Mitch's Oven

[lobo_nz]

Re: Mitch's Oven

Hey, thanks for the kinf comments
Heres a few pics of the bench now Ive removed the boxing, a few air bubbles here and there but overall pretty good, on to the Insulation layer for the hearth this weekend - if I get the time.





I chose to stick in an ash pit, I figure if I dont use it I can alway sblock it up but it would be way harder to put one in.

[Frances]

Re: Mitch's Oven

Very impressive! I can see this is a thread it'll be worth keeping an eye open for

[gjbingham]

Re: Mitch's Oven

Great result. I think you're going to love the ash pit. Great place to pour out bad beer too.

[christo]

Re: Mitch's Oven

Bad Beer? Never heard of it!!!

Did you mix up some cement to fill the few holes you have?

[james]

Re: Mitch's Oven

Wow. The quality of the finish is excellent. Very, very impressive. I wish I could do that.

For those of us in the middle of winter, don't you love the summer sky. Those nice high angles.

James

[gjbingham]

Re: Mitch's Oven

Christo,
Bad beer = an open bottle someone spit their chew in the night before, and you grab that bottle by accident and have a swig

[RCLake]

Re: Mitch's Oven

Oh I'm not sure! We took our inlaws to San Antonio once to visit that great place and one of our stops was the Lone Star brewery. After the tour obviously you get to taste their product. I'll confess, I'm a beer drinker and this was the first time I wouldn't finish one. It just seemed green (a techonolcal term - yeah right). that has been brought up many times in my 30 year marriage.

[lobo_nz]

Re: Mitch's Oven

Some how I missed the emails for the last few comments.

gjbingham: Yeah I figured it would be woth the extra work so I dont end up with ash all over the place - especially with kids under your feet.

christo: I havnt mixed any cement to fill the holes I need to see what will fill the holes with a similar colour when set, I have little experience with concrete and was under the impression it doesnt stick to itself very well so thought I would get some 2 pot resin concrete filler, either that or leave it and call it a 'rustic' finish , If you have any hole filling pointers let me know.

james: You are too kind, I think the finish has turned out pretty well as I usually work on plastic parts and tooling which have to be very accurate so working with concrete and wood I tend to be overly anal about measurements - its very hard to change my ways. And thanks for the site its a wealth of info.

gjbingham and RCLake: Not to take your 'green beer' term literally but I prefer beer in brown bottles, my boss does not- so I suffer green beer in green bottles - its till beer just not as tasty.

And so I went to a wedding this weekend then the day after bbq and luckily Monday here in Auckland is a public holiday so I went fishing (in my Kayak) caught 2 snapper, came home and laid the layer of insulation, so a fairly full weekend.

Here is the result, its not quite flat, its hard stuff to make flat but nothing the sand/fire clay wont make up for.

[gjbingham]

Re: Mitch's Oven

That snapper would be great, no awesome, baked inside a WFO.

[asudavew]

Re: Mitch's Oven

Outstanding work so far!

Not to be critical or anything, but just curious...

Are your bricks going to touch the concrete (around the sides?)
Because if they do, that slab will suck heat out of your oven....
I'm not sure if you plan on having insulation around the sides, but you might think about...

Anyways, I just thought about it and didn't want you to have to heat up the whole slab.

Really neat idea though, and that polished concrete...... OUT OF THIS WORLD!

Dave

[RCLake]

Re: Mitch's Oven

every time I see your foundation I'm so impressed. You should make a twin of it and use it as a spa, kinda like bookends.

[lobo_nz]

Re: Mitch's Oven

gjbingham: yeah one of the first things I intend cooking in the WFO when finished is some fresh snapper, maybe the first thing would be a snapper pizza - which I have made a few times already.

asudavew: no the bricks dont touch the concrete at all, I miss calculated a bit and there will not be as much space as I would have liked, about 50mm (~2inch) at the current dimensions, however I will be filing that space with ceramic blanket so shouldnt worry too much - I am looking at reducing the overall diameter by an inch to get a bit more space its currently 1100mm ID which is 43 and 1/2 inches. so going to 42inch would do any harm, I'll see what I can do in cad - its faster and cheaper than cutting real bricks.

RCLake: you are not the first to suggest making a spa, a guy at work thinks it would make a great alevated 'cuddle puddle' as he puts it, with a wood fire underneath to heat it.

---

I get an old drop saw from my brother in law this weekend so can start cutting bricks - If I get the blade etc, I have burnt up a bit more cash that expected so need to do some extra work.
Don't ask for a spreadsheet I havn't been keeping my reciepts, the price would probably shock anyone from overseas the bricks here in NZ are $5.00 each and theres 220 of them in the oven so $1100 worth of just firebricks around $2200 USD I guess.

[asudavew]

Re: Mitch's Oven

asudavew: no the bricks dont touch the concrete at all, I miss calculated a bit and there will not be as much space as I would have liked, about 50mm (~2inch) at the current dimensions, however I will be filing that space with ceramic blanket so shouldnt worry too much - I am looking at reducing the overall diameter by an inch to get a bit more space its currently 1100mm ID which is 43 and 1/2 inches. so going to 42inch would do any harm, I'll see what I can do in cad - its faster and cheaper than cutting real bricks.

Good deal.
I saw your pics and just wanted to make sure.
It will be fun watching you build.
Keep up the great work.

Dave

snapper pizza...... not sure if I could go for that!!

[jcg31]

Re: Mitch's Oven

Mitch,
Any new shots of progress?
Jim

[RCLake]

Re: Mitch's Oven

RCLake:[/B] you are not the first to suggest making a spa, a guy at work thinks it would make a great alevated 'cuddle puddle' as he puts it, with a wood fire underneath to heat it.

I can see this picture - two of you enjoying the cuddle puddle with a roaring fire underneath and cannibals standing behind you with their spears.