Michigan WFO

[james]

Re: Michigan WFO

Mike,

That sounds right. Keep it steady -- you are driving pounds and pounds of water out of your oven, so you just get to be patient. I was curing a Primavera oven a while back, and the enclosure got a little hotter than I had expected, and then a couple of fires later the oven was hot and doing great, and the enclosure was completely cool. It was just the water coming out of the oven.

Keep it going!
James

[mfiore]

Re: Michigan WFO

That's great to hear. Toward the end of the last cure, I noticed some steam coming from the top of the blanket. The surface of the blanket seemed a little damp. I don't know if steam had come from the brick itself, or if the blanket adsorbed some moisture from the air. Even though I've kept the thing double covered with thick tarp when not in use, it's very damp lately.

With this steam, I will probably do a few more curing fires at this temp before building any larger.

[dbhansen]

Re: Michigan WFO

They look just like mine too! Cover them back up (out of sight, out of mind) and they'll never bother you again.

[Les]

Re: Michigan WFO

Mike - it looks like you are golden, good job. Everyone has cracks and I believe your's are quite the norm. I want to believe that, because your cracks look like mine

Les...

[mfiore]

Re: Michigan WFO

5th curing fire today. Small pieces of scrap lumber, cardboard, etc. Held the temp about 450-500 degrees F for several hours before darkness ended my day.



I pulled back the blanket to inspect the dome. For the first time, the bricks are getting hot to touch.

I have several thin cracks running up the dome. I hope this what others have described (here's where a little reassurance would come handy)

Some are quite long, but none seem to leak any smoke out yet.

Here is one up the side.



This one up the back seems to be the biggest. The photo does not show it's entire length, but demonstrates how wide it is.



So far the arch is OK.

These cracks make me question if it is OK to cure an oven in this cold weather. Could the temperature extremes be too much fluctuation?

[mfiore]

Re: Michigan WFO

Peter, I have no clue how to bake or cook in a WFO yet! The learning curve is going to be steep!

Well, mother nature beat me out. It's been in the high 20's for the past several days, with some snow. I have to dodge the snow clouds to get any curing in.

[peter]

Re: Michigan WFO

Hi, another Michigan wood burner. I have been learning to cook in my oven. Never one to learn by reading, I have ruined a few loaves of bread; the dog likes them though. I was very lucky in my test fires, not a crack anywhere. I have had some interior temps of over 900 degrees. I am beggining to see that to get a good pizza fire you need a good size bundle of wood. I have a dead elm that is going to kindling probably tomorrow. I have been actively trying to cook for about three weeks now. Let me know if you have any revelations. I learned that had I watched a few videos before cooking, I would pull all the wood out before trying to make bread...leave it in banked in the back for pizza.

[staestc]

Re: Michigan WFO

Oh man Mike, this has just got to be exciting!

Travis

[mfiore]

Re: Michigan WFO

Well, I haven't been able to get in any day long, slow cures like I had hoped. Work has limited me to a few fires, 2-3 hours in the evenings (when not raining). So far, I've progressed to my 4th fire. Reaching temps 300-400 degrees F. I now officially have a Wood Fired Oven (rather than a paper fired oven)!

It's a little easier to maintain constant temps with some wood, rather than paper and cardboard.

I loosely put on one layer of FB Blanket. Nothing thick or permanent yet, so I'll still be able to assess for damage. The inside is completely black, so I really can't tell. When sweeping out some ashes, I did find one tiny little sliver of brick. I'm a little worried about that. It may have been an uneven edge on the floor that got knocked with the rake. I hope It's not from the dome.

The blanket is a little odd. I only opened one, but it has big, blue, ink-like stains or blotches over it, like something spilled on it. Sorry, no photos (camera issues). I'm sure it's functionality is just fine. It's just a little weird.

[Frances]

Re: Michigan WFO

Yay, curing fires!

As long as you don't go too hot too fast I think the exact temperature isn't all that important - as you've noticed its not the same everywhere in the oven anyway. I didn't have a thermometer at the time, so I followed the one bit of wood, two bits of wood method, which also worked out fine.

Keep posting pictures, there's nothing quite like first firing pictures.

[christo]

Re: Michigan WFO

Looking really good Mike!

Low and slow on the curing fires and you'll be fine. Duration of resisdual heat is important, too- with the thermocouple you'll be able to monitor that easily.

To me - and others may contridict - I think you are now ok unless you go over boiling point with your fire too quickly - I think it's the steam and pressure generated by it that is the big player with developing cracks.

Good luck and take your time - Dave has a really good mushroom recipie to tide you over until you can do pizzas!

Christo

P.S. I grew up in Michigan - near Grand Rapids

[mfiore]

Re: Michigan WFO

I started the first small curing fire on Friday. Very small, just paper (ok, a little cardboard too). Went for 2-3 hours, on and off. I really didn't generate much heat. Not sure exactly where to measure the temps. The IR gun measured only 120-150 degrees F max at top of dome. The air temp inside would shoot up to 300 plus degrees when I lit the paper on fire, but the paper doesn't stay lit for too long, and it would immediately drop down. I have a thermocouple embedded in the floor brick. Measured 140 degrees F when I was done.


Now it's cold and rainy for the next few days. Hope it doesn't snow.

[Derocherconstruction]

Re: Michigan WFO

Hi Mike, With these summer temps I bet things are curing real well, especially if the oven gets a lot of sunshine. With the light going for quite a while I bet you are good to go. When I was curing mine we had a lot of cool, damp weather, but I also did the light for about 2 weeks, keeps things surprisingly warm after a while. The slow cure with little fires is the way to go. We had several small fires, maybe lasting a few hours, with a thermocouple wire inside, monitoring the temps. With small branches it was easy to keep the temps low, just a twig at a time at first. On the third curing fire we snuck in some nacho chips and cheese on a piece of foil just for a trial first snack, they where great. You will get a pizza this season yet I'm guessing. Once I started curing I did it pretty much every day for about ten days before the "Big One". Amazing site when after all that work the dome finally goes white. Good Luck, Jim

[staestc]

Re: Michigan WFO

Given that you used Heatstop for the flue, I would think you are good to go with the initial curing fires. If I do a tapered flue like you, Les, and Dmun did, which I most likely will, then I need to find the longer flue bits for at least the tapered portion.

You oven is just looking great by the way. Rebuilding that arch was the right thing to do

Time to go cut blocks again!

Travis

[mfiore]

Re: Michigan WFO

Travis, I used HeatStop 50 to join the two. It's funny how things are so different regionally. I've only been able to find 24 inches, none shorter. I thought of getting a 12 inch section just to extend on top if needed. If that's the case, I'll have to bisect a 24 inch piece.