Matt Walker continental stove build

sorry  delayed response , we had a storm --lots of bright light and big bangs---blew out the power for a day ---but the fibercable service was down for 4 days---we came damn close to total collapse of civilization ---as we know it and have become comfortably  accustomed to---on to the use of mortars and mixes of --which or what to use ---its all been said before and reasoned out ---traditional  russian /eastern european stoves and mortar mixes are a lot different ---those stove types are not riserless cores , or feature a secondary air combustion box---i stuck to mostly following the advise from Walker stoves , and other stove builds---i used builders sand as thats all my local supplier had at the time ---should have gone for a finer plastering sharp sand---no little pebbles ---so the joints can be made smaller/thinner----reduced/less chance of joints cracking ---i used fireclay ---but only because i could source it with out delays ---as in trying to find a local clay and digging it up and cleaning it and so on ----i should have sifted the dry fire clay as well ---mine had plenty of hard shards and pieces in it----its meant to be ball milled before use---to become a very fine powder. The stove does not really get up to the high heat temp that fireclay is used at in pottery firing ----so ordinary fine clay is just as good for this stove----i used some sifted out wood ash in my mix to just give some plasticity to it ---and a slight stickness to it as well---helps it stick to dry bricks ---important for beginers to brick work like me---