oven door

[APOCALYPTO]

which is a better door wood or steel..or aluminum?

[Les]

Re: oven door

Good question. I would stay away from wood - It will char. I believe that the oven kits have plate steel. I went with aluminum - I made it out of .062 material. It's made 1.75 inches thick with vermiculite poured in between the walls. Seems to be working pretty well. I can feel heat on the outside so obviously thicker would be better. Our doors seems to have a personality like our ovens - to each their own.

Les...

[DrakeRemoray]

Re: oven door

I would stay away from wood...
http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f17/...door-4304.html

[Jed]

Re: oven door

I had good success building an insulated door.

The door is built with a wood frame, but wrapped on the wood is sheet metal - front and back and the core is filled with left over perlite...

Seams to work fine. My oven doesn't stay hot any longer than the others report, so I don't know that the insulated door improves performance...

JED

[texassourdough]

Re: oven door

As a chemical engineer I would have to vote against both wood (charring as indicated) and aluminum. Two reasons for aluminum...First, it conducts far better than steel or iron so is more of a heat window and should have insulation. I am also a bit concerned about the potential temperatures involved. Aluminum melts at about 1220 degrees F. While your oven should never be that hot...you could be reasonably be close to it. My concern is not for melting but because Aluminum has some minor health concerns and the potential for contamination would be higher at elevated temperatures.

As an aside, zinc should be avoided also for it melts at about 785 degrees F so if used to hold a door together could literally melt.

Methinks iron or steel - preferably with some form of insulation (tile, refractory blanket, etc) would be quite preferable and potentially safer.
Jay

[david s]

Re: oven door

I like the look of a wooden door, it's also traditional. If insulated it wont char.

[APOCALYPTO]

Re: oven door

thank you all for the info..it is all a real help..I think I will go with a steel door on a hinge..My original idea was a steel plate with 2x4s coated in concrete bolted to the other side

[wlively]

Re: oven door

I prefer the look of wood as well. Easy to do and very cheap.

I took a scrap piece of durock cut to shape 1/4 larger than opening on 3 sides (not bottom). Made a flexible form to shape of opening, drilled 4 large screws tthrough frront of durock to give perlcrete an additional anchor and then mixed up a batch of Perlcrete (4-1 to make it stronger) and layed it on about 2 inches thick. Let it dry a couple of days and then dried it the oven overnight. Wrapped the door in heav gauge aluminium foil. Then cut and screw cedar 1x4's to the face. I attached the handles to the wood first.

Door works very well, face stays ambient temp, looks like a wood door and only cost me $4.00 for the fancy handles.

[jcg31]

Re: oven door

The wood door below has been in service for nearly a year, has sealed in temps as hot as 800 degrees and has survived a particularly harsh Wisconsin winter. Does a wonderful job of keeping the heat useful for the better part of the week.

I did a fair amount of testing with wafer board before committing to raised panel oak and the key to keeping the wood from charring is fairly obvious, do not to allow the wood to touch brick anywhere, and from the insulation perspective bring down the heat of those screws that connect the insulation component to the wood. Oh, and no metal casing for the insulation.

This door incorporates a couple of layers of insulation board sandwiched between three sheet metal layers that act as "heat sinks". There is a channel around the edge of the door that holds a fiberglass cord (standard wood heater stuff that can be found in most home centers) and then 3" (by 1/8" by length to fit) fiberglass tape encloses the insulation board (see second photo below).

I vote for wood, makes a nice and traditional contrast to the brick.

Jim

[texassourdough]

Re: oven door

Hi Jim!

Lovely! As you demonstrate, properly done, wood can be great!

Well done!
Jay

[jcg31]

Re: oven door

Thanks Jay,
As I say I went through a few tests with lesser fascades before committing. What I mention as obvious above was made so to me with my last test (pictued below), all else was in place, except the bottom of the door was touching the brick. lesson learned.

Jim

[wlively]

Re: oven door

OK, here is a picture of my cheap door. Feel free to laugh, my scrap cedar ran out and I haven't brought myself to buy another $4 piece yet because a neighbor promised me a left over.

I have used it 5 times from 500deg - 5 hour turkey to 300deg - 12hr pork shoulder.

I prefer the second picture.

[jcg31]

Re: oven door

Wade,
Is it just me or did the pictures not upload to the site? I am not seeing anything in the attachements.

Jim

[wlively]

Re: oven door

I can see them, now is that just me?


ADDDED:
OK now I only see one. I edited the post, deleting the pictures an re-uploaded.

[jcg31]

Re: oven door

Hmmm must be me, it is acting as if I am not logged in, I will ping James.