Looking for barrel oven tips

[drummer4321]

Hey,
So my pizza oven project has been in the works for a while now, I've been going at it slowly, but now I'm to the actual brick oven design. I am planning on building a barrel oven, even after reading many debates on here about it.
I have laid the cooking floor, which is 34" wide by about 32" deep. I am planning on making the arch 34" wide, and 32" deep an 16" from floor to inside of ceiling, and i did a mock up, it seems to work nicely with a angled brick in the top center. But my problem now is designing a form to build this off of and how to space the bricks when mortaring them(shims maybe?) My one thought is 2 plywood arcs with strips of wood between them and the blocks resting on the wood, will that work? Any tips or techniques would be very much appreciated.

Thanks,
Mike

[roobqn]

Re: Looking for barrel oven tips

Yes it will work. If you get the book Bread Builders by Daniel Wing and Alan Scott they detail how to build a barrel oven with forms just as you described. They also have BASIC plans that may help you.

[Tscarborough]

Re: Looking for barrel oven tips

Yes, but their plans are not very good unless you are building a commercial bread oven. You can buy lathing stakes at most Home Depot/Lowes or at lumberyards. 1"x1/4"x48". Make two or three plywood arch forms and staple the lathes to them. Be sure and use running bond on the arch instead of stack bond as most plans show on the arch. Plan on offsetting the doorway arch as much as feasible also.

My barrel vault build is here:

Outdoor Kitchen

But the detailed explanations and more pictures are here:

http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f21/begun-8852.html

[Derkp]

Re: Looking for barrel oven tips

For the form, look at Tscarborough's Jan 23, 2010 and Feb 6, 2010 photos, make the form with suports underneath that can be knocked out, do not make it the full size of the opening, from the bottom side of the arch to the oven floor, it might not come out, at least not easily.

[OzOvenBuilder]

Re: Looking for barrel oven tips

Hi and welcome, I'm loving the barrel vaults as much as the domes..! Look forward to seeing the progress!

[david s]

Re: Looking for barrel oven tips

Mike,
Build the end walls inside (under) the vault.
If you build them outside the vault then it's expansion will tend to force the end walls out.
Keep the flue entry outside the actual oven and stick roughly to the 63% of interior oven height for your oven door.

Dave

[brickie in oz]

Re: Looking for barrel oven tips

Keep the flue entry outside the actual oven

My flue is inside my barrel oven and works just fine.

[david s]

Re: Looking for barrel oven tips

My flue is inside my barrel oven and works just fine.

Yes it will, but then you need to incorporate a damper. If the flue is outside the oven it will work even better (more even heating and less heat loss out the flue) and you don't need a damper. The disadvantage is that you end up with an entry that takes up more space in front of the oven and you have to work past that.

[brickie in oz]

Re: Looking for barrel oven tips

If the flue is outside the oven it will work even better (more even heating and less heat loss out the flue) a

Not sure I agree with that, but I havent had a domed oven to compare.

With a domed oven the door needs to be open for the flue gasses to escape.
With a barrel and damper I can partially shut off the flue to retain more heat from escaping, I also close off the door leaving just a small gap for air to enter, retaining even more heat.

[david s]

Re: Looking for barrel oven tips

Al, yours is like an updraft kiln. The flame tends to want to go towards the flue. The Pompeii style oven is more like a cross draft kiln where you make more use of the flame, producing much more even heating and circulation and don't lose any flame out the flue. I've no doubt that your oven works well and the difference is small. Having built hemispherical ovens with flues in different positions I found the best was having the flue at the front and outside the oven. Surprisingly the next best was the flue in the centre and at the apex of the dome (this ws because of the extremely good drawing characteristics and lack of entry to work past) and the worst was flue at the front, just inside the dome. Assuming ovens behave in the same way as kilns I assume that a cross draft barrel would perform a little better than an updraft one. Every oven has its own characteristics and they all work ok.if you have the right controls.