Ferro Cement Pizza Oven

[cvdukes]

Re: Ferro Cement Pizza Oven

well, amazingly, everything on the boat is legal in this state ...plus one of those boat toters is the assistat DA here in the county, so I think I'm covered against the blue light special.

X Jim... same basic theory except we have a multistrand telephone cable that connects to our launch panel which we take out in a peddle boat with us. Our cable is only 30 feet long and the two boats end up drifting a lot closer no matter how well we put out anchors. We've talked about installing a blast shield to protect us but just haven't got that far yet. Last year we had a couple mortars misfire that got just a little too close, plus a little excitment with flaming debris in the back of the peddle boat. We've done this past 5 years and it gets bigger every year, a real neighborhood event... last year, I made new elctronic fuses so our sucess firing was up much higher than when we bought the fuses. the show last about 30 minutes and we pass the hat to defray the costs.

[gmhash]

Re: Ferro Cement Pizza Oven

Craig,

You inspired me...after toying with different materials and methods (long ago determined I did not want to do a brick oven for this one), I stumbled upon this thread. And, last weekend, we "poured" the ferro cement for a 42" diameter dome (20" at highest point). It's been curing for 7 days now, under a substantial layer of damp drop clothes (in SF Bay Area where it's still in the 80's and very dry).

Next weekend, it's insulating blankets and vermicrete installation, and then hopefully a mortar or stucco layer before the rains come.

A couple of questions for you in light of your experience...

1) Any suggestions on how long to wait before I start firing the oven?

2) Any suggestions on how to fire it once I start (should I follow the same schedule as the brick ovens building it up over a week or so)?

3) In terms of a dome liner - I'm still playing with that. Do you think the ferro cement needs a protective liner?

Thanks for your help!

-Geoff

[cvdukes]

Re: Ferro Cement Pizza Oven

...

1) Any suggestions on how long to wait before I start firing the oven?

2) Any suggestions on how to fire it once I start (should I follow the same schedule as the brick ovens building it up over a week or so)?

3) In terms of a dome liner - I'm still playing with that. Do you think the ferro cement needs a protective liner?

Thanks for your help!

-Geoff

Geoff,

How long to wait: The longer that concrete can cure, the stronger it is. Nearly maximum strength is achieved by day 28... anything beyond that is not measurable.
My dome cured for ~9 months ...just because it was a project that got sat aside while I worked on other things.


How to fire it the first times: I kinda followed the brick oven suggestions, but have to admit that I pushed it on a lot faster schedule. Doesn't seem to affected my dome.

To line or not to line: That is the question! Honestly, I don't know if its really needed. Instinctively, I figure it can't hurt and may protect the ferrocement longer. My lining is 4 parts sharp sand, 1 part fireclay, 1 part powdered kaolin clay (high alumina content) & 1 part type N portland. My real concern was that the lining would delaminate, but haven't seen any evidence of it.

You see my other ferrocement project on here?
http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f36/...ject-3464.html

[Groves]

Re: Ferro Cement Pizza Oven

pics? Did you pour it upside down or no? Did you pour it "in place" as they say, or somewhere else to be moved later on site?

[gmhash]

Re: Ferro Cement Pizza Oven

Wow CV. Very impressive. I envision some incredible partys at your place. If you're ever out her (Nor. Calif.), let me know...we too do some pig roasts, though only manage to do one or two a year. Still cleaning up from this years - a couple of weeks ago. First year we did it in a Caja China. This year we did it on a rotisserie.

I'm tempted to copy your chiminea idea too. We have a fireplace next to the WFO currently, but it's the "leaning tower of Oaktown."

I will start a separate thread and post pics of my ferro cement adventures tomorrow. In short though, I poured mine in place, right side up. My opening is 20" wide. I'm not huge, but I'm not small either. All I can say is thank god for help from little brothers (literally and figuratively). My youngest brother has been helping and his shoulders were just narrow enough to get inside the opening to finish off the inside. Lucky me (to have him and to have avoided that part). I think I'll have to bring him back next weekend to do the liner though!

More tomorrow on a new thread "Ferro Cement Pizza Oven - Secondo".

-g

[cvdukes]

Re: Ferro Cement Pizza Oven

Geoff,
Looking forward to your posts on the progress. I think mine's been successful and just hope its not a fluke. If yours turns out okay, I think that we'll have a third ferro-cement pizza started in the spring. Our last party, we had an Italian lady here that really wants one in her backyard. Her husbands's not willing to go the price of brick or a pre-fab, so it'll be concrete if he decides to build her one. Since mine's been so experimental, he's not quite ready to take the plunge.
Actually, I haven't done a pig yet. In fact, I haven't used the big cold smoker oven for anything other than as a place to put flaming logs into if I have too many in the pizza oven when its time to cook... between the oyster roaster and the pizza oven, I've pretty much have satisfied all the cooking needs so far and have not expanded out to the full cooking capacity. Its oyster season again, so there'll be a couple of roasts soon. After that, I really do plan to do at least half a pig.
Thanks for the invite to Calif, but I rarely get out that way...I was in San Fran in July, but doubt that I'll have a return trip any time soon.