39" Oven in AZ

[Grtiz]

Re: 39" Oven in AZ

OK. I'll take a fresh look at it. I did a wedge course so the bricks are already in line with the IT so that is what I think is throwing me off. When I tried additional wedges it looks like I would end up with a 90 degree dome after a few courses.

[mrchipster]

Re: 39" Oven in AZ

I cut the tilt and the side angle on two bricks. The Inside bottom and outside bottom match what they should be but when I go to dry fit them there is a huge gap. Though if I go narrow side down and then wide side down they fit together like a zipper. I could see very small to almost no mortar joint.

Is this what you had in mind?

The first photo is with the cuts and wide side narrow side. The second photo is wide side, wide side.

Have I done something terribly wrong?

The bricks you have shown will work at higher courses but for this course the angles are to steep you overshot the inverted v and created a serious upright v.

[deejayoh]

Re: 39" Oven in AZ

They look right, and they should fit together like the second picture - but when you lay them, the back will be tilted up about 5 degrees by the mortar and the top of the brick should be aligned to the top of your IT. Play around with shims to see how they fit when you tilt them in toward the oven.

[Grtiz]

Re: 39" Oven in AZ

I cut the tilt and the side angle on two bricks. The Inside bottom and outside bottom match what they should be but when I go to dry fit them there is a huge gap. Though if I go narrow side down and then wide side down they fit together like a zipper. I could see very small to almost no mortar joint.

Is this what you had in mind?

The first photo is with the cuts and wide side narrow side. The second photo is wide side, wide side.

Have I done something terribly wrong?

[deejayoh]

Re: 39" Oven in AZ

If I shorten my IT as I move up in courses do I need to alter the measurements in your spreadsheet to stay on track? Unless I am reading it wrong, it seems to rely on a constant measurement for the entire dome.

Ah yes. good point. For someone who says he's not good a math, you got that right!

The other way to do it would be to remove a couple of bricks in the middle of your oven while you are building the dome so that you can recess the IT. If it's an inch below the surface, you can get a lower dome profile without needing to make changes.

It's fine if you use a normal IT, I just bring it up because your pivot height determines your dome height, which is the driving factor in the height of your door. And with a 1" high pivot, your dome is going to be taller than mine.

[Grtiz]

Re: 39" Oven in AZ

If I shorten my IT as I move up in courses do I need to alter the measurements in your spreadsheet to stay on track? Unless I am reading it wrong, it seems to rely on a constant measurement for the entire dome.

[deejayoh]

Re: 39" Oven in AZ

Mine is basically a semi-circle. I placed one brick vertical to start, then just ran an arc. The width is 19" and the height is 12". Height is 6o-something % of dome height to optimize draw - which seems to work well.

what are you planning for dome height? Did you see my comment about using an IT? If you are using one (which I would if I had it to do over again...) I would build it with a turnbuckle so that you can shorten it up by an eighth of an inch or so with each course - which will give you a flatter dome. I didn't see that technique used until I was too far along - but it's pretty clever.

[Grtiz]

Re: 39" Oven in AZ

OK we altered the template and made it a true arch though it starts 3 rows up. I did to make sure I could get my roasting pan through with a large turkey inside. Should have some photo's up tomorrow. But with it 118 out it is slow going.

[Grtiz]

Re: 39" Oven in AZ

That's what I was thinking and have been second guessing the entry since I started.

You ended up going completely half circle correct? When I looked at your initial photos it looked like you had the two soldiers at the left and right?

Also what did you end up with height wise? Since I am trying to copy you I may as well get that right too

[deejayoh]

Re: 39" Oven in AZ

My $0.02: make the door a half circle! It's much easier to build and easier to join to your dome.

[Grtiz]

Re: 39" Oven in AZ

I made a template up for the inner entry arch and it seems to be a bit flat. I plan on tapering the bricks like Gino has done but even so it seems a flat.

Should increase the arch on the left and right to help strengthen this up?

There will be more bricks of course I just set them up there so the arch could be seen more clearly.

[deejayoh]

Re: 39" Oven in AZ

Dennis,

With that considered do you think the 7 degrees would work?

When you made the transition into your arch did you use a base template similar to the ones below it and just cut a 7 degree wedge off of it?

to be honiest, I think I used the 5 degree chips I had cut off the first two courses of bricks. gven the two layers of mortar, it's easy to get to the 12 degrees.

[stonecutter]

Re: 39" Oven in AZ

Lemons into lemonade.

[Grtiz]

Re: 39" Oven in AZ

Dennis,

With that considered do you think the 7 degrees would work?

When you made the transition into your arch did you use a base template similar to the ones below it and just cut a 7 degree wedge off of it?

[Grtiz]

Re: 39" Oven in AZ

Stonecutter,

Great call on covering it with plastic. I still have my sheeting that I used when I poured the slab and hearth so that should work a bit better than the towels I had anyway.