blocking up a fireplace

[cleverspark]

sounds like a nice easy question, and im sure everyone who is great at building will think its straight forward, and i guess it is really. but the main point is, when it comes to putting the final bricks in and sealing up the hole, what is the best way of getting the bricks in and having a good amount of cement around the bricks? is it just pushing it into place, poking the cement in and long as the outside looks pretty who cares?
any advice or comments will be appreciated

 

[noseall]

inserting a final course of bricks is always fiddly. if you can leave a bigger gap than standard, this will make pointing easier. damping the last bricks, and their existing counterparts helps too.

so, once everythings nice and wet, put the bed mortar on the penultimate in-situ course, butter the perp in-situ, butter the top bed of the brick in your hand and then offer it in. wiggle it in 1/3rd, pushing the top mortar as you go, using a pointing trowel.

this may sound tricky, but it does help if you try and butter the underside of the in-situ brick too. it will tend just to fall off unless you wet it first. this method helps to grip the mortar of the brick in your hand.

i know this sounds over the top, but i do like to see them well filled and not just a pile of mortar on the floor. but as i said earlier, the bigger the top joint the easier it is to fill.