Work of Love and Passion... Miami FL

[mrchipster]

Re: Work of Love and Passion... Miami FL

Good choice. The other stuff is much to coarse. And designed to level patio pavers.

[gugahulk]

Re: Work of Love and Passion... Miami FL

Guys need your help real quick, there is jointing sand and leveling sand in home depot. I just notice I bought jointing also called multi use sand. Can I use that under the oven floor for leveling or it must be leveling sand? see image below of the product.

[NCMan]

Re: Work of Love and Passion... Miami FL

But, smoking meat with gguhrreen wood . No thanks, been there and done that.

I didn't actually mean "cut it up w/your chainsaw and slap it into the oven" green. I meant using wood that is not entirely "seasoned" to smoke with. I have, however, taken some fairly green wood, (usually hickory or pecan), and dried it out in my oven overnight to smoke with the following day. Works really well.

[Gulf]

Re: Work of Love and Passion... Miami FL

You can also use your oven as a kiln to dry out wood. Simply place a few pieces in after your oven cools a bit, close the door and it will be nice and dry for you. Also, if you do a bit of smoking, I find the wood smokes a lot better if it's not dried out, even green. I use hickory, wild black cherry, apple, pecan and white oak to cook and smoke with. My 2?.

I do that in damp weather. But, only to rid previously seasoned wood of a that little extra moisture for the next cook. I haven't tried that with fresh cut oak. I'll have to give it a go sometime. But, smoking meat with gguhrreen wood . No thanks, been there and done that. I agree that it does smoke better. Lots and lots of it.............. It just taistes bad .

Edit: Sorry, for a minute, I thought that I was on the BBQ Brethren's site .

[Gulf]

Re: Work of Love and Passion... Miami FL

Drying time will be effected by humidity as well. We talked earlier in this thread a little about dead trees and limbs. That is one way that I fueled my oven until the fresh cut had seasoned. You might consider "buying" (I don't even like saying that word in the same sentence with firewood ) some seasoned wood to get you started. I don't know any thing about South Florida. But, if you can find a source for dry wood you wont have to have as large of storage on hand. IE: Sawmills, furniture makers, tree trimmers etc. Just about any wood that is dry and not treated with some chemical will do .

[NCMan]

Re: Work of Love and Passion... Miami FL

You can also use your oven as a kiln to dry out wood. Simply place a few pieces in after your oven cools a bit, close the door and it will be nice and dry for you. Also, if you do a bit of smoking, I find the wood smokes a lot better if it's not dried out, even green. I use hickory, wild black cherry, apple, pecan and white oak to cook and smoke with. My 2?.

[gugahulk]

Re: Work of Love and Passion... Miami FL

That is a very nice looking portable storage and work top. It will come in very handy.

Wood varies on how long it takes to cure. Some say 6 months to a year. It's more like 18 months for oak. If you will be cutting and seasoning the wood yourself, you will need a covered storage shed. It should be large enough to store at least a years supply of wood. The shed needs to be built to keep the wood off of the ground, protect it from rain, and still have an air flow through the sides. The last wood that I cut is stacked on treated 4X4 runners, between two trees, with a couple of weighted down sheets of roofing metal layed on top .

Wow, that long? Could Miami be less as its very, very, hot all the time or not really? i will build another large one once the oven is ready for more wood storage than. This portable one was alot of fun and I build it in 2 hours.

[Gulf]

Re: Work of Love and Passion... Miami FL

That is a very nice looking portable storage and work top. It will come in very handy.

Wood varies on how long it takes to cure. Some say 6 months to a year. It's more like 18 months for oak. If you will be cutting and seasoning the wood yourself, you will need a covered storage shed. It should be large enough to store at least a years supply of wood. The shed needs to be built to keep the wood off of the ground, protect it from rain, and still have an air flow through the sides. The last wood that I cut is stacked on treated 4X4 runners, between two trees, with a couple of weighted down sheets of roofing metal layed on top .

[gugahulk]

Re: Work of Love and Passion... Miami FL

Still waiting for the boards. Hopefully will come in today. But I can stand waiting and I like to be active. So I build myself a little log cabinet/table so I can dry my wood. Has wheels on it so I can move it around put it on the sun and if I expect rain I move it under the tree. I will also use a little prep table once my oven is done. Cost me $35 I reused the wood from the forms of the base as they were treated 2x4 and I would not be able to burn them on the oven. Any tips on drying wood? Some of the one wood I was able to harvest is green wood so I have ZERO experience on this any help would be great. See images below of the log cabinet/table.

[gugahulk]

Re: Work of Love and Passion... Miami FL

Great job on the slab. I think you have enough to go on for the buttresses for now. Isn't the forum great.

Thanks Chip, the forum is awesome. My oven will be far better because of you guys. Thanks...

[mrchipster]

Re: Work of Love and Passion... Miami FL

Great job on the slab. I think you have enough to go on for the buttresses for now. Isn't the forum great.

[gugahulk]

Re: Work of Love and Passion... Miami FL

If you want to expand your understanding of arches and buttressing this link is worth a look. Cleared it up for me.

Auroville Earth Institute

Thanks for this, I will study it.

[gugahulk]

Re: Work of Love and Passion... Miami FL

Pull out my forms today. I am happy with the results. Now just waiting for the boards to arrive so the fun can begging. The wedges was a great idea and thanks for everyone that told me to do it. It would have been very difficult to remove the forms without it. See pictures below.

[Greenman]

Re: Work of Love and Passion... Miami FL

If you want to expand your understanding of arches and buttressing this link is worth a look. Cleared it up for me.

Auroville Earth Institute

[gugahulk]

Re: Work of Love and Passion... Miami FL

Like this:

Wow, so that's what buttressing is... Ok I understand a little better. I thought I was going to have to build a wall next to the vault wall. Since my wall are straight up for the first 4 courses of the vault do you have any ideas or recommendations for me? I am also waiting for Chip he said he will send me some info on it also.

And thanks for this valuable information.