Mortar Thickness

[larsmith]

Please tell me all I need to know about mortaring up the firebricks. If I remember correctly, the mortar should be mixed up more on the "runny" side, more so than regular cinder-block mortar ... and that I should be able to dip & slide each face of the brick ( which needs mortar ) and remove the brick & it should have about the right amount of mortar on it to do the job ... as opposed the more traditional use of a mason's tools & applying a much more generous portion of mud per block being laid.

So, for all you with multiple experiences mudding up the brick, please let me know what I should be doing so I kin gitter dun right the first time.

[Donkey]

I can't really speak to consistency. I don't do that much brickwork and almost never with cementitious mortars. Perhaps a more experienced mason like peterberg could speak to that. I usually use a sand/clay mortar, which I make from local clay rich soils and tend to mix fairly dry.

I can say this: Mortar is really meant to hold the bricks apart, to deal with the inevitable un-evennesses present, not so much to hold them together. Mortar should not be thought of as "rock glue", gravity does that.. Use as little as possible, just enough to do the job and no more.