The Morgan's WFO build

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

Re: The Morgan's WFO build

Hi Morgans,
No, sorry havent have the time yet between work and life etc,,, Will make sure I get to the first round of it this weekend,, I will start a thread and post some pics..

Mark

[vintagemx0]

Re: The Morgan's WFO build

Thanks guys! It's been fun so far, but we are having to learn as we go.

Mark- Have you experimented with polishing concrete yet? Would love to hear your views, opinions, tips...

The Morgans

[Mitchamus]

Re: The Morgan's WFO build

great work! I love the design so far...

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

Re: The Morgan's WFO build

We have to hand it to many, many of the builders on this forum. This is not an easy, casual build. Our hats are off to you guys!

Good Morning Morgan's

You guys did a great Job...... Your dome looks exceptional, I'm sure you have met or exceeded many of our standards and yours....

Good Luck and keep going, I like to think of closing the dome as a milestone in the build, You are very CLOSE now,,,,

Mark

[kebwi]

Re: The Morgan's WFO build

I'm so jealous. My shovel only just hit the dirt for this project today.

By the way, I am very inspired by your seemingly obvious and simple overhanging counter. I would like to do something similar such that the upper-most pour of the hearth (the one containing the oven floor) hangs past the insulating and structural layers below.

[vintagemx0]

Re: The Morgan's WFO build

It almost did droop there Dino. I tried to correct the tendancy, and it did get a little wierd, but it kept pretty straight. Definately not as nice and neat as others I've seen here, but I'm satisfied that it is strong.

We managed to get the dome closed on Saturday. Here's an exterior shot...



You can see from some of the jagged-ness that we had some issues, but it all seems OK. Here's an interior shot...



It was a little difficult packing mortar into all the little voids inside. 'Wouldn't want to do that again anytime soon.

Sunday we built the chimney arch and flue passage-way...



Here's a shot of the flue passage-way...



We have to hand it to many, many of the builders on this forum. This is not an easy, casual build. Our hats are off to you guys!

So, next will be adding a chimney and putting some RefMix on the dome's exterior. Then we'll turn toward insulation and curing fires!

Ciao e presto,

The Morgans

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: The Morgan's WFO build

Hey there Morgans! Looking good. It's nice when the whole family is involved, even if it's just getting inside for the great pics .
You did a great job going across the arch. No dip at all that I can see. You guys will be making pizza in no time. Keep up the good work. -Dino

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

Re: The Morgan's WFO build

Beautiful Daughter,,, I think even though I am enjoying the cooking I will start the adjoining fire pit soon.... Nothing like cement on your hands,,, I just have to make sure I dont cement the whole back yard !!!!!

Hope your cement comes in

Mark

[vintagemx0]

Re: The Morgan's WFO build

Thanks for the kind words thisoldgarage. I can understand, it always seems like there is a little post-partum depression after a long project. I think for us (and it sounds the same for you), that learning how to bake will be a long, enjoyable project in itself.

We did it to ourselves again...we ran out of mortar. Oh well, all we can do now is wait. I hope we'll receive a delivery tomorrow so we can close the dome!

Last weekend we added more courses to the dome. It's to the point now that we'll need to devise a support system for the remainding rows.

Here's a few pics..

HEY! Where's my beer? !!



As you can see, we're trying to do "large things" in a small place...



Olivia is already in love with the oven. She keeps asking "When can we have pizza?" Look how large she makes our little 36" oven look...



The build process is great fun, but we are also looking forward to using this oven. Next spring we'll work on other parts of the patio and install irrigation and do some plantings. We really hoped to be a little farther along by now, but we both have busy jobs and families...(not so much to complain about for sure!) But, it really does pay on this sort of thing to go slow enough to have a plan for each phase. Without this forum and it's members, we'd be lost!

Regards,

The Morgan's

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

Re: The Morgan's WFO build

Looking Great,,, Nice work,, I miss building my oven, but cooking has been some constant fun

[vintagemx0]

Re: The Morgan's WFO build

Dino, thanks for the kind words. We're finding that we're really "winging-it", and having reference to all the great builds on this forum is what's letting us proceed.

Mark - That chicken looks sooo good!

We spent the weekend building-up the dome. It's a little sloppy where the rings meet the arch, but it will be strong and will work-out with some fanciful cuts.









So, we'll try to keep plugging on it as time permits on the week nights, but will definately get much further ahead by the end of next weekend.

Dixie and Ken

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

Re: The Morgan's WFO build

Great Job Dixie & Ken,

After its done you will be consumed with cooking in it, Sunday Night I roasted a beer can chicken in a pot with potato's around it, and cooked a few loaves of bread while it was in there. Great dinner with no mess or heat in the house

Mark

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: The Morgan's WFO build

Ken, that looks great for eyeballing! Also, those soldiers do take up a lot of Refixm, it scared me too but it went farther with the brick rings.

I see you're doing the "wedge-and-fill" method for mortaring. Looks good. And if the rest of your build looks as good as your floor, your oven will be a work of art. Good job, Dino

[vintagemx0]

Re: The Morgan's WFO build

This weekend we began on the dome. Friday night, I decided I did not like the hearth we had layed-out. I thought it was too uneven and had some pretty large gaps. So, we tore it out and re-screeded and reset on Saturday morning. Shortly afterward, we put in the soldier coarse and one 1/2 brick coarse.



That ugly mug is me The re-installation of the hearth was a major improvement. There were still a few edges that were high and I wanted to fix them. I read on here where some people sand them down, and just the other night I read a comment where some asked "Can you imagine rubbing bricks together to obtain a good fit?" - referring to an old-world way that craftsmen would work. I chose a brick with a chipped corner, and layed it on the hearth and began rubbing (grinding) the hearth by hand. It actually works very well! I found if the bricks are moist and the dust (mud) cleaned-off from time to time, it actually goes pretty fast. I spent about 10 minutes doing this and will probably do about another 10 minutes before the door arch goes up. The hearth is really smooth and slick!

We put in the beginnings of the door opening arch buttress and packed all the gaps with mortar after the whole thing set-up. We used 20 kg of RefMix up to this point, leaving us with only 10 more kg, so we are going to need to get some more before next weekend.

The first coarse of 1/2 bricks were "eyeballed" - all subsequent courses will be set using a pivot arm and incline indicator.



Living the dream! We're stoked to be to this point.

Dixie and Ken

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

Re: The Morgan's WFO build

hi dixie & ken

I used whatever heat stop was left over after i was done laying bricks for the day and applied it to the dome. I would say I have about a 1/2 inch layer at the most over the whole dome, after i applied it to the dome i would smooth it out with a wet tile sponge.

i bought a cement polishing kit from an importer on ebay because the price was good and never received it. I finally got my money back from paypal.

I just bought the other day a pack of 4" grinder discs from harbor freight for polishing concrete (they claim) I am planning on doing it soon. it was cheap (12.95) so I figured it wouldnt hurt to try it. I will let you know how it goes.....

ebay has tons of nice polishing stuff, just stay away from the importers,,,,,

good luck,,
Mark