36" Pompeii Build in the desert

[JRPizza]

In your "what to do here" space between the two arches, all I did was make sure I had about 1/4 inch air gap and just left it empty. I used one run of rope on top of my inner arch, and with as "grabby" as the bricks were I thought the rope was sufficiently secured. I filled the exterior of the gap with the high temp sealant, but in retrospect I don't think that was necessary as when I rendered my igloo the stucco flowed into the gap and sealed it off. There may be a better way to do it but it escaped me. I don't think my rope is ever going to move, and if any particles break off they will hopefully just fall down and lay on top of the arch. That is the beauty of not having any rope in the vertical gap - don't need to worry about falling fibers or how to retain the rope.
I went back and looked at my post #149 and remember the pic. I had thought about doing the angle to help with smoke flow, but can't remember why I didn't. I think I was cutting the bricks late in the fall after daylight savings ended and was just trying to get all the cuts done.

[jim lofaro]

Here are a few philosophical questions:
How many builds do u’all shepherd thru the process at any given time?
Is the food that comes out of a WFO any different tasting than conventional cooking techniques?

[JRPizza]

Jim, the number of builds fluctuates with the time of year, with our Northern Hemispheres summers and Southern's winters being the peak times. I try to limit my participation to builds that I think I can add something too - there are quite a few cast dome projects going on that I stay away from as they are way out of my experience zone.
As far as the food goes, asking a bunch of folks that labored over building their ovens is likely to get you a biased answer, but everybody that has had our pizza loves it, and some of my son's friends said it has ruined pizza for them as the stuff they usually eat just does not taste as good. Anything we roast comes out better than what we can make in our conventional oven too, as chicken, beef and pork stay moist while getting nicely browned. Since we built we have cooked all our turkeys outside too. Another thing is capacity - tonight we cooked two large chickens, using two roasting pans with potatoes, carrots and onions under the birds. We had room for more food but had nothing else to cook, although we will put a pork roast in tomorrow to use up the last of the heat.

[jim lofaro]

Thanks JR. I was hoping for a moist cooker; sort of what I would expect from a ceramic cooker (but have not had food cooked using that method either). And a review from offspring saying they are pizza snobs is good enough for me. What has started out as a project could end up to be a quest.

Working with the aft arch. Did notice that the pillars (vertical brick) would move with enough applied pressure. Clamped um together for now. May be an indicator on massive buttressing. I did not mortar these brick to the floor. Any other solutions?

Received the 8 inch anchor plate. Looks a bit large for my small WFO so I ordered a 6 inch anchor plate. We will see which one has better aesthetics. Any thoughts about the science of flue size?

Cannot seem to upload photos this morning. Will try again later.

[UtahBeehiver]

See post 128.

[jim lofaro]

Finished the Aft arch. Need to think a bit about the Fore arch.

[jim lofaro]

Finished the Fore arch and starting the Serpentine arch. Any problems u'all can see?

[jim lofaro]

The more I look at the Fore arch the less I like it. It is at the same level as the Aft and Vent arches. Russel’s Fore arch appears to be 2 or 3 inches taller than his vent arch. Considering redoing the Fore arch and making the bricks taller.

[UtahBeehiver]

IMHO, I think you are fine. The main reason my outer arch was bigger than my vent arch was that I insulated the vent chamber, stuccoed and cladded with copper and needed the extra depth. If I were to build another I would not insulate the vent chamber.

[jim lofaro]

Thanks Russell. I will look at it again in the morning.

[jim lofaro]

Decided to keep the Fore arch and started to put in the Serpentine arch. I mortared in the first two block (small end down) and the 3^rd block (big end down). The 4^th block should be totally off the arch form. When do I remove the arch form? Do I make some sort of form for the Serpentine arch?

[david s]

Building a flue gallery in brick is quite a challenge. I prefer to make a casting where compound curves are far simpler. As a general rule mortar joints should not line up and the preferred method is to tie bricks in. In this design neither the front or rear arches are tied in.

[jim lofaro]

Thanks David S. So you pour a plaster cast of the flue and use that as a form? Any thoughts how I can tie in front/rear arches with my current design?

[david s]

Not plaster, I made a fibreglass mould, but that’s way too much trouble for a one off, a sand mould would do. Creating a complex form in brick is difficult and probably why no one has tried to tie in the bricks on the corners. Continue as planned, plenty of others have been built this way with success. I was just trying to point out the superiority and simplicity of casting for this complex form.Generally brick corners are always tied in rather than butt joined.

[jim lofaro]

OK, I will move forward with my plan. A review of JR shows the arches forms could be removed prior to the completion of the vent arch. Let me try that.