On 20 Jan 2004 12:15:59 -0800, Lobster wrote:

If you are fitting a lintel over an opening, to support several tons
of masonry above,

Erm, it's not. It's really only supporting the triangle of bricks
directly above it. It will have some of the load of the full wall but
not as much as one might expect. You can take out the triangle of
bricks above an opening and the wall won't collapse, unless the
redistributed load to the sides of the opening becomes to great for
those bricks to carry. It might not be "safe" though...

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail