Good morning,
I removed the slabs, used mortar and moved to the next step. Thank you so much for your help! I’m about to soak the bricks, but I want to ask if this is the right fireclay for the mortar mixture. Thank you!
Hi Lia,
I’ve put up the flag for @BrickWood to respond to this question directly.
My initial take on it is that you’ve got a premixed mortar in that bag rather than a bag of fireclay. “Lincoln Fireclay 60” comes from the same manufacturer, and is an acceptable material for the recipe that @BrickWood provides. This looks like a general-purpose mortar premix.
But let’s see what @BrickWood says about it before you put it into your oven. Going back once you’ve mortared firebrick into place is a difficult proposition.
Really glad to hear that the slabs have worked out and you’re on to the next step!
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I asked Robert from Larry’s Building Materials that I needed higher fire clay for the brick oven and that’s what he gave me. I also purchased all the fire bricks from there.
I’m going to wait for @BrickWood to respond because I want to do it right! 
Robert may have given you a suitable mortar, but it’s hard to tell from the package. I do hope it is, but I agree it’s better to wait for a response. Kevin (@BrickWood) has pretty much seen it all and will know much more about this than me.
Having spoken w/ numerous Landscape & Masonry supply store OWNERS (not new or seasonal employees) throughout the country about this very issue, here is what I’m told by the experts.
“Pure Fire Clay, Mortar Clay and Bricklayers Clay” are FINE for outdoor brick oven structures. While the Mortar Clay and Bricklayers Clay have a slightly different formula from PURE Fire Clay, the changes are more than acceptable for an outdoor brick pizza oven.
I would recommend contacting the manufacturer (Gladding McBean) of both products, but that might be futile. I reached out to them several times over the years via email and voice messages to ask a couple of product questions and to let them know about the quality of their paper bags (which consistently stick to each other & rip / tear when lifted off other bags). Never got a call or message back… maybe you might have better luck
But again, we’ve been recommending the 3 types of clay listed above for 12+ years (and thousands of ovens later) with no known issues.
BUT DO NOT USE THE FORMULA THAT IS PRINTED ON THEIR BAG! USE OUR HIGH TEMP FORMULA with the BRICK MASONS CLAY as a FIRE CLAY SUBSTITUTE.
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Thank you so much! And I will follow the BrickWood high temp formula.
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