My Wood fired Redux

[stonecutter]

Re: My Wood fired Redux

Cool find at a local hardware store. They got bought out and this broom handle was like 4 bucks, and it has a little figuring in the wood too. The SS was given to me by a friend, who cut it at 8" for a turning peel.

This isn't exactly what I wanted to do with this piece of stainless, but it will do, and I don't have time to make anything nice right now. I hammered the metal broom attachment flat and riveted the peel with 3/16" SS rivets. The peel metal is thick.... it's like 10 gauge, so no floppiness at all. I left a slight angle to keep the rivets off the brick and to be more ergonomic while turning pies....it works great so far.

[Tscarborough]

Re: My Wood fired Redux

Sweet turning peel. Are you going to slice those rocks or is it full thickness?

[stonecutter]

Re: My Wood fired Redux

Thanks, I could do worse for $4 that's for sure.

The veneer will be between 4"-6", but I'll just use my pitch to hog pieces off the bigger stones to thin them out. When I work with fieldstone, the grinder and saw are never used...just hammers and carbides if necessary.

I only want weathered faces, but my stone pile is pretty meager, so I may have some that have chisel marks here and there. There is some 3 sided snap fieldstone that I have laying around that may have to be used to stretch out what I have. That stone will require some chiseling to soften it up.

[Tscarborough]

Re: My Wood fired Redux

Every stone has it's place, some just need to be beat into accepting that fact.

[stonecutter]

Re: My Wood fired Redux

Every stone has it's place, some just need to be beat into accepting that fact.

Only if you want to do tight work with a short stone pile.

[stonecutter]

Re: My Wood fired Redux

This is almost what I have in mind with the stone I have...






We did that FP in '02 with handpicked fieldstone off walls on the property. HO wanted something similar to what he saw in an old local tavern. My oven stonework will have the randomness of that FP, but I'll orient some of the stone at steep angles....which is more free-form.

I think it will off set the coursing on the base well enough, without looking out of place.

Oh, and not one stone was cut with a saw or grinder. I used a mason hammer to powder off a bump here and there, but that was it.

[mrchipster]

Re: My Wood fired Redux

Beautiful work indeed, you truly have an eyes for picking out pattern matches from freeform madness.

[Tscarborough]

Re: My Wood fired Redux

He doesn't have to convince very many stones on where they outta be, for sure.

[stonecutter]

Re: My Wood fired Redux

Thanks Chip. T, I may have to be more persuasive with this stone....its been picked over a couple times.

[mirassou]

Re: My Wood fired Redux

That's a beautiful oven and wonderful craftsmanship. I hope this question isn't offensive, but I am curious - when you do stone work for others, do you just charge for the "labor" or also for the "art"? I mean, if you were selling a painting or a sculpture, the cost of the materials and how much time you put into it is somewhat irrelevant, you'd charge for the value of the finished artistic result. It seems to me that your stone work is definitely in the "art" category!

As a customer of stonecutter, I can tell you that his work is a labor of love mixed with personal works of art. He is among the best stone masons that I've seen, and, at the time, he warned me that I would become a stone critic after he finished our pool and patio. I believe that even the esteemed stone masons Charles McRaven and Toru Oba hailing from our area in Virginia would comment highly on his work. Stonecutter, when I saw that gothic arch being developed with the granite key, I was amazed and knew that beautiful things were coming, and they did. The dry stacked stone work is the epitomy of an oven base. The cast concrete became an orchestral crescendo, but when I looked at the pictures of the formation of that granite slab to completion of the carved granite arch, I felt like I was with friends back in the 80?s savoring bottles of 1959 Vintage Chateau LaTour at Harvey?s Restaurant in Bristol UK with a beautiful steak dinner. Congratulations on a wonderful creation!

[stonecutter]

Re: My Wood fired Redux

Thank you for the kudos mirassou. I'm glad to see you are moving forward on building an oven...I'm sure you will get plenty of help from the forum if you get stuck. And I know you will thoroughly enjoy it when it is functioning.

[oasiscdm]

Re: My Wood fired Redux

A master craftsmen you are stonecutter. The beauty is these works of art will put last all of us. I hope you sign them like an artist signs his paintings.

[kkgator]

Re: My Wood fired Redux

Just finished your whole post. Absolutely blown away! Not only a great build w/quality details but your pies are in unison with the oven. I'm going to have to steal your jalapeno popper pizza idea! Looked delicious! I've been experimenting with Peppadew Peppers lately. Sweet w/a little heat. They pair well w/Monterey Jack Cheese. I agree w/Tscar about pizzamaking.com & dough issues although I'm sure there are plenty of folks here that can hold their own against those on that board. They are as passionate about dough & pizza as those on here although the focus here is on the build. I appreciate everyone on both sites!

[stonecutter]

Re: My Wood fired Redux

Thank you again everyone.

KKG, I can't take credit for that pizza, my wife came up with that idea. One thing we are doing differently is adding crumbled bacon. We didn't have any on hand when we made the one in the pic, and it really adds to the pizza in flavor and texture.

[stonecutter]

Re: My Wood fired Redux

I hope you sign them like an artist signs his paintings.

I do put my Masons Mark in a discreet area on a stone sometimes.