Grassy 36 at BG - build log

[agrasyuk]

After quite a bit of prep work I finally stepped into construction of the oven itself. Steps of Foundation and oven base can be found here :
https://community.fornobravo.com/for...-really-enough

vermiculate-concrete Hearth sits on top of 4" structural slab. It is 5" thick to match the height of front face bricks and oven floor. 2" of rockwool rigid insulation sheet is embeded under the brick floor.
Gave the hearth few days to harden and laid the floor bricks . 1:1 mixture of sand and fireclay is heaven to work with.

my biggest effort of these 3days however was the Argentinian grill section that I'm building as part of the project. Started lining the walls firebrick (my brickwork improved substantially) and my pride and joy - entry Arch .

[agrasyuk]

4 rows complete. Playing with the arch

[agrasyuk]

Got over the arch . Not the best, but very usable. For row 6 each brick is cut into 3 pieces with bevel of 3.5 degrees. Bricks that sit above the opening created somewhat of a hump, will be grinding this down a bit.

[agrasyuk]

Installed missing bricks in row 6 and completed row 7. Things getting more and more vertical.

[agrasyuk]

Up to row 11. Almost there.

[agrasyuk]

And it finally happened - dome is closed.
I find the results satisfactory for the most part. area of mortar seams is not to significant.

it started raining as I was cutting the keystone of the last row before the plug. got into panic mode and ... I bet you can spot that brick. Well that's how it's going to be now (plug artifact of my oven is visible ):


when I told my wife I'm going to climb inside to clean she didn't quite believe me and got out to see that for herself. Asked her to snap some pics while she's at it.

yours truly and my crazy project:

[agrasyuk]

Working on the vent and front.
i have a good pile of strangely sized white bricks that I intend to build a smoke " funnel". They are not firebrick, but I don't see why they can't be used there. Purchased 8x13 by 2 feet high flue block, it will be mortared on top of he "funnel". This will be a free-standing structure with about quarter inch thermal break from the dome (will need to get some CF rope to stuff in that slot)

[agrasyuk]

Chimney "funnel" is complete, just need to mortar down the flue. Still lots of work on exterior.


Here is the picture i dreamt about for long long time. Starting my curing fires! Yes, i realize it is better to insulate first, I just couldn't bear the urge
Surprisingly even without the chimney in place it draws quite well with that stubby . 0 smoke came out through front arch , but that might be because there wasn't that much smoke yet.

[agrasyuk]

Got through week of increasing fires and Then we got rained on hard. Oven was covered but countertop and base drew a lot of water in. The following week I did a series of very long burns and it is quite amazing to see how much water got pushed out. Water was dripping from "drain" hole on bottom of hearth (which got warm to touch), got pushed out from underneath insulating slab into structural slab.
friday was my first pizza night as I was preparing for Sunday event. Came out delicious, but definitely cooked on longer side as uncovered oven cooled rapidly. This one was tasty but I feel could be much better:



Put the blanket on for Sunday cook and it is amazing to see the difference! IR meter insisted the dome is in 800s , pizzas we're cooking fAst! What a difference. Run through 10 pizzas in no time, delicious. This pie picture probably came out best:



Very important lesson learned on dough making - I though I screwed up on last batch and asked one of the guests to stop by grocery and get ready crust just in case. I'm very glad I was wrong and dough was great, the store bought stuff that we tried anyeays not so much. Must be made with low temp ovens in mind as it just burnt , and even those that weren't burnt didn't taste as good.

[agrasyuk]

It is finally spring in chicagoland. Or we rather skipped spring and went streight into summer this year. either way warm enough for masonry. Oven is insulated with blankets, managed to coat a layer of vermicrete on top of the blankets right before it started snowing last year.


EDIT: this is just horrible. No pictures in this post due to forum issues. Admin, did you guys try your website on mobile at all?

[Chach]

Nice work! Im Building one of these in the south burbs of Chicago.

[shanxk8]

Your oven looks great. How did your oven stand up to winter & snow? I'm as I've got to finish my oven and exterior in advance and am looking at all info on "winterizing" an oven.

Also, I have been experiencing an issue with posting pictures, sometimes. (Both from mobile and desktop. Mobile is easier, if it works, as it is the device the pictures are taken on)

David

[Gulf]

This a test from my iPhone

[Gulf]

I rembember that there were some problems with the android phones not storing the image in a format compatible with vB5. But, I thought that was fixed with the forum's last uprade.

[agrasyuk]

Hi Joe. my mobile is indeed Android. it was always a challenge to add pictures, but the other day i reached my frustration threshold and gave up. tonight a have a moment so please find screenshot attached. aside of the fact it has issues dealing with standard JPG files, notice misaligned controls (the "X") and some strange transparency. to upload the photo I ended up taking a screenshot of the picture, pasting into paint to save... not ideal.

grill area dome is complete, new sparkling stainless steel grates have arrived, need to cut and weld grate holder frame. Grill dome was a very interesting experience laying bricks on a slope without any support, almost defying gravity. last years experience doing oven dome definitely did help me prepare for this. at the very top mortared a ceramic lamp socket, should help with seeing the food being grilled during dark times of the day. some discoloration due to brick taking liquid from the very fresh vermicrete backing.
Aside of that I do have quite a progress on external brickwork, 4 electrical boxes will hold switches and 3 lighting fixtures. Currently working on both chimneys.

TY Chach. good luck on your project.

shanxk8, oven did not fall apart under snow weight and that already a plus since the vermicrete external dome is not watertight at all it did take a lot of moisture during the winter though, tarp that was covering it did get blown off a few times. for first few firings it took measurably longer to come to temp. i still have a summer ahead of me, hoping to build a roof as soon as possible