Light weight possibilities?

[Apaulo13]

Hi,

Just another thought. What about combining these two ideas?

Use an exercise ball as a form instead. Thin fire brick, add layer of castable fire clay mix to add some thermal mass, insulation and the tiles on the outside to look like brick?

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Darcy

[Fizz]

It sounds like a lot of work, both cutting bricks and mixing castable .. thin bricks and soft ball sounds like cracks when you add weight on top ...

[Apaulo13]

I'd use an exercise ball as the form for the dome instead of the wood slats, like this picture I found. The thin bricks would be easier to cut. Seems it would be close to the same amount of work.

Not sure how well the one in the video held up but it wasn't a recent video.

Thanks

[Apaulo13]

Cast oven build in Shelbyville, KY is similar to what I had in mind only starting with a layer of the splits fire bricks cut to size so it looks like a traditional Pompeii when you look inside but the outer inch or so is cast. Most cast ovens DIY or commercial seem to have 2" thick walls.

[Apaulo13]

Oops! that wasn't suppose to be in all bold type.

[jonv]

It's an interesting idea but what's keeping the slips in place? A brick dome is a pretty strong and stable structure but needs to be a reasonable thickness to be effective. If cracks develop or the mortar fails in places, it still remains sound.

I don't think that would be the case if made from slips and you would be relying as much on the adhesion of the castable. I could imagine, with expansion and contraction during heating and cooling, that cracks that are entirely normal and fine for either a brick oven or a cast oven would be a problem for the slips. I wouldn't be surprised if some became dislodged entirely.

Thats just my thoughts. Personally, I would choose either a cast or a brick oven but wouldn't use slips.