Fireplace resumed

Spent most of the the day laying stones for the new fireplace, after buying some cement

I'm trying to build my stone wall using sand and cement mortar but not using any towards the front of the stones. Once it's dry I'll point it with traditional lime and sand mortar to match the rest of the house. The trouble with lime & sand is it goes off very very slowly, hence the cement. I watched a stone mason renovate an old house using stone and he made a temporary outer skin of plywood, placed the face of the stones against the plywood then back filled with mortar. I'm trying the same technique but with an old door. All will be revealed tomorrow.