The Process of Making Bricks Traditionally

Raw Brick and Red Brick

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Hello everyone. On this occasion I would like to share with all of the steemians how the process of making bricks traditionally, the manufacturing process is precisely located in my hometown, namely Ulee Pulo village Dewantara sub-district of North Aceh, where the bricks industry has long been a livelihood to meet the households need and support the economic development of families in our village. In Ulee Pulo village there are 100 more places of printing and burning of bricks, and has become the center of the bricks industry in North Aceh. As we know that brick was one of the artificial stone made of clay, the brick was used as materials of wall-making, both housing and office, the brick was very suitable with the tropical climate where there is a rainy season that makes Home free from the rain.

In the process of making bricks requires skills and diligence to complete it. Here are some steps to make brick:

Preparation of the main material

Red soil was the main material

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The main ingredient of brick was red soil, which is not sandy and has high plasticity, this kind of soil can be found in many locations in North Aceh, usually bricklayers buy the soil for 200,000 IDR per one dump truck. Soil that has been provided, doused with water until evenly distributed and soaked with water for 2 days, so the soil was fused and there was no longer spots to facilitate the grinding process later. Soaked soil with water in 2 days

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Then the soaked soil, milled with a tractor, the milling process takes approximately 1 hour until the soil is really tough, flexible and solid to facilitate the printing process later.

The milling proses

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After the milling process, the solid and clay soil, sealed with rugs plastic so that the soil does not become dry and hard, which can inhibit the smoothness of the brick printing process later, so the clay can remain clay until 3 or 4 days ahead.

The sealed soil

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Printing

Milled soil will be printed with some simple tools in printing house. The clay is inserted into a wooden mold, which has been sprinkled with sand to keep it from sticking with the mold, and cut with a wire rope, so that the edges of the bricks become neat. In a day, craftsmen can print a thousand raw bricks with a wage worth 50,000 IDR.

Simple equipment: wooden mold, wire rope with a small table full of sand and clay

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The printed soil is neatly arranged for drying in the printing house, depending on the brightness of the weather. When the weather is clear, within 2 days the bricks are dry and ready to be burned. Raw bricks are sold at 200 IDR.

Drying process

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**Burning**

Burning house

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The burning process greatly affects the quality of the bricks. Raw bricks that have been dried, moved and neatly arranged into the burning house in the form of rectangle and inside it formed some cavities, in accordance with the burning house cavity that serve to insert firewoods. Usually burning houses can accommodate 70,000 seeds of bricks. Burning using firewood, which bricklayers buy at 300.000 IDR per ton. For once burning, with the amount of 70,000 seeds of bricks, could spend as much as 12 tons of wood, so for once burning process, bricklayers spent 3.600.000 IDR. To produce a good quality bricks, the arrangement of fire when burning this brick must be observed, the burning process takes 2 days and 3 nights, the fire must remain lit during the burning process to keep the temperature and smoke stable.

Burning process

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Burning process has been finished

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After the burning process is complete, the bricks are silenced for 2 days, it aims to make the stone cool and ready for sorting. Sorting is useful for choosing the bricks that are eligible to be traded and which are not. Burning doesn't always produce good bricks, it depends on soil quality and fire temperature because the burning process was still very traditional. The premium quality bricks will be sold at 400 IDR to 500 IDR per seed. Bricks were ready for sale

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Hopefully useful!

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@herryzal