Can saw dust from the bricks be used to make mortar?

[daniel679]

Hello,

I'm about 80% done building my oven, and I've almost run out of mortar. I can only buy refractory mortar in 25kg buckets (I only need about 5kg) and it's quite expensive where I live ($100).
I have a bucket full of saw dust that I collected from cutting all the bricks. It's very very fine dust. I'm wondering if mixing that with sand and cement can produce a suitable alternative to refractory mortar? If so, what are the proportions to make the mix?

Thank you

[Mongo]

Refered to as 'home brew' in many posts. 3:1:1:1, sand, hydrated lime, fire clay, portland cement. Recommended to sive everthing through a piece of 'hardware cloth. Its said you can use brick dust. I ran out of clay at the end of my build and started using brick dust. It made a denser mortar that was harder to handle and set up quicker. Ended up buying another sack of clay (under 20 bucks) and just using a small portion of it.

[deejayoh]

You can use the brick dust in lieu of fire clay. Mix with sand, lime, and cement. You'll get enough of it from cutting bricks there's really no need to buy fire clay!