New 36" Pompeii at Bundaberg

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: New 36" Pompeii at Bundaberg

Nice job, three months start to finish!!! I going on two years and not done yet.

[Bacterium]

Re: New 36" Pompeii at Bundaberg

Steve...
..ditto.....nice build and fast work (by some of our standards)

[Greenman]

Re: New 36" Pompeii at Bundaberg

Thanks fellas. I have the advantage of time to devote to my projects now and feel the pain of those who are time poor trying to get to their ovens etc.
After finishing the forno I was amazed when I found myself looking at the whole job and thinking what I would change or do different next time! Must be true that we all need to build 2.

The journey is important but it can be made much easier with the right travelling companions.

Cheers ............. Steve

[Cookie Monster]

Re: New 36" Pompeii at Bundaberg

This could be a new record. Well done Steve.

Very professional looking finish. You should be proud!!

Make sure you post up some pictures of some of your meals cooked.

[reccymech]

Re: New 36" Pompeii at Bundaberg

Gotta add my voice to all the others Greenman and say what an excellent job - well done. Additionaly, I enjoyed the thread - only just came by it.

As usual with this site an inspirational thread.

[Greenman]

Re: New 36" Pompeii at Bundaberg

After cooking casserole, chicken, lamb, vegetables and fish I finally got around to having a crack at pizza. I think I am a fair cook but have had nothing to do with dough or anything more breadlike than pastry. Had I not been alone I would have been accompanied by peals of laughter no doubt. Bloody stuff was worse than graphite grease to handle.

Anyway, persistence has its rewards and I managed to produce 2 pizzas, 1 herb and garlic bread and the fourth piece of dough was wrapped around the leftover bits from the pizzas and baked and that is OK as well. All in all I am pleased with the first effort, pizza was world class (biased opinion) and the rest is fine to eat.

Plenty of room for refinement, particularly in the dough handling department but with some more reading, practice and trial and no doubt error this baking thing will become a pleasure I am sure. At least I know I can produce something worthy of serving up to a guest. I can now issue the invitations!

Now when people ask me about the 'pizza oven' I can say that I have made them but it is excellent for most everything else as well.

[cobblerdave]

Re: New 36" Pompeii at Bundaberg

Gudday Steve
One of these days I'm going to crack it and produce a round pizza ...till then they taste better than store bought!
Regards dave

[Greenman]

Re: New 36" Pompeii at Bundaberg

I reckon that round pizzas are highly over rated. Some manner of polygon with a random number of sides plus a couple of curved bits works fine and probably provides more crust area for crust affectionados.

[Bacterium]

Re: New 36" Pompeii at Bundaberg

Steve nice work........ a solo run is good for getting your head around it.
Once you start experimenting with things like topping and dough amounts (crust thickness) you will find your ideal ..... "Pizza nirvana"

I like when the crust can bend back on itself without snapping yet base and toppings are cooked through.

[Greenman]

Re: New 36" Pompeii at Bundaberg

Thanks Dave, WD & Bacterium - Every bit of information helps towards a better result. I will leave some crust space next time. I was pretty happy with the crust, firm without being brittle. Quite pleased with the whole thing really and reckon it measured up favourably with the commercial products.

Onwards and upwards.

[Bacterium]

Re: New 36" Pompeii at Bundaberg

true its always way better than anything store bought that's mass produced (rather eat the box).

[Greenman]

Re: New 36" Pompeii at Bundaberg

Just to share. Today there was an extended segment on ABC Landline about Farina. A town in South Australia that is largely a ruin but is being restored by volunteers. Those of you who followed Brickie's recent travels would have seen the pics and account provided by Al. I found it quite interesting.

A particular point of interest is the old WFO that is in the bakery which has been put back into use by these volunteers while they are there. The segment will be of interest to those interested in WFO's and given that most of the buildings in the town were built of stone, those interested in masonery.

The link will take you there. You are looking for the Landline episode of 14/07/2013. You might have to FF through some of the other stuff (unless you are interested in Australian rural affairs).

ABC iview

[brickie in oz]

Re: New 36" Pompeii at Bundaberg

Thanks for the link, the story starts at 35:30

I met these guys at the caravan show in melbourne (2013), when I told them I was a bricklayer they encouraged me to go there in 2014 which I am still thinking of doing.

In the clip it shows a restorative stone mason helping out, when I was at Farina I thought that they really needed some help as the stone restoration is very amateurish.
I know they need to work quickly as they only spend 2 weeks per year at the site but they are using cement based mortar which will further degrade the unrestored stonework.
Maybe Im wrong here with using cement based mortar for stonework restoration ?

The sand they use for the mortar is literally just scrapped of the ground.

[Greenman]

Re: New 36" Pompeii at Bundaberg

Split some wood today that I collected after the floods. It was nearly purple when it was wet and has now semi-dried to mauve/blue. I think it might be mangrove. Anyone had any experience of it? It is a semi-hardwood, should burn ok when it dries properly.

[Greenman]

Re: New 36" Pompeii at Bundaberg

Can anyone provide advice? After some months of camping under canvas the time has come for the forno to go undercover. I am about to put a roof over the igloo to keep the weather well at bay.

I am seeking advice about sealing the flue where it goes through colourbond steel sheet roofing (trimdek). The flue is single wall stainless and since it is just the roof sheeting that it has to go through there are no issues about combustible material being in the area. I looked around and found Dektite but they are only rated to 250 C and I expect that it gets a lot hotter than that.

Can anyone provide any guidance about how to do this?