It seems that I've started

[Frances]

Re: It seems that I've started

Hey, good work! That looks fantastic - It'll be keystone time before you know it!

Btw I've been meaning to say, actually I really like the look of your floor with the different bricks having a slightly different colour... even if it was a pain to lay them out

Its interesting that you're using a non-cement mortar... I think I was the first one on the forum to do so. I found it very easy to work with anyway. Did you see the (not very informative) thread I started on it?

http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f8/h...clay-2783.html

So far its working really well for me.... but it'll be good to compare experiences with this kind of mortar.

[egalecki]

Re: It seems that I've started

It looks really good, dvonk. I'm sure it will work great.

[dvonk]

It seems that I've almost ...

We've spent one week on the dacha, as a result - almost finished dome. Definitely not the best one you've seen here, but I hope it will work.
You know, it's a quite an experience to realize at Thursday that you are running out of mortar and spent 3 long days with 2 (TWO!!!!!!!!!) chains unfinished (my wife was going to kill me for spending all the vocation's time on top of the oven, so I decided not to try to arrange a voyage for mortar on Friday).
My mortar doesn't contain cement (only chamotte clay and ground chamotte), so I was able to fix each brick in place almost without any kind of form (only chains 8 and 9 took some well known tricks). Dry brick (I've put it in the water just for a couple of seconds) soaks water from mortar so fast, so adhesion keeps it in place just after couple of minutes of positioning, leveling and so on.
This morning I've started with buying another 50 kg bag of mortar.

And at the very beginning, on the chain 2nd, I've made hard and painful decision - not to tapper the bricks, since my primitive tile saw doesn't allow that in a half-automated way - I've spent two hours to arrange gauges to make all the cutting in one batch, not spending a lot of time with each brick individually, but failed. Bricks has different size, and it was going to took too much time.

[dvonk]

Re: It seems that I've started

Last two weekends was not so fruitful as I was planing.
I've mixed and poured 2-4 mm of rather wet concrete over the perlite and got very fine, even and level surface for making a floor.
I found also that edges of isulationg floor are quite fragile, so it forced me to reassemble the frame to keep undamaged during further works.
I'm also found (in a numerous time in my life) that I'm stupid and didn't mesured the size of MY bricks before making the exact plans. So I've faced the lack of space for the landing or for insulation and igloo exterior on the back side.
Finally I've decided to let the very corners of the opening arch hang in the air (by now) - later I'll finish the sides of the hearth anyhow, so it wont be that way.

Yesterday I've set up the floor and faced another problem.
Gaps in floor - should or shouldn't ... - Forno Bravo Forum: The Wood-Fired Oven Community

[dvonk]

Re: It seems that I've started

Hi Frances,
I've just read that Jim advised to Balty to skim coat it with refrax
http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f6/v....html#post9852

So, I'm thinking in the right direction. I only doubt if my mortar give the proper durability to the perlite surface.

[Frances]

Re: It seems that I've started

What do you think of film of structural concrete on top of perlite? Does it worth or not?

I think that it will cause a slight loss of heat round the bottom of the dome, but at the same time will give your floor a little bit of added mass.... so it could equal out and come to the same thing in the end... maybe. You'll have to let us know when you get there

I know for a fact that these ovens work very well without an added layer, but I'm also pretty sure the oven will work well with the concrete you added.

Maybe you could chip through the concrete round the outside of the dome when you're insulating, so the insulation goes all the way round

[dvonk]

Re: It seems that I've started

Claydite (Russia)

Керамзит in Russia (Keramzit) ))

[SpringJim]

Re: It seems that I've started

Claydite (Russia)

Arlite (Spain)

a masonry insulator....but not available in the US?

[dvonk]

Re: It seems that I've started

I hope so. It's a kind of pro material, industrial, to be exact, and it constists exactly of what chamotte bricks consist of.
What do you think of film of structural concrete on top of perlite? Does it worth or not?

[dmun]

Re: It seems that I've started

"Grog (also called firesand or chamotte) is a ceramic raw material. It has high percentage of silica and alumina."

Grog (clay) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sounds good. Sounds like your mortar will be like Frances'.

[dvonk]

The "Mauritius sugar"

It is mortar (fireclay and ground chamotte). Hope that 100 kg will be enough. $21 per each bag.

[dvonk]

Re: It seems that I've started

Results of this long - 4 days! - weekend: arc and heart poured. Corner installation took a lot of time for making arch framing and so on.
Arch has two angle iron in it and piece of grid, hearth reinforced with rebar and grid.
Base of isulation heart is mixed of claydite, perlite and cement (2:3:1), the very top of the hearth (about 1.5 cm) is of perlite and cement only (5:1). Thinking now of pouring on top of it couple of mm of pure concrete to make the surface even and nice and more durable to work on it (but feel strong and stable antipathy for all concrete works now). Not sure.

[dvonk]

Re: It seems that I've started

Yes, Jim, it seems that I'll mix perlite, claydite and cement (can't use only claydite since the size of the granules - need something quite tiny to fill the gaps between bulbs of claydite).

[SpringJim]

Re: It seems that I've started

Another thought....I used mine hollow, not mixed in a cement matrix. It would probably be a great material to add to a perlite cement....perlite concrete then?

[SpringJim]

Re: It seems that I've started

That Claydite looks a lot like the arlite that I used for insulation in Spain. It's an expanded clay ball that is very light and floats. Comes in huge bags and hardly weighs anything.

http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f6/i...rial-1343.html

There has got to be some in the states somewhere??

It's a masonry insulation material used under floors, ceilings and walls.

nice to see another international oven....