42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

[dvm]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

I got off work a bit early today.... and rushed home to wok on the WFO (of course)! Finished the soldier course. It finally feels like I have moved from I am going to build a WFO to I am Actually building a WFO!
Lesson learned today: My oven will not be perfect.
Now that that is out of the way I plan to enjoy myself for the rest of the build and revel in the "character" of my one-of-a-kind creation.

dvm

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

dvm,

Thanks for the info on the multimeter. Will check it out. I know my oven is not perfect either, it is consuming to try and build the best you can. Someone said on this forum, that the flaws on their build faded away as time went on. Build is lookin good.

[dvm]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

So I had some fun with my angelizer - bought the thingy at HD and downloaded the software (no purchase necessary) off the internet. Calculations and drawing on the blocks was easy.... cutting the blocks not so easy (flipping and making multiple passes due to the depth of brick and size of blade). Ready for mortar.

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

dvm,

wow do you move along, looks like the anglizer software did the trick. Yeah,takes lots of passes on saw plus the grinder. You considering using a taper inner arch? If so, check out Karanga Dude's or GianniFoccacia's build. Really helps with tie-in in the arch to the course but now is the time to decide before you mortar. It will work on the arch portion of the inner arch. I think there is an example in GianniF's thread. Looks good...........

[dvm]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

dvm,

You considering using a taper inner arch? If so, check out Karanga Dude's or GianniFoccacia's build. Really helps with tie-in in the arch to the course but now is the time to decide before you mortar. It will work on the arch portion of the inner arch. I think there is an example in GianniF's thread.

I have angled the "Back" of the "Top" of each arch block to give a better surface to tie in the courses. I thought a long time as to what that angle should be exactly (given that I am committed to a less than spherical dome) ... then I decided that in the end it will require a custom cut / grind for each tie-in block. So I simple picked one angle (that would be the scrap created when I cut the blocks for the vertical sides) and I went for it. The size / shape allows two arch bricks from each block. We shall see how it works out.

dvm

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

dvm,

Here a picture of MrChipster's process of marking the arch of a hemispherical arch. Maybe this will help you fine tune your arch.

[dvm]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

Today was a good day with the WFO. The oven arch is mortared up. 2/3 of the first course is on the soldiers. I don't have the favored HF saw. Mine is a Rigid 10inch miter saw - the blade tilts up to 45 Degrees off vertical. The table came with an adjustable guide that clamps onto the edge and clamps off from perpendicular to the blade up to a 45. Between the two adjustments: angel at about 4.5degrees off perpendicular and bevel about 1 degree off vertical, I was able to fine tune some brick cutting resulting in very small (by my standards) grout line between bricks in the first course. Now that I have a firm mental picture of the resulting bricks - and how they are placed in the course (smaller face "in" with longer edge of oven face "down") and a feel for the angle and bevel adjustments on the saw - I hope to pick up the pace on the remaining courses.

Plus the double walled stainless steel chimney arrived via fed-ex today! A good day indeed

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

DVM,

Looking good, I have the old cheapo HF wet saw, if I had built in miter capability I would be golden too. One trick I have learned so far. Cut only a portion of your chain, mortar in and see if angles and bevels are holding good. Small changes in mortar joints affect the fit of the brick so I have to make small adjustments in the later part of the chain to maintain a decent fit. Keep up the good work.

[dvm]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

DVM,

Cut only a portion of your chain, mortar in and see if angles and bevels are holding good. Small changes in mortar joints affect the fit of the brick so I have to make small adjustments in the later part of the chain to maintain a decent fit. Keep up the good work.

Agreed.

Another lesson learned: When cutting bricks, the blade needs to make a full purchase on the leading edge of the cut. If you try instead to begin the cut removing a sliver of material - the blade deflects and will not produce the bevel as intended. I have been cutting and dry placing 3 bricks at a time, you might think that uniform blocks could be created that would line up on the lower course in a uniform manor - not happening that way at my house.

The WFO is calling - I will post photos tonight.

dvm

[dvm]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

A fun and fulfilling day on the WFO ends. I am getting a better feel for the creation of angle and bevel with the miter tile saw. (I bought this saw several years ago when tiling the house with 18 inch squares - I wanted the long arm for diagonal cuts - Little did I know that the bevel adjustment would one-day be so handy). I will describe how I am cutting the bricks for the courses - this will be obvious to anyone who has already cut bricks - but perhaps helpful for those trying to picture the process and have not yet started cutting.

First I cut a 2.5 x 4.5 x 9 inch brick in half with the blade square.

Next I angle the blade about one degree. I came to the actual angle by trial and error and I marked the sweet spot on the angle indicator of the saw with a pencil mark on a piece of tape. I expect this angle to increase slightly as the courses turn in smaller circles.

I then set the angle on the table guide. Each mark is 2.5 degrees. For the first course on my 42 inch oven the right spot was one and one-half marks. To determine these positions I cut and dry set three bricks (several times). btw - On the second course the right spot was 1 3/4 marks.

I place the manufactured edge against the guide and the cut edge toward me, this way the small face of the block (oven side) will be a manufactured surface.

I turn the block around (not over), move the guide to the other side at one and one-half marks and cut again. The block is now angled and beveled. As it sits on the saw table, the bevel is such that the larger surface is up - the block will be turned over for placement in the course (this bevel removes the "inverted V" that would otherwise result).


The result is fairly small mortar lines between bricks within each course. I am not cutting the top or bottom of each brick - that is where the mortar goes.

So my three bags of mortar should be plenty - but I may need more bricks! we shall see.

dvm

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

dvm,

Nice cuts, nice saw, nice progress. Looking good.

[dvm]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

Thanks Russell. I am longing for pizza.
dvm

[dvm]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

I enjoyed a full day of WFO fun. Started with a trip to HD to replace the (worn) 9.5 inch blade on the wet saw with a new 10 inch blade - Chose the one with radial slits in the last 2 inches of the blade - discovered that this blade's design allows the removal of slivers of brick at any angle (more reliable than the previous continuous rimed blade).

I have been stubbornly attempting to make my version of the IT work (despite sage advice to use a wooden profile in place of the IT). Given my low dome, the IT becomes challenging as the radius of the arc is below the floor of the oven - requiring adjustment in length and angle for each course. My first attempt was to clamp a 90 degree bracket on the end of wooden hinged IT.... the problem, while the tool help the block nicely - it could not be lifted up from the block since the arc of the tool caused the heel of the bracket to engage (move) the newly placed block. I had to rotate the tool to the side off the block before raising the tool - which was fine until the end of the row. I placed the second row of block using wedges and by feel. The height was good but I found that the result was not completely round....

On the third course I used two pieces of poplar, one lined up with the top of the brick, and one on a hinge in the center of the dome. The angel in-between was supported with shims and clamped. I set the tool to the required angle from a scale drawing of the dome. For the next course the hinged board will be trimmed shorter and the new angle shimmed and clamped. My son pointed out that a brick could be placed on the (tilting) IT to hold the active brick in place until mortar is settled underneath. It worked great on row 3... I suspect more trouble will be ahead as the angle increases. Hey if it was easy where would the challenge be?

dvm

[deejayoh]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

dvm -

One issue you might want to think about for the IT - you want it to be at the angle that the brick should be at it's center. This is because the brick is square. If you construct it like you have, you are setting each brick at the angle that a trapezoid shaped brick would be. I can't explain this very clearly - but doing it the way you have will result in the bricks being set too steeply. If you check Xene's thread, you'll see what happens.

Set up the IT so that the piece coming from the center hits in the middle of the brick. This will also fix the problem with the IT not releasing from the brick.

[dvm]

Re: 42" FB Pompeii Oven with 19" dome, and adjacent fireplace, in the O.C.

I think that the current application of my IT is working. I am not tapering the top or bottom of the bricks - the top and bottom are parallel. I am using a full sized mock up of the dome and transferring the angle of the top of the brick to set, to the actual dome, relative to the center point of the floor (via the IT). The bricks, as cut, are trapezoidal and I am using the square end of the IT to square the outer surface of the brick (and therefore the inner surface) to the center of the oven in the side to side plane of the brick.
The place for error in my system is the depth of the brick, since I am using the out side of the brick to set the radius, if the initial cut of 9 x 2.5 x 4.5 inch brick is not on dead center - then the depth of the bricks will vary front to back and potentially result in steps on the inside surface. My solution, feel the inside surface for alignment.