Forno Tito

[JoeT62]

Re: Forno Tito

Been a while since I posted, but I have been (slowly) getting work done on the oven. I have actually finished the dome itself (not pretty, but it feels stable as a rock), and I got a set of FB pizza peels from my wife for my birthday. Soon I hope to graduate from "digital camera pizza" to the real thing!

I have also started the front landing. I am planning on a second arch attached to the oven opening with a 3/4" reveal for a door. The vent will be built into the arch by cutting the middle bricks. I've yet to decide between masonry chimney and duratech. Masonry is cheaper, but the duratech would certainly be less of a weight load on my arch...
Either way, I am figuring about 24" of chimney - sound right?

As you can see, the top of my dome ain't exactly pretty. I had a hard time cleaning drips with the styrofoam boards in place. I was working on making it pretty when my wife pointed out that nobody but me will care, and she wants pizza! So it will remain "rustic."

My new peel! My wife bought me both the round peel as well as the rectangular one. I highly recommend these items, and can't wait till I put them to good use.

[Kemo]

Re: Forno Tito

excellent...i cant wait to see how you finish out the landing and the chimney. Again, thanks for posting the progress!

[maver]

Re: Forno Tito

Looks good. The dome will perform well. I would use duratech for convenience and to mitigate concerns about weight on your arch. With your corner installation you have less room to buttress the sides of the vent area to provide support for the arch. If you are set on a masonry chimney you could span angle iron across the vent above the arches to distribute the weight more directly on the pad below. A 24" chimney should function fine.

I like the digital pizza self portrait!

[JoeT62]

Re: Forno Tito

Got the Duratech today, and finished the opening arch. The vent is a space I fashioned between the two arches by cutting the middle 5 bricks of the arch roughly in half on an angle. It measures about 5" by 12" - pictures too follow (it got too dark).

After this, it will be time to start on the enclosure. My vermiculite is paradoxically hard but crumbly so I am thinking of cutting it away down to the concrete along the edges so the studs will have something solid to anchor into.

Now I really have to start thinking about that roof. I was thinking slanted shed style, but my wife wants the traditional peak. I am not looking forward to fashioning that on a corner install.

[wlively]

Re: Forno Tito

I thought the same thing about my perlcrete, until I thought about how much fun that was going to be. Then I remembered I had some 5" concrete anchors left over from the deck. Plenty long enough to go thru the perlcrete and into the slab and the perlcrete is plenty hard enough in compression.

Yeah, the tradition roof looks like it will be a bear. What about a 5 sided hip roof?

[JoeT62]

First Fire!

I think these pics are like the ones we show of our babies. Only those who have one truly appreciate the beauty.

Upper vent opening

Inside vent opening. No that is not the chimney for the oven! That's the VERY VERY long Duratech we used for the basement wood stove. I really should own stock in that company.

Outer arch reveals the..uh...reveal

FIRE!!!!

I would say about 10-20% of the smoke came out the front, but that is without a chimney and in a never before fired oven. I think it will be OK.

[Unofornaio]

Re: Forno Tito

Awwww its a cutie...oh and its breathing fire already? you must be sooo proud, before you no it he will be smokin...what can you do you gotta let em grow up...
Just bustin you chops. It looks great.

Did your building department give you crap about the chimney for the wood stove being so many feet higher than ________ (fill in what ever is up their butt this month) Its amazing how all the chimneys built from 10 years back to the first building in (any-town USA) managed to function or not catch the house on fire.

[Ken524]

Re: First Fire!

I think these pics are like the ones we show of our babies. Only those who have one truly appreciate the beauty.

[ATTACH]3334[/ATTACH] Upper vent opening

Joe,

Your oven looks great! I noticed in the Upper Vent Opening picture there is a small gap between the reveal arch and vent arch that you bridged with some splits. Is this by design? If so, why?

Thanks!
Ken

[JoeT62]

Re: First Fire!

Joe,

Your oven looks great! I noticed in the Upper Vent Opening picture there is a small gap between the reveal arch and vent arch that you bridged with some splits. Is this by design? If so, why?

Thanks!
Ken

Sort of. I wanted the upper arch to "stick out" slightly from the columns. Just an aesthetic thing. It leaves a small channel that I am hoping will be like little smoke catchers and funnel it into the vent.

[JoeT62]

Re: Forno Tito

Awwww its a cutie...oh and its breathing fire already? you must be sooo proud, before you no it he will be smokin...what can you do you gotta let em grow up...
Just bustin you chops. It looks great.

Did your building department give you crap about the chimney for the wood stove being so many feet higher than ________ (fill in what ever is up their butt this month) Its amazing how all the chimneys built from 10 years back to the first building in (any-town USA) managed to function or not catch the house on fire.

Thanks for the kind words, Uno.

My chimney is far enough (barely) away from the house so I didn't have to go above the roofline. I too think it's a little silly since they don't regulate those chimnea things which people put right on their deck!

[Ken524]

Re: First Fire!

Sort of. I wanted the upper arch to "stick out" slightly from the columns. Just an aesthetic thing. It leaves a small channel that I am hoping will be like little smoke catchers and funnel it into the vent.

Excellent idea. Again, it looks great. Thanks!

Ken

[JoeT62]

Second Fire

Started a second fire in the oven this morning, and will do another tonight. I am using the "Ernie Banks" method of oven curing (lets play two!)

Until my insulation arrives, I'll keep them down to a dull roar. Although the top of the dome did get warm on the outside this morning. I could still hold my hand on it, but the heat from the fire was definitely coming through!

[JoeT62]

Forno Tito Disaster!!!

OK, maybe not quite a disaster, but a bit of a setback.

On Thursday morning, I went outside to check on the oven and wipe some soot off the face of the front arch that had gotten there from the fires. When I wiped I noticed that the entire center of the arch moved (the middle 5 bricks). Bummer!!!!

I toyed with simply re-mortaring them in as one piece, but decided to take them apart and rebuild it. When I chiseled my mortar off I noted that the centers of the mortar "pancakes" were still dark from moisture - not nearly fully cured. Lesson learned: let ALL the mortar (not just the dome) set up for a good week before firing up.

In addition, I thought I cheated on the mortar joints a bit and left them too wide, so perhaps there was too much shear stress on them? In any case, I decided to change the arch a bit and create more of a keystone in the middle by turning a brick on it's flat side and tapering the edges. Now the arch is as tight as the oven entry arch and (I hope) much more stable.

The culprit. Too much, too soon.

The soot in the low vent is quite visible here.

You can see the middle of the mortar is still dark.

The new arch! I think I actually like the look of this quite a bit better than the old one, so I will call this crisis an opportunity!

[asudavew]

Re: Forno Tito

looking good!

Note to self.... be patient.........

It must be hard!

[Brauma]

Re: Forno Tito

Looks great, Joe. I give you so much credit for doing that yourself. I hope I have the courage to do it someday.