Informal name for a bricklayer, and in plants and contractor crews specifically for the refractory masons who reline ladles, kilns, furnaces and boilers. Refractory brickies work to tighter tolerances than building masons, with millimetre joints, keyed rings and shapes laid from drawings, often in hot, confined spaces on shutdown schedules. In North America the same people are usually called refractory masons or brick masons.
Need six brickies and four tenders on nights to get the kiln back by Sunday.
Also heard as
- bricky
- refractory mason
- brick mason
- brickmason
Related terms
Tender
Laborer who supplies brick, mortar and castable to refractory masons and keeps the job moving.
Butter
To spread mortar onto the faces of a brick before setting it in place.
Closer
Brick cut to size to fill the last gap in a course, ring or wall.
Pogo stick
Telescoping prop used to hold bricks against the upper shell of a rotary kiln until the ring is keyed.