Building Between a Rock and a Hard Place

[Alter ego]

Re: Building Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Is that your first pizza? Congratulations!

[Sharkey]

Re: Building Between a Rock and a Hard Place

That weekend it was wet on Saturday. I had planned to wrap the insulation that day but didn't want to get it wet. So it was at that point that I decided I should put a coat of render over the oven. I wasn't going to as I am going to enclose it, but in the meantime the blanket would get wet when it rained and those nasty fibers from the blanket would be floating around.

Thankfully it was fine on Sunday and I made an early start, wrapped the blanket and applied 2 coats of render. This needed to be done in a day because we had friends and family coming from near and far all over the following Easter weekend, and I wouldn?t get a chance to do anything during the week.




With the blanket and render on the oven looks huge. There really is not a lot of room to work around most of the oven which made applying 2 coats in a day a physically demanding job. It would have helped if I was a left-handed contortionist. Below is the first coat finished.



And here it is completed. It came out looking ok considering I was not that worried about the finish as it will be enclosed. While I was applying the render my wife was mixing it. She was also cleaning up all the tools and brick off cuts and dust. We also put a temporary bench beside the oven.

[Sharkey]

Re: Building Between a Rock and a Hard Place

I was working from home on Thursday so I got a low fire going in the morning and gradually built it up ready to cook that evening. I only got a small hair line crack in the render which I thought was pretty good considering the whole lot was applied in a day and it had only had 4 days to dry. We also put some wood chip over the ground as a temporary base until we can pave it. I keep the area in front of the oven damp and also keep a bucket of water on hand. I have actually found it good to keep the wooden handled tools I use in the oven soaking in the bucket.

Considering it is still a construction zone it tidied up ok.




As I said earlier, we had friends and family come from near and far (as far as Tasmania) for pizza over the Easter weekend. When the oven is warm from the previous day it takes under an hour to get back to cooking temps. We must have cooked a few dozen pizzas and only had a few duds. And things should get better with practice.

Everybody loved the pizza and really enjoyed sitting around the oven, eating, drinking and soaking up the ambience. The wine cellar took a bit of a hit but you can’t beat good wine with home wood fired pizza.

[brickie in oz]

Re: Building Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Looking at your last pic.
Where is the under hearth insulation?

[Sharkey]

Re: Building Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Is that your first pizza? Congratulations!

Thanks. After 19 months of work it was a momentous occasion.

Looking at your last pic.
Where is the under hearth insulation?

The white layer of bricks are insulation bricks.

[Bert]

Re: Building Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Sharky, Your pizzas look awesome and have have made me extremely hungry at 8 am. Good job on not burning the pizza on your first attempt.

Bert

[azpizzanut]

Re: Building Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Hello All,

I suspect Sharkey has been holding out on us and is actually an epicure with background in pizzaoligy. Look at the genius in his build, the composition of his photos, the downright elegant composition of his pizzas. Sharkey adds worth to our forum for those who would recognize it.

Cheers,

[brung99]

Re: Building Between a Rock and a Hard Place

So we came up with this. I had bought extra long, tapered bricks for the outer arch. We laid the fist 6 on each side as normal.

Hi Sharkey,

Were these extra long bricks part of the kit from Field Furnace, or bought seperatley to the kit from them ?

Regards,
Bruno.

[GianniFocaccia]

Re: Building Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Between the drama of his oven location and the light in his photographic captures, it's apparent Sharkey is one dramatic guy.

If there's one word to describe your outdoor kitchen, it's inviting. Maybe that's why I keep going back to look at your pictures. Nicely done all around, Sharkey!
John

[Sharkey]

Re: Building Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Thanks for the wonderful feedback guys. Without the wealth of knowledge on this forum I would not have attempted this build. I am just pleased I can give something back.

I still have a long way to go before it is finished so there is plenty more to come.

Sharkey

[Sharkey]

Re: Building Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Hi Sharkey,

Were these extra long bricks part of the kit from Field Furnace, or bought seperatley to the kit from them ?

Regards,
Bruno.

Bruno

Yes, the extra long bricks are part of the kit from Field Furnace.

[brung99]

Re: Building Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Thanks for the info Sharkey.

I would also like to add my congratulations on the great design and execution in this oven build.

Great Job. I cant wait to see the completed work.

Regards,
Bruno.

[Bert]

Re: Building Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Sharkey, hows your build coming along? Bert

[Sharkey]

Re: Building Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Sharkey, hows your build coming along? Bert

Hi Bert

I haven?t done much work on the oven in the last few months, due to wet weather, flu, being busy doing other things etc. I am still contemplating how I am going to do my enclosure and have changed my mind a couple of times. I also decided I needed a bigger wood store so I have been back on the jack hammer pretty much carving a wood store into solid rock.

I suppose the other reason I have not done much work on the oven is I am having a great time cooking in it. The pizzas have been coming out superbly. I have also been doing roasts, casseroles and pide-bread (ala Karangi Dude). But the thing I have really enjoyed cooking is bread. Our sour dough starter has really developed and since we have adopted the no-knead bread method (check out Breadtopia.com) we are cooking bread better than we can by at any bakery near by.

We cooked pizza and pide bread last night and mixed up some bread dough before we went to bed. I had to open the oven a bit this morning to cool it to 250c before cooking the bread. Here is the result:

[Bert]

Re: Building Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Sharkey, that bread looks awesome! Looks like those FF fire bricks are doing the trick and retaining good heat.

I hear you re the weather. Ever since I broke ground its rained. I thought I'd be smart and do all the heavy lifting and excavation in the colder months, but alas with rain and kids etc that hasnt happened yet. The thought of lifting besa blocks and hand mixing concrete in 40 degree heat does appeal to me much + all the cold beer it would cost me to keep hydrated.

Question: how did you get the photo directly onto your blog? I've only ever done thumbnails but your option is much more convenient.

Keep us up to date. i enjoyed following your build.

Bert