Spring has Sprung....

[Ed_]

Re: Spring has Sprung....

Like everyone else, I'm keen to see how this continues. It looks really nice!

Do you have any pictures to show how you tied the angled walls together? That looks like a tricky bit of masonry (at least to an amateur) and I'm curious how you did it.

[rafv]

Re: Spring has Sprung....

Thanks for all your kind remarks but I feel a bit of a fraud. I served a five year bricklaying apprenticeship way back when they paid you in LSD in this country. Apart from six years in the Royal Artillery (knocking things down) the construction industry in one form or another has kept me in beer tokens all my working life. It is all of you that buid your ovens without any building experience that I admire. Well done.
Ed I do not have any pictures of how I tied the walls in but if I get time tomorrow I will cut a few bricks and lay them out dry to give you an idea.
I will be building around the dome with bricks, not sure how yet because of all the angles. I do not have a plan I have just made it up as I go along so far. I have had to work to plans all my life so it is nice just to do what I want when I want. (Thats right the wife does not read these) Yet!!!
Hope to pot a few photos tomorrow. Thanks again, I do appreciate all you have said.

[Frances]

Re: Spring has Sprung....

Hey, look on the bright side... at least all that bricklaying experience shows!

No way does a person with tons of experience equal fraud. Keep posting the pictures, I can't wait to see what you'll do with the rest of the build!

[rafv]

Re: Spring has Sprung....

Talking of plans, I had great plans for Friday but a thunderstorm in the middle of the afternoon put paid to them. In my rush to cover up and get the electric tools away I forgot about my camera. It is a bit wet and bruised so no photos today. I think the memory card should be OK.
It is holiday weekend again and beer festivals at Lincoln and Newark, both less than 30mins away on the train. I will catch up with you all after I have helped to put away some of that beer. There I go making plans again.

[Ed_]

Re: Spring has Sprung....

There I go making plans again.

Ah... but they're plans that involve beer, so how bad can it turn out?

[rafv]

Re: Spring has Sprung....

Beer festival at Lincoln was great, not alot in the way of food though, a mobile oven would go real well at these festivals. Anyone out there in the UK got one?
My camera seems ok after its soaking, and here are a few photos I took last week. I was going to take more but after the rain on Friday everything is still covered up. It rained most of today so I had to stay inside fitting wardrobes. A job I started in March.
I am using stove rope as an expansion joint everywhere I can. The small bricks under the landing/hearth and the ones I will be using at the entrance came fron a fireplace I replaced last year. The granite tile is from some I got for another job, I had to get some more today. They cut and shaped quite well so I will be using them at the sides of the oven.
Once the rain stops I will take some more pics but it is summer now in England so who can tell when that will be

[rafv]

Re: Spring has Sprung....

Progress has been painfully slow the last couple of weeks. I have been waiting for the dome to dry, we have had some bad weather and the beer has been good. The dome had 12 days to dry so on Monday of this week I put the blanket on and lit some small fires. I had ordered a themometer but it did not turn up untill Wednesday, so I did not want to overdo it. Smoke was coming out and staining my front arch so today I started the chimney. I will try some more fires this weeked.

[asudavew]

Re: Spring has Sprung....

What a beautiful build.

Great Job!

[Les]

Re: Spring has Sprung....

Agreed! I love the rounded brick.

Les...

[mfiore]

Re: Spring has Sprung....

Boy, that went up quick! Any photos of the dome build? Looks incredible!

[Frances]

Re: Spring has Sprung....

Very very nice!

[rafv]

Re: Spring has Sprung....

Sorry mfiore, no photos of the dome being built. I work alone (wife out earning money) and the dome went up easier than I thought. By the time I remembered my camera it was done. Photos get taken last thing at night or first thing in the morning, if I remember.
I did not cut any of the first few courses of bricks but the last few I had to cut every brick. I got that engrossed, pictures were the last thing on my mind.

[PizzaJNKY]

Re: Spring has Sprung....

Incredible brickwork!

[rafv]

Re: Spring has Sprung....

A week last Saturday it was raining so I gave up trying to weed the garden and got online to book rooms for the beer festival in Bruges. A group of us are going out in November. Three of us are sixty this year so it will be our joint birthday bash. Back to the point. Afterwards I went to ebay and found a chimney pot for sale. No-one had put a bid in and it was due to finish the next day. I had no idea how I was going to do the flue and this seemed ideal. I put the minimum bid in (?37) and waited. As you can see from the photo I got it. I could not pick it up untill this weekend so I have done no work on the oven this last week.
I picked it up on Saturday. It is 47 inches high and I was told, over 100 years old.
I have had a few more fires and with a bit of luck should be cooking in it this weekend.

[Frances]

Re: Spring has Sprung....

Good find! I love those old chimneys... that'll look really good with the bricks!