Before starting the discussion of the construction of residential stoves and kitchen ranges, familiarize yourself with the basic materials and accessories used by stove fitters.

Stewing mortars are made of clay. Clay is a product of rock weathering, and although it contains insoluble components, including a lot of clay minerals, after mixing with water, it forms a homogeneous one, plastic mass.

The clays suitable for the construction of stoves and kitchen stoves come in a variety of colors, ranging from light- to dark brown, depending on the amount and type of minerals, which contain.

One of the conditions for a successful home furnace is the use of a suitable clay. Cops can be fat and lean.

Are 3 species of stove fitting:

1) common mortar made of soil clay, properly mixed and seasoned; it is the most commonly used mortar,

2) refractory mortar - lean clay with the addition of ground refractory clay, very rarely used,

3) oily clay chamotte mortar, with the addition of chamotte flour,

Standard mortar is a properly selected ground clay

with water to different densities depending on the intended use to make different parts of the furnace. Clay can be either fatty or lean.

Oily clay is clay, which contains very little sand, has a shine, it is sticky, does not crumble when crushed. It is difficult to deal with with water, and broken up, shrinks and cracks after drying, which in the application has a negative effect on cohesion. Greasy clay cannot be used in stove fitting mortar in such a state, however, such clay can be degreased by mixing very clean and fine sand, chamotte meal, and preferably, burnt brick meal. However, keep in mind, that too much sand or brick flour also has a negative effect on the viscosity and cohesiveness of the mortar.

If, on the other hand, you get ground clay that usually contains a lot of sand, called "skinny" clay, it can be greased by adding refractory clay. Fireclay mortar is usually not prepared by the stove fitter. It receives it in the form of ready-made meal in bags, without any guarantee of the percentage of fireclay it contains. Dear chamotte meal!can be successfully replaced with table salt, giving 1 a glass of salt on 8 glasses of good ground clay, mixing the mixture with water to the required density.

The clay used for the stove fitting mortar must not contain pebbles, marl and other admixtures. Therefore, it is advisable, as far as possible, sifting the dried clay and sand through a very fine sieve, or the processing of the clay box soaked the previous day to such a thin density, so that it could be passed through the sieve of Fr. 2 mm mesh.

Regardless of the careful preparation of the mortar, a professional stove fitter in the production of the stove, he remakes it exactly with his hand, at the same time removing the smallest pebbles or lumps that are felt.

When working in winter, the practice of freezing the soaked clay is practicable.

Then the frozen water in the clay explodes the lumps, and the clay thawed with warm water does not require so much trouble when processing the mortar. In winter, hot water is used to mix the mortar, which shortens and facilitates the work, and also protects your hands from cold.

If the stove-fitting mortar is too thin, made of oily clay free from pebbles, it is easy to, by adding sand or brick flour, to slim it down and thicken it.

The thinned mortar is compacted by leaving it for some time in the box. The clay then settles to the bottom, and the water that was collected on top is poured out.