Toolmans Oven

[toolman]

As promised I will document the progress of my oven. It's going to be a Quebec (I think that's what they call it) type of oven.

This is the start where I layed out the blocks to get an idea of size and placement.

[toolman]

Re: Toolmans Oven

Progress

I concreted the blocks in place and put a base board in to retain the vermiculite/cement layer. The 2" vermiculite/cement layer was then poured.

[toolman]

Re: Toolmans Oven

Progress

Once the vermiculite was cured I boxed up for the hearth.

[toolman]

Re: Toolmans Oven

Progress

After boxing I welded up the steel reinforcement for the hearth slab. I did it this was as I has a lot of scrap steel and I could form it to give maximum strength where needed.

Note roof over boxed area. This was to stop the rain getting into the vermiculite layer.

[toolman]

Re: Toolmans Oven

Progress

Heath slab has now been poured

You can just pick it in one of the pics, a thermocouple wire coming out of the slab. This will be inserted into the oven floor.

Last diagram is the slab construction.

For anybody wondering, I chose to go with 2 layers of vermiculite as it wasn't that expensive to do this and it covered both bases I figured. The old way of constructing on a slab with vermiculite underneath and the new way of constructing directly on the vermiculite layer. I suppose only time will tell if I got it right.

I couldn't help myself. I had to fill it with wood

[dmun]

Re: Toolmans Oven

Wow that's great. When I saw your first 2" of vermiculite under the slab I was worried, but that's just an extra layer.

And that roof! That's better than some of us have on our permanent enclosures. What is that stuff, aluminum decking or something?

[christo]

Re: Toolmans Oven

Really nice!!! How much time do you have in it so far?

Christo

[El Puaco]

Re: Toolmans Oven

You've done some nice touches that vary a bit from what I've seen before. I like the look of it. Anything new for the dome phase?

[toolman]

Re: Toolmans Oven

No progress to date. The family has been keeping me busy.

In response to the questions;

The roof is made of corrugated plastic. It's just like corrugated cardboard but made of plastic. I got a heap of it from a factory that was throwing it out. I had so much of it I used it for the boxing of the hearth slab.

I have about 12 hours in this project so far but I think that the time input will increase dramatically when the oven construction starts.

I hope to pour the vermiculite/cement fondou this week. I'll post pics when done.

Dave

[Brauma]

Re: Toolmans Oven

Very nice, Dave. I'm looking forward to watching your progress.

[toolman]

Re: Toolmans Oven

Wow it's been a while since I posted but I think that's because I have been building the oven instead of spending time on the computer.

As promised I am going to update the build of my oven so here goes!

The first pic is off the 2nd layer of vermiculite. The reason it doesn't go to the edges of the cavity is that I decided I wanted the walls of the oven siting on concrete not vermiculite. The gap you see will be filled with concrete before the floor tiles are layed.

Unfortunately at this point our camera broke down and I wasn't able to get any pics until I had started the arch construction which is in the second and third images.

The fourth image shows all the arches complete. Note that the wooden forms are still in the arches to support them whilst they set.

[toolman]

Re: Toolmans Oven

Cont.

the first two images here show the construction of the transition between the two arches form the outside.

The third image is of my number 1 helper, my 4 year old daughter. She managed to lay the entire rear wall with only a little help from me. No the wall isn't perfect but every time I look into the oven and see the wobble in the back wall it brings a big smile to my face

Fourth image is of the transition from the inside. You will see that there is a corner of a brick jutting out in the middle of the pic. I got that excited about my progress that I forgot to trim this off before setting it in place. I didn't make the same mistake on the other side as it was about 20 minutes of pain to remove this with the diamond wheel on the 4" grinder.

Image 5
Because I intend to bake a lot of bread in this oven I decided to fut 4" of concrete over the outside of the bricks as mass. Before the concrete went down I covered the entire area will aluminium foil to allow for movement. This turned out to be a very good thing as ther was quite a bit of movement during the drying fire period.

[toolman]

Re: Toolmans Oven

Cont.

First image here is of the entry arch taking shape. I think it's pretty good for someone who has never layed a brick in his life.

Images 2 and 3 are of the finished entry and the insulation going on. The landing in the enrty was made from swimming pool coping. Good idea as it withstands the heat OK but it does take a bit to keep clean. The insulation I used was some sort of ceramic blanket. I used one box which contained 7 metres of the stuff. I was able to put two layers on the top of the oven and one layer every where else. Where there is only one layer I have backed it up with some rockwool I had left over from a job I did. I would not recommend using Rockwool as it is too soft and compresses too easy which makes it almost impossible to render over it. I ended up having to use form work to support the render on the sides. Once again our camera started playing up and I was unsble to get pics of this process.

Image 4 shows all the insulation secured in place with bird wire. This proved to be a good move as it gave the render something to "key" into.

[toolman]

Re: Toolmans Oven

Cont.

This pic is of one of the drying fires. As you can see there is a thermocouple meter sitting next to the oven opening arch. During the construction I fitted 3 thermocouples. They are positioned below the middle floor brick measuring the tem on the underside of that brick, in the middle brick of the middle arch measuring the temp 1/2 " into the brick and the third measures the temp of the outside of the mass in the middle of the oven roof. So far this has helped me greatly to get to know my oven but over time I know I won't need them and I will cut the leads off and render over them.


So far I have had two pizza parties with great success! Thanks mainly to an italian mate who grew up using a WFO at home. I have tried bread a couple time but due to rushing the dough prep and an oven way too hot I haven't had any success. It's sure to come though as I'm determined to succeed.

Today I put the render on the outside so I will post pics tomorrow when it's daylight and I can take some.

Just a note. On Christmas eve after doing all the cooking I decided to crank up the oven and use it as a heater. I filled the floor of the oven with firewood to a depth of about 3". Once this burnt down to coals I checked the temp in the roof of the oven and it was 520 DegC. Not sure what that is in Deg F but it is very hot. Four days later the oven roof was still 180 Deg C and the floor was 160 Deg C. This to me indicated that my insulation is working well.

[toolman]

Re: Toolmans Oven

I finally got around to taking a photo of the oven with the render done. It's not quite finished as I haven't rendered the back of the oven. That's why there is a tarp over the back.

You can also see that the chimney isn't finished yet. The intention is to weld a top onto the steel piece that's sitting on the bricks. I will then attach the chimney pipe to that.

I'm doing bread in it tomorrow so I will post pics of that.