[Stoves] Trick for cutting, punching holes in clay chimney liner tubes

[jpmanley at midcoast.com]

When I worked for a mason 35 years ago, we never used cutting blades to
shorten a flue tile.
One additional hint for cutting them shorter is to start your cutting
(hammer & chisel) on the corners, before cutting the lines in between the
corners.
This is in addition to the filling with damp sand.




> I imagine that you already know this trick, but just in case.
>
> If you want to cut/punch a hole in a hollow clay brick first pack it
> thoroughly full of slightly damp sand.   Pack it in as hard as is
> practical and then you can take a hammer and chisel, and cut openings in
> the tube, without shattering the rest of the tile,  The same trick if
> done carefuly will allow you to cut the tube to length,  just remember
> that you need the sand there to back up the tile, so wrapping a rope
> around the end you are cutting off can help to keep it all together, and
> thus the sand in place.  It works best if the sand is a little damp as
> that lubricates the packing, and allows you to reach a higher packed
> density.
>
>
> Drew
>
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