firebrick removal?

[rsting]

Hi, got a simple question. I'm going to replace some of the bricks in my mama bear and the bricks in the bottom are perfect, so I do not want to mess them up. Any tricks to getting the first brick loose without tearing it up?
Thanks, Russ

 

[coaly]

Usually easier to break one that is being replaced, then wiggle the rest loose.

 

[rsting]

Thanks for your help. That worked great. Now, I need more help. I wound up deciding to replace all the standard size bricks. The small ones were all in good shape, and no one locally had anything but the full size. I did not pull the front row ofsmaller bricks out, since I wasn't going to replace them, and didn't want to take a chance of ddamaging them. Here's my problem. I got to the last bricks, and they don't want to fit. Could there be enough ash buildup behind the bricks I didn't remove to be causing my problem. Any good tips for getting those last ones
to go in?
I also wanted to just say how much I appreciate your help and this forum. Thanks to you, I took an old stove from an auction, and have got it almost back in shape to go another 20 years. I'm sure there are literally hundreds of these great old stoves that have been saved from going to the scrapyard because of your efforts!
THANKS!

 

[coaly]

No ash can be in there at all. Normally bricks are installed across back, then down sides from rear to front.
They are all made from regular 4 1/2 X 9 inch bricks. They are easily cut with a masonry blade in a circular saw. If scored 1/8 to 1/4 inch deep they break easy and clean.

Here's a thread about replacing the brick in your stove with the actual firebrick cut sizes from the original stove drawing.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/mama-bear-firebricks.88386/

You're very welcome. There's a lot of information on the forum and not always easily searchable.

 

[rsting]

Got it finished. A tip for any one replacing their firebricks. Take them all out! That was the problem. Just enough ash behind the front ones to cause problems. I pulledthem out cleaned it up and in they went.