad, but is a little slow. You can run the pattern in two ways, vertical or horizontal. Vertical, with the arrows pointing up is usually what people want, and it's also the slowest to put together. Good luck, let us know how it goes.

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6stringmason

Not sure if Im right on this, but I believe rumsford is the shape of the firebox. Herringbone is just the pattern the brick is in. That said, just use the regular dimensions you would for your rumsford, but lay a herringbone pattern.

And you may want to disregard everything you've read here, as Im going purely of speculation. Im sure Tscar or someone will be along to correct it.

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Vaultboy

Thanks for the quick response artisanstone. We won't be doing this one for a few more weeks, we are across the street putting in 2 rumfords right now, but I will tell you how it went now that I have found this place, I always wondered if there was a masonry forum out there somewhere. 6string, rumford is a shape of the box it is a straght, shallow firebox created by count rumford complete with special throat and smoke chamber and it was designed to throw more heat into the house. thanks guys!

jomama

6string, you are correct, & I assume the OP wants to do both, herringbone & rumford. I know you can get the 4 panels pre-made from Buckley-Rumford, but if I remember correctly they were something like $2500 or so.

Artisan, do you use normally use splits or fulls, or maybe even bedface, for these? The reason I'm asking is I want to try the herringbone someday but Ive only seen the splits used, & it's looks a little too busy for my taste.

Captainsls

You are right on 6string. I would imagine a herringbone firebox would be easiest for a rumford setup seeing as how rumfords call for straight backs.

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Tscarborough

I prefer the look of splits with the bond vertical, but either way laying it on the ground is the only practical way to do it. The main thing is to allow enough in the bid to cover waste and time, because it will take a lot more of both over standard bond. Hopefully JVC will chime in too, he knows them well, I am sure.

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Vaultboy

So the general idea is to dry lay the entire box before setting it? Sounds like fun

jvcstone

I've built 3 or 4 rumfords with herringbone pattern boxes. What T said about allowing enough extra in the bid to cover all the time it is going to take you. I too prefer the look the FB splits give over full thickness firebricks, but have used both. Every thing needs to be laid out flat on the floor, and work from the center out on the back wall to keep all the revels constant as the covens (sidewalls) begin to slope forward. A 12 inch compound mitre saw with a drycut diamond blade sure does help with all the cuts on the sidewall bricks and keeping a nice tight joint. While I could generally build a box and throat in a long day, the herringbone takes about 3 good days when it is all said and done.

JVC

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artisanstone

Full brick or bed face. I'm sure using the splits would add a lot of time. I charge a good bit more just to switch to brickwork from our standard way.

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artisanstone

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Vaultboy

Sorry guys I didn't realize that the firebox we are building is a conventional (where the back sloples forward, at least thats what my dad calls it) setup, not rumford. I'm pretty sure its bedface (Laid opposite your pic, artisan).

atmasonry

I am giving a quote for a rumford with a herring bone pattern. I think the covens (side walls) will not be herring bone as in the pic above. And I will probably box the herring bone panel so that the back wall will tie into the sides, kind of like a "framed in" herring bone. I have never done one either but I have seen many different methods in other people work. Do you tie your sides into the back wall on the Rumfords you build?

For the smoke chamber I found a site that shows a new idea for me at gobrick you will find this site very informative.

Thanks.

Rockmonster

at.....the kits just go inside corner to inside corner, and you use refractory to fill that thin joint, I do not know how you would weave the sidewalls into the fireback w/the herringbone....go with the cold joint and back up sufficeintly...I like that idea for the smoke chamber, it just only seems to work on a small percentage of mine...

lukachuki

and the site is?

rumford.com maybe?

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atmasonry

No. It is gobrick dot com.

Check it out.