Hi all - just started

[Onefella]

Hi to all members here. I have been scheming and planning my oven for a couple of years and am happy to say I have finally started in earnest. I have the slab poured and have all the materials at hand and should start laying blocks next weekend.

I have decided on the larger "vault" style bread/pizza oven as I have have been making bread in our domestic oven for many years and I want to take this further. I have read Tom Jaine's book and "The Bread Builders" cover-to-cover a few times and have spent many hours on the internet gleaning as much info as I can. So now it's time to put all this info into practice.

Bought all the re-bar yesterday and was a little shocked at the price of steel atm. The bar and 75x75x8 angle for the door lintle was a bit under AUD$200. The rest of the materials except for the firebricks have been sourced second-hand or free.

I think I have most details figured out in my head, but I'm sure I will have a few questions for you guys at some point. Especially with regards to the door and chimney construction. It seems to be the only topic that gets a little vague in the books.

Cheers from Oz.

[nissanneill]

Re: Hi all - just started

Hi Onefella and I welcome another Aussie on board.
Our numbers are increasing weekly and now provide a good percentage of posting members within the forum.
You have a wonderful resource up in Darwin for cheap materials, and I refer to the Darwin dump recycle 'shop'
When I was up there some 4 years ago, and spent several days there and could not believe the variety and prices of gear put back into the marketplace for sale. I purchased a host of gear but was restricted in what I could carry or freight back here to Adelaide.
What were the dimensions of your vault oven that you are planning?

Cheers.

Neill

[staestc]

Re: Hi all - just started

Welcome Onefella,

Your joining an ever growing contigent of Aussies here! And all good people from what I have read

This forum is a great place for information on building, cooking, or being sociable, and all we ask for admition is for you to post pictures, pictures, and more pictures!! We really do love pictures here

Cheers,
Travis n'Texas

[Tim F]

Re: Hi all - just started

I feel your pain with the price of rebar!

[nodoubt68]

Re: Hi all - just started

Hi Onefella,
Love your name by the way.....
Happy to see another Aussie on here. I am still in the process of sourcing materials and information. You's both have scared me with the price of the reo !!! It wasn't something I thought would be expensive...bugger. Hope you have lots of fun building your oven.
Cheers Lee

[DrakeRemoray]

Re: Hi all - just started

Welcome aborad,
Just for the record, having a dome oven does not mean that you cannot bake a lot of bread. See my post http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f11/...read-5456.html
Drake

[Onefella]

Re: Hi all - just started

Thanks for the warm welcome everybody. Great to see a few Aussies here. It seems like Australians have a significant interest in wood-fired ovens, with notable characters like Rado Hand and Alan Scott leading the cause.

@nissanneill I know I should check out the "dump shop" more often, but unfortunately I don't live near town and when I do venture into the big smoke I'm usually pretty keen to do my business and get the hell out again. My oven will be a pretty standard 32"x36" pretty much along the lines of Alan Scott's and Rado's designs.

@staestc happy to post piccy's mate. I'll have to get a bit further along with my construction though. My pics of the slab aren't very exciting so far.

@DrakeRemoray I seriously considered a dome when I purchased enough second-hand clay bricks to make one. (quite rare where I live) But I really just fell in love with vault ovens and am busting to have one of those "big buggers" in my backyard.

A bit OT but another of my hobbies is brewing and distilling. I'm finding my knowledge of yeast and fermentation a handy cross-over skill with bread-making. Also beer just seems to be made for having with pizza as well.

cheers

1F

[Tim F]

Re: Hi all - just started

Another home brewer here! Looking forward to seeing your oven in progress. Are you on the AHB forum?