Welcome to the new Forno Bravo Forum

[elyryder]

Re: Welcome to the new Forno Bravo Forum

James,

I'm working on the design of a steel pan to support the oven. The 63"x57" pan will be bolted to a frame made from 2x6 ipe timbers or 4x4 ipe posts. The bottom of the pan is 3/16 steel plate with 3/16x2x2 angles on the perimeter, braced below with 2x2 angles across the middle in each direction. There will be a 3/16" 2x2 wire mesh tack welded to the top of the angles to reinforce the vermiculite concrete which will fill the pan to a depth of 4". Fire bricks will be placed over the vermiculite concrete base and a 36" Pompeii oven built over that.

I would appreciate any comments from you and from anyone with an engineering background to evaluate the structure. I have drawings and an ipe span table (I couldn't figure out how to attach them to this post). I believe the completed structure will weigh between 2,000 and 2,500 pounds. The load will be about 100 psf. I understand that vermiculite concrete has a compression strength of about 100 psi.

Thanks,

Ely

[dmun]

Re: Welcome to the new Forno Bravo Forum

Didn't I just answer this question two messages up? Why wood?

[elyryder]

Re: Welcome to the new Forno Bravo Forum

I believe this is a different question. I'm only asking about the sufficiency of the pan. Please answer if you can, considering the legs and side rails being made with steel rather than ipe.

Thanks

[elyryder]

Re: Welcome to the new Forno Bravo Forum

Hi, I'm now proposing an all-steel base, 3-1/2" x 3-1/2" square legs, 40" high, sides 2" x 6" C-channel, 8.2# per foot, (approximately .25" thick), with the legs of the channels facing in, and a steel plate 63-3/4" x 57-3/8" across the bottom, welded to the bottom channel leg. My question is how thick should the steel plate be? Is 1/8" enough. Thanks for your patience.

Ely

[dmun]

Re: Welcome to the new Forno Bravo Forum

I don't know the answer to this question. I went to look at the FornoBravo metal stand:

and it doesn't have metal tray at all.
Maybe James can jump in here?

[elyryder]

Re: Welcome to the new Forno Bravo Forum

I've ordered the steel stand for my oven. It will have a top measuring 57"x63", 40" high, and have a 3-1/2" layer of vermiculite concrete and a layer of firebrick. I plan to build the Pompeii oven on top. The steel in the stand will weight close to 500#.

I'm using Redi-Footings (see Redifooting - Prefabricated plastic deck footings) to support the stand, thereby avoiding have to pour concrete footers. Next step will be using a two-man auger to excavate for the footers.

I'd like to think we can have pizza for the Fourth of July.

[dmun]

Re: Welcome to the new Forno Bravo Forum

Now who says there's nothing new in the world: follow the link above!

Is there any reason you couldn't use longer pipe and support the base directly?

[elyryder]

Re: Welcome to the new Forno Bravo Forum

I suppose you could. I'm not sure what lateral loads schedule 40 pipe could stand.

[ksm]

Re: Welcome to the new Forno Bravo Forum

This thread has been very interesting/helpful. After a year + of reading and talking, it looks like the only way we're going to get a bread/pizza oven is to go the Toscana route w/ a metal stand. I have two questions (one of which might fit better in another forum; just am new to all this, so ....)

Does anyone have actual experience cooking with the Toscana oven (probably the 35" or 39" is what we'd get).

1. The info says that they come with metal legs, but I can't find pix of what that looks like, so we were thinking about creating a metal stand on our own -- but couldn't be certain how it needed to be constructed to provide proper support. We also figured that here in New England we'd need to install sonotube footings under each leg - but the Redi Footingss above might be even better - cool!

2. How well does the Toscana hold heat? While pizzas play a role in our desire for a wood fired oven, the real interest is bread. So we're looking for something that we can heat up for pizzas, then let cool a bit, do bread, cool a bit more, do pastries, then even meats & veggies. Does the Toscana have sufficient mass + insulation to make this doable?

Thanks in advance for the comments/advice.

[elyryder]

Re: Welcome to the new Forno Bravo Forum

I too am as interested in bread as in pizza. I'm planning on the 36" Pompeii oven. It will have about twice the mass as the same size Toscana, which should help with the bread.

Part of the appeal of the Pompeii is building it myself, which may not interest you. I also expect it to cost somewhat less.

[james]

Re: Welcome to the new Forno Bravo Forum

Hey KSM,

Here is a photo of the Toscana stand with legs. The legs themselves are welded angle iron. It is very stable, and you can either face it with hardibacker and stone or stucco. That said, a majority of Toscana owners get it without the legs and set it on a masonry stand.

Cucina90 Hearth Tray and Stand :: Installation Accessories :: Forno Bravo Store

In terms of thermal performance, the Toscana is basically a well insulated Casa oven, finished with FB Blanket and FB Board. The oven holds heat very well, and the mass of the Casa series ovens is more than sufficient for backyard baking. There are quite a few threads in the FB Forum where FB precast oven owners are baking a ton of bread and are happy with the heat retention.

Good luck!
James

[ksm]

Re: Welcome to the new Forno Bravo Forum

James,

Thank you. It's good to know that the "legs" really are that rather substantial stand. I was assuming that the legs were a detachable part of the oven assembly ("The Toscana's metal legs can be detached from the hearth tray for easy shipment"), but after seeing that picture, it looks like the legs/stand are an additional cost. Is that right?

Thanks, too, for the note about the Toscana/Casa relationship. The website does make that clear and, as you say, there are many threads attesting to how pleased people are with their Casa ovens. What wasn't clear is how much thermal mass & insulation are built into the Toscana oven: how much "mass" in addition to the Casa walls (about 2" walls?) and how much insulation, since both seem to be important elements in oven performance. Your reply about the FB Blanket & Board answers the insulation question.

Our final question is about the Toscana and New England winters. We read that the external plaster is water/weather-proof. Has experience borne that out -- that we can simply put the oven on a stand (or masonry base) and won't need to otherwise weatherproof the oven?

I've left a couple of messages for Tammy and can discuss these issues with her. In the meantime, I appreciate your quick reply and patience with these questions.

[ksm]

Re: Welcome to the new Forno Bravo Forum

UPDATE! Just had a very informative, very helpful conversation with Tammy, who, as others have said on the Forum, is both delightful and knowledgeable.

All questions have been answered. What remains is the 35" or 39" decision.

BTW, she called at 10:00 EDT -- that's 7:00 West Coast time. Talk about good customer service .....!

[antonio cefalo]

Re: Welcome to the new Forno Bravo Forum

hello james,
i have been trying to upload pics of my oven progress but have been unsucessfull. i keep getting a message "Sorry, antonio cefalo: Bad File - No File or File is too Large or of the Wrong MIME Type "\

is there a way where i can make my photo files smaller? i am just uploading the pics from my digital camera?

also, where is the best place to upload pics, the area under upload pics was only letting me upload one pic at a time.

thanks for your help, looking forward to showing my progress!

[dmun]

Re: Welcome to the new Forno Bravo Forum

If you are on a windows computer, download the free, small utility irfanview. You can easily crop, resize, change the orientation of pictures.
IrfanView - Official Homepage - one of the most popular viewers worldwide