Wood Oven In Buffalo NY- Zegarelli

[ZegarelliForno]

Hello Forum,
I have been researching and dreaming about this endeavor for years. I have finally started. I understand this may be a timely process (especially with 2 youngs kids and 1 in the oven!) I have my foundation poured. My cinder blocks are delivered. I want to complete a 36" pompeii oven myself, like many of you, no contractors hired. This is a pride project and a love of constructing, creating and eating. Anyone else in the Buffalo NY area working on a similar project? Love to hook up to bounce ideas off of eachother!
I am excited to be a part of the forno bravo community. I have read alot of this forum and look forward to asking you all for advice as I go.
This will be fun!
--DJZ--

[SableSprings]

Welcome to the Forum community! I totally agree that building a WFO yourself is extremely satisfying and the pride of being able to answer, "Yes, I built it myself" is almost as good as the meals that come out of it. If your two kids are able to carry a brick, get them involved in the build and make sure you talk with your wife about how the five of you will use the oven to enrich your lives even more with friends & family.

[MarkJerling]

Hello Forum,
I have been researching and dreaming about this endeavor for years. I have finally started. I understand this may be a timely process (especially with 2 youngs kids and 1 in the oven!) I have my foundation poured. My cinder blocks are delivered. I want to complete a 36" pompeii oven myself, like many of you, no contractors hired. This is a pride project and a love of constructing, creating and eating. Anyone else in the Buffalo NY area working on a similar project? Love to hook up to bounce ideas off of eachother!
I am excited to be a part of the forno bravo community. I have read alot of this forum and look forward to asking you all for advice as I go.
This will be fun!
--DJZ--

Welcome! I look forward to seeing your progress!

[ZegarelliForno]

Thanks for the notes!
What is the best brick saw for this job? I have read that both a hand held grinder and a tabletop masonry saw both work but whats best? I would like to use a dry saw
recommendations and advice welcome

[SableSprings]

The issues are that you need adequate saw cut depth and some way to reduce (or deal with) the large amount of dust that will be generated when you cut bricks. This brick dust is NOT good for your lungs, so most people opt for a 10" wet saw. Harbor Freight usually sells them at a reasonable price and often times if you have a friend that does brick work or has a large shop, you may be able to borrow one. If you check Craig's List or EBay for your area on the Internet you can often pick one up at a really good price. The price of a new unit can appear to be too high, just remember that they are pretty easy to resell after you finish with them...hence why they show up often at lower prices on the Internet. If you are going to focus on getting the oven built in a short time span, a rental business may be an option as well. You may find with a smaller (< 10") wet saw that you'll need multiple cuts on some of the bricks to achieve the "correct" shape/size. You can find lots of 7" wet tile saws that may be able to do the job...eventually...but your kids may need to be the ones to finish the project as you've grown too old . This is the same issue with a grinder (and a grinder is much harder to control & cut straight faces as well as making even more brick dust fly ). If you are on a very tight budget, we've had many builders actually just use a brick chisel & hammer for a majority of the initial brick work. You really only need one "clean" face for the inside wall, so just whacking a brick in half gives you two pieces for the dome, which works fine for quite a ways up the dome. There is no real need to bevel or angle brick cuts until you start to close at the top. You do need to start making smaller pieces as the chains tighten and lean in which means the chisel method needs some help cleaning up broken brick faces to keep your oven looking pretty on the inside.

The reason the wet saw is suggested here is that there is a pump that puts a stream of water onto the cut path of the blade. Keeps it cooler, keeps the cut clean, extends diamond blade life, and reduces the dust considerably. Normally, it's recommended to use a clean water bucket as the water source instead of the standard recirculating system. The added attraction of the wet saw's water collecting and reducing dust system is that the brick dust collects in the water pan and the resulting refractory clay can be used with making your home brew mortar or leveling sand or insulating concrete mixes.

If you use a dry saw system, wetting the bricks before the cut does reduce the dust...but make sure you wear a good respirator mask...the little cheap "painting" ones just cannot give you the protection you need. Also, the brick dust is quite abrasive and there have been many reports of dry saw motors being damaged because they were built for sawdust not brick dust.

I hope that helps and that others join in for other points of view. This is a pretty common issue for WFO builders, so take heart & relax...we've all been there (well except for the folks who cast their ovens...).

[MarkJerling]

Well written Mike. I used both a wet masonry saw and an angle grinder. The wet saw was great for straight cuts, if a bit slow and very messy. The angle grinder was quicker and provided I stayed up wind from it, very good to use. But I did kill two angle grinders as they did not like the brick dust!

[ZegarelliForno]

Great Advice Mike and Mark. I appreciate you input. I just mortared in my first row of Cinder blocks and drilled some rebar into the slab.
This weekend i hope to have all the cinder block drystacked and filled with concrete.
My plan is to use a brick fascade around the cinder block (to match my house) and than pour the "table top" over both the cinder block and the brick.
Do you guys see any issues with doing this? I do not plan on an overhang for the concrete as i hope to use a granite or similar material over top of the concrete once the job is complete to use for prepping.

Thanks and Happy Friday!

[ZegarelliForno]

I would like to show photos of the progress. The photos on my iPhone will not upload because they are too large. It says that they exceed the limited size. What is the best way to show you guys my progress?

[Gulf]

Test

[Gulf]

Try using the Upload Attachments button below. Select Photo Library. Now select the photo that you want to appear in the post. At the bottom of the screen should be a Choose Image Size option. Selcct Medium. Then selct the back to All Photos at the top of the page.That should have changed the photo size to under 100 mbs. Now select Done at the top of the page. When the Thumbnail appears, select Medium again.

[ZegarelliForno]