36" Tall Man's Oven Build

[pizza_bob]

Re: 36" Tall Man's Oven Build

The thing I keep worrying about is: Will I be able to fit my upper body in my 18" wide by 11" high entry arch to do all my mortar patching inside? I will post more pics as I make progress.

Darius,
I'm 6' 6" tall and have the same concern about cleaning-up the dome!
My wife is 5'2" tall and she just might have to be the one to clean that dome. The nice part is that I only have the inner arch constructed which should make it easier for my long arm to get to that dome peak. My oven is 42" diameter so the door is 20" x 12.5".
I'm jealous that you are closing that dome! I'm moving so slowly here and winter is approaching in Connecticut...

Good luck with the your oven!

~Bob

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

Re: 36" Tall Man's Oven Build

One peice of advice would be to take those forms out and climb in there now and patch as much as you can to take advantage of the opening at the top of the dome

Good Advice !!!

Mark

[vintagemx0]

Re: 36" Tall Man's Oven Build

You're going to have a mile-wide grin on your face when you put that keystone in the top and it's officially closed-up.

That's about the same size door opening that we have . It's not easy - you have to stick one arm in first then maneauvor the other in. It's really awkward in there and your arms will get tired fast because they'll have a very limited range of motion. I hated that chore.

One peice of advice would be to take those forms out and climb in there now and patch as much as you can to take advantage of the opening at the top of the dome letting in good light. Lighting is an issue in there when it's closed and it's hard to manage a flashlight with your body in there. If all is done except the last few rows, it won't be as bad.

I love your determination, keep going man!

Ken

[KINGRIUS]

Re: 36" Tall Man's Oven Build

Well I had a frustrating day yesterday! Laying bricks when it's 45 degrees f. was different from laying them when it's 75-80. I kind of got in a hurry because I could see the finish line(about 4 chains up) and started throwing bricks up and they wouldn't stay up. Up to a few days ago I was getting pretty confident in my brick sticking abilities so I removed my forms and tried to do without. I set 2 chains without them but yesterday I wasn't going to get any higher without some new forms. (I didn't care for my old ones) So I had a few hours to work on the project today and I devoted them to making forms that would work well.

I am satisfied with my new forms and I should be able to close this thing up in a few days to a week. The thing I keep worrying about is: Will I be able to fit my upper body in my 18" wide by 11" high entry arch to do all my mortar patching inside? I will post more pics as I make progress.

Darius

[KINGRIUS]

Re: 36" Tall Man's Oven Build

hey king,
where your brick meets your arch looks just like i did it,, Nice work...

That was after several sleepless nights cutting bricks in my sleep trying to figure out a mathmatical way to aproach it- Never figured it out. Just fit it and cut it as I go. Thanks for the compliments!

Darius

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

Re: 36" Tall Man's Oven Build

hey king,
where your brick meets your arch looks just like i did it,, Nice work... I filled in with the heat stop there and though I havent put my head in the oven in a while, I havent had any fall into my pizzas....

P.S. I actually burned out whatever part of the form I couldnt pull or knock out....

Keep up the nice work...
Mark

[KINGRIUS]

Re: 36" Tall Man's Oven Build

Cool. No rules, just right... I will post some pics, but I haven't progressed much since my last posted pics in the dark. I guess I'm a couple chains higher. At least these were taken in the daytime.

Mark I am going to copy your forms by cutting out the inside of the fans leaving just a few inches on the borders. If I set just a couple more bricks I won't be able to get them out of there! Thanks for posting the pics of your build to give me some good ideas!

I have a good 1/2 day to work on the oven tomorrow. Will post progress pics Sunday.

Darius

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

Re: 36" Tall Man's Oven Build

I've been pretty generous with the mortar, filling up voids here and there. I hope there's no law against the use of lots of mortar. I have an endless supply of ingredients.

Hey Darius,, There's no law in my backyard against it,, In some spots it was the mortar helping to even things out How bout some more pics ???

[KINGRIUS]

Re: 36" Tall Man's Oven Build

Thanks for the advice and the pics of your cool build Mark. When I said I think I've got a handle on it, I meant that's what I've been doing- just getting in there and making it work. I went and built my arch first. I guess it really doesn't make much difference.

I've been pretty generous with the mortar, filling up voids here and there. I hope there's no law against the use of lots of mortar. I have an endless supply of ingredients.

Darius

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

Re: 36" Tall Man's Oven Build

.(wet backside and elbows)

This made me laugh, as I suffered from this part as well...

I have lost some productivity time figuring out the transition from dome to entry arch. it's been an annoying brain-splitting exercise.

This part was difficult for me as well, When I got to a point, I built my arch, Then cut each layer to fit into the arch,, The point is to not think about it too much and get in there and make it work

I hope the pictures help some,, Good luck,

Mark

[KINGRIUS]

Re: 36" Tall Man's Oven Build

Thanks for the sympathy guys, thats mainly what I was after. The canopy has been a build-saver. My only regret is that I hastily threw up the corner stakes without much care in making sure they were the dimensions of the tarp. As a result, I don't have a whole lot of room to spare when I'm under it and it's raining.(wet backside and elbows) One of those things I'd rather not loose valuable build time fiddling with. It's rained so much that our front and side doors to the house have swollen shut. We have to body them open to get in and out.

I have lost some productivity time figuring out the transition from dome to entry arch. it's been an annoying brain-splitting exercise. I spent a while looking through the photo gallery in the dome and vent/arch sections trying to steal some ideas of how you guys have done this. One of the only closeups I found were pics that pizzabob posted of his great cuts tying into the back of his entry arch. Since my dome seems to be considerably lower than the oven he built, I couldn't steal his cuts. But I think I've got a handle on it finally. Just in time to not be able to work on it for a few days because I have to do some secular work. I plan on working on it tomorrow afternoon though.

Thanks again for the advice on my hairline cracks and of course, the sympathy!

-Darius

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

Re: 36" Tall Man's Oven Build

When I built my oven in the early spring it rained most every weekend, If it wasnt for my "custom made plastic sheeting pergola" I would have never gotten done... 8-10 ft 2 x 4 and of course a giant sheet of plastic, My only mistake was using clear plastic, when the sun was shining it was like a greenhouse under there,, Next time i will use a tarp.. Of course I also had a few of those clamp on lights to work late into the night as well....

Mark

[vintagemx0]

Re: 36" Tall Man's Oven Build

Holy Smoke! We've felt pressured to get ours done before the rains come, and you're blasting on yours in rains of biblical proportions! Keep up the good work!

Morgans

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

Re: 36" Tall Man's Oven Build

hail king, Definition of a crack is something you can see from more than 10 feet away.... If theres no smoke or fire coming out, you'll be fine,,,

Mark

[KINGRIUS]

Re: 36" Tall Man's Oven Build

Thanks Neil2. Now I can sleep. I took some pics of our French Broad River this morning showing the flooding conditions. I sent out a dove and it returned with an olive leaf. LAND! The rains finally quit today after about a week straight of torrential down pour. Hopefully I'll have some better weather this week to continue the oven.

Darius