Pics of inside brick ovens?

[Les]

Re: Pics of inside brick ovens?

Very cool! I don't mean to hi-jack this thread but how thick does it come. I would like to replace my entry brick with this stuff. It looks like you can wipe it clean.

[GianniFocaccia]

Re: Pics of inside brick ovens?

Soapstone countertop material comes in 3cm (1 1/4") here on the west coast. On the east coast you can get it 3-4", which I believe works way better in evading oven floor cracking. Windage installed this in his commercial 81" monster oven.

I elected to go with a stainless (ordered it today as a matter-of-fact) entry for two reasons. As noted earlier by Chris (SCChris), soapstone bleeds oven floor heat like engine cooling fins, and being the porous beast that it is, soapstone stains terribly. Chipster reported this a few weeks back. A heatbreak would limit the bleed, bubt not sure you can seal an entryway safely. Sure, it's pretty and yes it does wipe off with a damp rag, but I anticipate a slew of bubble-overs in my oven and entryway and decided to go with the more expensive ($69 for 3/16"-thick) stainless.

[Les]

Re: Pics of inside brick ovens?

Bummer - I was trying to avoid the stains. Back to plan A, I am going to place a very thin (.04 - .062) piece of stainless in the entry brick. It really shouldn't affect cleaning out the oven and it is simple to clean. Thanks for the feedback!

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: Pics of inside brick ovens?

Les,

Interested on how you do Plan B SS entry. Are you going to just cut to fit entry and cover bricks from staining or fasten to the entry?

[mrchipster]

Re: Pics of inside brick ovens?

Bummer - I was trying to avoid the stains. Back to plan A, I am going to place a very thin (.04 - .062) piece of stainless in the entry brick. It really shouldn't affect cleaning out the oven and it is simple to clean. Thanks for the feedback!

Les,

i tried the Stainless Steel entry with a thin piece bent down at sides and near entry and every time i fired up the oven it would get heat stressed and curl up. Making it very difficult to remove my door if it was in.

Back to the drawing board.

I now have a thicker piece 11GA approx 1/8 inch that I will try once I get it cut to size; it will be flat no bends. I think John (GianniFocaccia) has the right idea with the 3/8 inch piece but I got my 1/8 for free so it is worth a try.

Chip

[SCChris]

Re: Pics of inside brick ovens?

Les, I tried SStone in the entry and liked the convenience but not the color. In the end I went with a warmer colored Granite and have been happy that I did. It's easy clean and looks better with my countertops. I've seen no degradation of the Grainite, and since it was a cutoff from someone's counters, the cost was the effort of asking. Fabricating it to the shape I needed was a snap with the HF10.

Chris

[Les]

Re: Pics of inside brick ovens?

Chris,

No problems with cracking or spalling?

[SCChris]

Re: Pics of inside brick ovens?

None so far.. Early on I wondered if I might see this sort of thing, but it hasn't happened so far. It does get hot but I guess it doesn't push the limits.. When I installed my stone I sloped it toward the front of the oven to drain away from the interior and when I was playing with the SStone, I thought about channeling and canting the stone, think drain board.

Chris

Oh and I did include a heat break in the floor, I learned that a single piece of SStone that reaches into the oven is really a heatsink..

[deejayoh]

Re: Pics of inside brick ovens?

+1 on soapstone stains - I put it in my entryway and it does get oil stains. But they clean up easily with a bit of kitty litter. I cleaned up the spot in the picture below with no problem. And my understanding is (have not tried this yet) that you can seal it with mineral oil to prevent staining. This would probably work in an entryway, but not in an oven.

FWIW, I got my entryway stone cut by a countertop installer for $75. That seemed high but was the best price I could find.