please help with my dome oven

[hmc3142]

Hi everyone, after making the round dome with firebrick and refractory mortar, do I put a layer of refractory mortar on outside, then blanket insulation, then a layer of perlite and cement then stucco or is that too much? I need to know the order things go in and how much of it to put. Like how many inches of mortar on outside, how many inch blanket and how many inches of perlite mixed with what kind of cement? Thanks so much for any info you can give me.

[fxpose]

Re: please help with my dome oven

Here ya go:

http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f8/p...load-1674.html

[hmc3142]

Re: please help with my dome oven

Thanks so much journeyman! I love that freestanding base that you made. It seems so much more practical and easier than building a cinderblock one. I am a female, so I am trying to avoid the heavy cement bags and cinderblocks if I can for the base. I can't wait to start! I have read a lot on building a wfo but I have also read a lot on building a cob one. I want something permanent so I chose the brick oven instead. Have a great holiday!

[fxpose]

Re: please help with my dome oven

Hello Serf!

Yes, I'm glad I went with the freestanding base. But that decision was solely based on the location of the oven and the reason choosing that location over the primary location I had originally planned on.
But from building block walls and pouring concrete slabs on top from other projects I've done, from a practical stand point, I can tell you that using sonotubes and building a large form on top of that gets a bit more involved than the standard slab on block walls route, although you'll save money on materials when using sonotubes.

Whatever design you decide to choose, I hope you start your build soon and good luck with it!

George

[GianniFocaccia]

Re: please help with my dome oven

hmc,

Welcome to FB site! Don't hesitate to ask for help with anything that doesn't seem clear. Good luck with your build - I'm sure it will go smoothly.

John

[hmc3142]

Re: please help with my dome oven

Hi Gianni,

I am determined to do this even though I do know that it will be a challenge! I was thinking of buying a brick chisel to cut the bricks in half because I am afraid to use a saw. It seems easy enough when watching it on You Tube. Does anyone know if I would need to soak the firebricks before I chisel them in half? If I do have to soak them do I have to wait for them to dry before mortaring them together for the dome? I think that I will be going with the styrofoam forms because I don't think that I can make that indispensible tool.Thanks for suggesting the help, I know that I will need it.

[hmc3142]

Re: please help with my dome oven

Thanks Journeyman, I am going to sketch everything out this weekend and figure out what materials and how much this weekend. I might do my base with stone since I have a lot in my yard. I have never worked with mortar or any type of masonry so this should be funny if it comes out decent! Have a wonderful weekend!

[Archena]

Re: please help with my dome oven

Bricks don't need to be wet in order to chisel them. But you'd be better off using the saw. If there's a tech school near you, you might check and see if they have any adult/continuing ed classes. Even if it's carpentry instead of masonry, they'll teach you how to correctly handle a saw and get you over your anxiety.

But if you want to do the chisel thing, avoid steriods. Your arms are going to be getting muscular enough!

[Tscarborough]

Re: please help with my dome oven

Here is how to chisel a brick in half the easy way:

Use a 4" brickset chisel. Score all four sides where you want it to break by holding the chisel perpendicular to the brick and tapping it 2 or three times. Not beating on it, just tapping enough that it makes a mark. Give each edge a light tap to free up the corner. After all four sides and edges have been scored, lay the brick with the biggest face to you on something clean, level, and dense. Hit the brickset once on the score with a medium strike. Not too hard, and it may take a couple of hits, but it will break pretty much on the line with clean edges.

Not hard at all, you just have to convince the brick that it WANTS to break right where you want it to.

[Archena]

Re: please help with my dome oven

How am I supposed to get her to use a saw when you tell her stuff like that?

[Les]

Re: please help with my dome oven

HMC and some numbers - please give us a name

If you have the means, but a cheap wet saw. They are very simple to use and masonry blades are pretty safe. It WILL save a lot of time. In regard to the tool, I built this - pretty crude but it worked for me. It's post #1 and ignore to BS - just look at the form, easy to create.

http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/8/le...d-4207-27.html

We all want you to succeed, so don't hesitate to ask more questions.

Les...

[GianniFocaccia]

Re: please help with my dome oven

HMC,

I second Les' suggestion on picking up an inexpensive (Craigslist?) wet saw. Masonry is not prohibitively difficult and as your build progresses your skills/confidence will improve to the point that you will want to make cuts that a wet saw will make easily.

[david s]

Re: please help with my dome oven

An angle grinder with a diamond blade is also remarkably effective and cheaper.

[fxpose]

Re: please help with my dome oven

An angle grinder with a diamond blade is also remarkably effective and cheaper.

+1

I purchased diamond blades for both my angle grinder and 10" miter saw.
The angle grinder was especially effective and convenient for simply carving or shaving off parts of pre-cut bricks at the dome, having the tool right there at your fingertips, instead of taking each brick back and forth, to and from the main saw area.

George

[hmc3142]

Re: please help with my dome oven

Thanks guys for all the advice, I have to decide on a base. I just wish that there was some sort of heavy duty steel table that I could use instead of blocks and concrete and so on. I could put pavers and a insulating board on top. I am trying to get away from the real heavy stuff! My oven will be small so I can probably get away with something like that, do you think? Any advice on how to set up a heavy steel table for the base. Thanks in advance.