Another Aussie Oven

[Rodneyf]

Re: Another Aussie Oven

My bricks came from the front fence of a 92 yr old house and are solid reds. I had to clean the mortar off them first and then I used an angle grinder 230cm and a small 115cm to do the finer work with a daimond disk. It was dusty work but worth the work for sure. You might be interested to know that it took me 8 months and 19 days, with about 400 hrs build time and at least 400 stubbies to complete the oven. If you are using FF mortar you will be OK it has performed very well for me and if you follow their curing method you will be cooking in no time with no cracks. Ask Leigh for the curing sheet they supply and stick to it.

[Alter ego]

Re: Another Aussie Oven

I didn't get an opportunity to start building my dome this weekend as my bricks & insulating bricks did not turn up on Friday afternoon but you can't complain when you are getting a cheap delivery. I also bough a new brick saw off EBay and I'm still waiting for that to arrive.

I did manage to strip the formwork and to my great relief the slab did not fall down. This isn't really that surprising as I'm sure that there is far more steel in the slab than really necessary. However unless a project is over engineered it is only half done.

I'm jealous of those people who had a full weekend of building as I had to spend part of the weekend shopping!

Paul

[Alter ego]

Re: Another Aussie Oven

The bricks and saw turned up during the week and today, I got a full day of pizza oven building. Even better was that I got to use heaps of my power tools including, the brand new brick saw, grinder, battery drill, jig saw, welder and electric drill. What better way to spend a Sunday?

The insulating bricks are down and the floor bricks are all cut and bedded into position. My "indespensible tool" has been manufactured and I also managed to cut all the soldier bricks ready to slap some mortar about.

In one of my previous posts I refered to my daughter as the "Brickie's Apprentice" she took exception to this and now whishes to be known as the Brickie's supervisor.

Here she is in action checking that the insulation bricks go down straight & level!



Paul

[Eric Pfeifer]

Re: Another Aussie Oven

Nice! I am waiting for my new saw to arrive--can't wait, really. I like the way the beers are arranged like soldiers, too. Looks like a great climate for outdoor pizza and suds!

Cheers,
Eric

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

Re: Another Aussie Oven

What better way to spend a Sunday?

the only better way is cooking pizza's and you are getting much closer.. Nice work,, NOTHING LIKE A TON OF POWER TOOLS TO PLAY WITH
Cheers
Mark

[jmhepworth]

Re: Another Aussie Oven

My wife dropped me off at Home Depot to pick up a couple of things while she ran down the street to Walmart. I called her to tell her I was ready to check out and she still wasn't ready to pick me up. I told her I would spend the time looking at power tools and if I bought one it wasn't my fault.

[KINGRIUS]

Re: Another Aussie Oven

Looking great Paul! I know it's a great feeling to finally get started on that dome.

Have fun!

Darius

[Alter ego]

Re: Another Aussie Oven

Joe,

My wife bought ANOTHER pair of shoes during the week and I just had to sit there and not say anything as I had just spent $880 on a brick saw!

Paul

[paulyboy]

Re: Another Aussie Oven

well you can never have too many shoes.....

[Rodneyf]

Re: Another Aussie Oven

Looking good Paul! Make sure you keep it well covered and those insulation bricks dry, they hold lots of water if you let them and it will take a long time time to dry during curing. I know mine were too wet because the under side of my hearth slab hit 70C during curing. Since they have dried there is no heat coming through and they work a treat.

[Alter ego]

Re: Another Aussie Oven

Another good weekend of pizza oven building. The inner arch was bricked up and even better, when I removed the formwork after 12hrs it stayed up! The bricks are going up rather quickly at this stage and the only delay is cutting the fiddly bit where the dome intersects the arch.

The emply beer bottle on the fence have come in handy! Fill them up with water and they are usefull to sprinkle water on the existing brickwork to keep it damp before laying the next course. This stops the moisture being sucked out of the mortar too quickly and allows it to remain workable until the brick is in place. I have had odd comments from the neighbours asking why I spend so much time blessing the pizza oven with beer!

[Rodneyf]

Re: Another Aussie Oven

It is all looking good so far mate, it won't be long before your cooking pizzas and roasting lamb. Did you get your insulation fron Leigh as well?

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

Re: Another Aussie Oven

nice brick work alter ego....
Your arch looks great

Cheers
Mark....
And why wouldnt you bless the oven with beer ???

[jmhepworth]

Re: Another Aussie Oven

Looks great.

[Alter ego]

Re: Another Aussie Oven

Thanks for the kind comments everyone. It is really satisfying after a days building to stand back and look at what you have done.

Rodney, the insulation that I will be using was a freebie! The company that I work for recently did the electrical on a new gas fired power station and I scavanged offcuts of the insulation that is used areound the exhaust of the turbine. In the pic below you can see the insulation around the turbine and the skip from where I rescued the off cuts.