Curing, Cracks & Other Kentucky Conundrums

[Ken524]

Re: Curing, Cracks & Other Kentucky Conundrums

Where is Dave? He seems the type that can top us all on improvising to fill a void in his stomach.

Oh that's funny. I just spit coffee on my keyboard reading that.

[Ken524]

Re: Curing, Cracks & Other Kentucky Conundrums

On a serious note, is the repair still holding?

Thanks for asking RT... I did one really hot fire yesterday and everything looks good. A hairline crack formed in the joint next to the one I repaired but it didn't open up. I'll mortar a split above that joint for extra support and I think it will be ok.

I think I would actually have some sort of breakdown if I encountered either yours or Dave's problems.

I wasn't exactly the smooth operator I presented myself as here on the forum (ask my wife) . I think I went through the 5 Stages of grief after I found the crack...

1. Denial: The initial stage: "It can't be happening."
2. Anger: "Why ME? It's not fair!"
3. Bargaining: "I promise to always use Caputo... Just let my arch be OK!"
4. Depression: "Might as well rent a bulldozer and get rid of it"
5. Acceptance: "It's going to be OK."

I'm on #5 now - Dave, what stage are you at?.

Following your progress I would never have thought you would have a problem, really a great job.

Thanks, that's really nice. I appreciate the support and encouragement.

[RTflorida]

Re: Curing, Cracks & Other Kentucky Conundrums

Now that the confessional is open. I've done the English muffin/Pizza Quick Sauce thing....as well as hamburger buns, kaiser rolls, french bread...you get the idea. Isn't that what they make toaster ovens for? Desperate times (3-4am snack on a sleepless night) call for desperate measures. Sometimes I think I am pregnant (cravings), but last I checked that was still physically impossible.
Where is Dave? He seems the type that can top us all on improvising to fill a void in his stomach.

RT

[Ken524]

Re: Curing, Cracks & Other Kentucky Conundrums

Easy Bake Oven Recipes

Yes, it's official. Everything is now on the internet!

Sorry to disappoint; the teeny-tiny pizza isn't mine. I make my quickie pizza's out of English Muffins and Ragu

[RTflorida]

Re: Curing, Cracks & Other Kentucky Conundrums

Ken, looks like you have been "outed" by Dave. I laughed like hell reading Ken's Deep Dish Pizza recipe. The 2 tbls of flour almost seems excessive for an Easy Bake.....course it is a deep dish

On a serious note, is the repair still holding? Dude, we've all busted our butts on these ovens, I think I would actually have some sort of breakdown if I encountered either yours or Dave's problems.
As many have said, oven building is not an exact science and is open to much personalization while still being fuctional...very cool, but for most of us our ideas were unproven. Following your progress I would never have thought you would have a problem, really a great job.

Thanks for keeping this fun guys.

RT

[Acoma]

Re: Curing, Cracks & Other Kentucky Conundrums

Dave, classic you would be the one to find that.

[asudavew]

Re: Curing, Cracks & Other Kentucky Conundrums

Uno mas


Easy Bake Oven Recipes

[asudavew]

Re: Curing, Cracks & Other Kentucky Conundrums

Here' a link for yins!
It's Ken's deep dish easybake pizza.

Ken's Deep Dish Pizza Mix

Funny his name is Ken... could Ken be posing on another site?

Notice the 2 tbls of flour.

[Ken524]

Re: Curing, Cracks & Other Kentucky Conundrums

Thanks for the laugh, RT. I'm sure there's an Easy-Bake oven forum somewhere where they whip up gourmet dishes with those things.
"Thanksgiving Dinner - All from our Easy Bake Oven!"

[RTflorida]

Re: Curing, Cracks & Other Kentucky Conundrums

OK, I have to ask.....has anyone actually tried making a tiny pizza in an Easy Bake Oven? Come on, be honest. All of us are guilty of putting unusual things in our sister's, neighbor's, or daughter's Easy Bakes...Has pizza been tried???

RT

[Ken524]

Re: Curing, Cracks & Other Kentucky Conundrums

I suspect that your insulation is still a little damp.

I'm pretty sure that is what's going on. The Kaowool board was pretty damp during the build and the weather has been really humid lately. I've just scratched the surface with fire.

Thanks for the feedback.

[dmun]

Re: Curing, Cracks & Other Kentucky Conundrums

Heat underneath the floor??? After 2-3 hours of low temp fire I felt the underside of the hearth (the roof of the storage area). The concrete felt warm to the touch. Not hot, but pretty warm. Is this normal??. Because of the problems I've been having, I'm getting paranoid and am worried the Kaowool boards I used underneath aren't cutting the mustard.

I'm guessing one of three things,
1. The boards are a little moist and all is well;
2. A warm hearth is normal and all is well;
3. I've created the Heat Sink From Hell and my daughter's Easy-Bake Oven will cook better pizza.

How warm does the underside of your hearth get??

I fired this afternoon, to cook pizza at 6, raked out the fire and baked a pie after dinner. At 11, the oven with the door on is still at 350f, and the underside of the slab is just lukewarm. 2.5" insblock19 here. I suspect that your insulation is still a little damp.

[Ken524]

Re: Curing, Cracks & Other Kentucky Conundrums

I did another burn today. I really cranked it up and was able to get the top 4-5 courses white. At one point I reached in the oven to add some wood; upon pulling out my arm I noticed my right hand and wrist no longer had hair. I was pretty happy with the heat being generated .

My repaired mortar joints came through like champs. Jahysea, your suggestion of grinding out the mortar and remortaring appears to be the correct prescription. Thank you!

I noticed one hairline crack in an adjacent joint, but it never opened up. I'm thinking the oven may be about finished moving/shifting around so I'll add some reinforcement to the top of that joint and call it fixed.

We have a winter storm forecast here in Kentucky this weekend (finally!!), after that I'll add the vermiculite and continue work on the enclosure.

Thanks again for everyone's advice. It was all very helpful.

[Ken524]

Re: Curing, Cracks & Other Kentucky Conundrums

Finally got a break in the weather to do my first test fire after repair.

I did a 2-3 hour slow burn today with damp wood (thanks to the recent rain). This worked well. I didn't want a really hot fire, just warm saturating heat. So far so good. No cracks, but again, I didn't get close to burning off any carbon on the dome.

Heat underneath the floor??? After 2-3 hours of low temp fire I felt the underside of the hearth (the roof of the storage area). The concrete felt warm to the touch. Not hot, but pretty warm. Is this normal??. Because of the problems I've been having, I'm getting paranoid and am worried the Kaowool boards I used underneath aren't cutting the mustard.

I'm guessing one of three things,
1. The boards are a little moist and all is well;
2. A warm hearth is normal and all is well;
3. I've created the Heat Sink From Hell and my daughter's Easy-Bake Oven will cook better pizza.

How warm does the underside of your hearth get??

[Hendo]

Re: Curing, Cracks & Other Kentucky Conundrums

Don't know if this is any help (well, it isn't in this case, but maybe in general) but from a gut feeling I would have thought that a full rounded archway is structurally stronger than one with a flattened rounded top, which a lot of people seem to be building at the moment. Or not?

Frances, Wade, Ken, George et al,

There?s also some useful information in the link in my post at

http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f8/oven-floor-wall-dome-fire-bricks-2403.html#post13952

Although the article focuses mainly on semi-circular arches, you can see that for a ?segmental arch? (about half-way down on the left) the direction of thrust meets the arch support at the top of the support, rather than on the floor like a semi-circular arch. If we extend these lines of thrust for our ?flattened rounded top? oven openings, in most cases they would end up in space very quickly, unless some kind of solid buttressing is employed to contain the line of thrust all the way to the floor. While I?m no expert, common sense tells me that the ramifications for stresses and consequential movement would be way greater than for a semi-circular arch.

Paul.