I have had a few questions recently about how to obtain Chaska bricks, so I will use this post to talk about that. First off, the Chaska and Carver brickyards have long since closed, so they are no longer making the nice cream colored bricks anymore. I have experimented with making small paperweight-sized bricks, but I have not made any for Chaska. The first obstacle to that is getting the clay to make the brick. Chaska is rapidly turning into a big suburb, so finding clay is tough.

Where can you find Chaska or Carver bricks today? There are a few antique stores that sell them, and every now and then a small number will turn up for sale in online auctions. They are not cheap; they generally go for between $5 and $10 for a single “Chaska” stamped brick, depending on its condition. I have never seen a “Carver” stamped brick. However, both were the identical cream color.

If you know someone who is tearing down an old building, you may be able to salvage some of them for re-use. About a year ago, I had someone ask me if I wanted to salvage cream colored bricks from an old house that was torn down. The old mortar generally just falls off the bricks, so it is not too hard to salvage them from torn down buildings. However, I had no use for them and I had no way to store them at the time, so I just picked a couple of the really nice ones. It would not have been hard to pick out enough to fill quite a few pallets. If I would have had storage space, I would have jumped at the chance.

Most people just tear down old Chaska or Carver brick buildings and throw away the debris. You would be surprised at the demand there still is for them! The old bricks generally maintain their integrity, and can easily be re-used for something else, like gardens or mailbox posts. Think twice about junking old brick!!