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I'm building a hand-formed dome oven on a 5x8 utility trailer. I purchased a trailer rated at holding over 2 tons and with brakes.
I've studied a lot of people's trailers and decided to use some of the advice of Dan Wing in his Technical Notes on building trailers for mobile masonry ovens. For the folks who don't know who Dan Wing is, he is the co-auther of the book The Bread Builders: Hearth Loaves and Masonry Ovens.
In any case, I'm using his advice regarding building a metal pan to hold the oven floor. In his notes, he states: "Form a 14 or 16 gauge sheet metal pan (4-5 inches deep) that will serve as the trailer ?bed.? It will also serve as the form for a) a thin insulating vermiculite/concrete or pumice/concrete layer and b) a thin, reinforced full strength slab that serves as your hearth base." My oven bed won't do double duty as the trailer bed. See the attached pictures.
I believe he means to pour a reinforced base slab first. Then, an insulating slab atop the base. Then firebrick atop the insulating slab. Does anyone read that differently?
I made my pan about 6" deep. The standard firebrick I will be using is 9" x 4-1/2" x 2-1/2". I will be laying it on the larger face, for a height of 2-1/2". That leaves about 3-1/2" for the base and insulating slabs.
I have several questions that I would love to get feedback on:
Do I worry about building a base slab at all since my metal pan has a sheet metal bottom that will hold whatever I put in it?
Do I use the entire ~3-1/2" for an insulating slab?
Should I use less insulation and add a little bit of mass beneath the firebrick?
The way I designed the pan, I could get away with adding more base/insulation. The firebrick would show a little more side than I had planned, is all.
Anyhow, I'd love to hear some thoughts. I've been lurking long enough. I'll post pics as I progress.
I've studied a lot of people's trailers and decided to use some of the advice of Dan Wing in his Technical Notes on building trailers for mobile masonry ovens. For the folks who don't know who Dan Wing is, he is the co-auther of the book The Bread Builders: Hearth Loaves and Masonry Ovens.
In any case, I'm using his advice regarding building a metal pan to hold the oven floor. In his notes, he states: "Form a 14 or 16 gauge sheet metal pan (4-5 inches deep) that will serve as the trailer ?bed.? It will also serve as the form for a) a thin insulating vermiculite/concrete or pumice/concrete layer and b) a thin, reinforced full strength slab that serves as your hearth base." My oven bed won't do double duty as the trailer bed. See the attached pictures.
I believe he means to pour a reinforced base slab first. Then, an insulating slab atop the base. Then firebrick atop the insulating slab. Does anyone read that differently?
I made my pan about 6" deep. The standard firebrick I will be using is 9" x 4-1/2" x 2-1/2". I will be laying it on the larger face, for a height of 2-1/2". That leaves about 3-1/2" for the base and insulating slabs.
I have several questions that I would love to get feedback on:
Do I worry about building a base slab at all since my metal pan has a sheet metal bottom that will hold whatever I put in it?
Do I use the entire ~3-1/2" for an insulating slab?
Should I use less insulation and add a little bit of mass beneath the firebrick?
The way I designed the pan, I could get away with adding more base/insulation. The firebrick would show a little more side than I had planned, is all.
Anyhow, I'd love to hear some thoughts. I've been lurking long enough. I'll post pics as I progress.
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