32" Cast Build

[iijakii]

Started on my base yesterday. Instead of doing a typical grout installation I was reading about this wall cement called Quikwall, basically a structural stucco I guess. Figured that'd be quick and easy but boy was I wrong! That stuff was impossible to work with. Came out alright but I'll be skimcoating it in the future to pretty it up a bit to be sure.





Was originally going to do a standard square base but as I was stacking blocks I figured this would give me more support for the top and eliminate needing to get complicated with crossmember lintels or what not. Plus utilizes the corner more. Still have plenty of room for storing wood there in the little cubbies. Going to pour the tabletop tomorrow hopefully, if not the coming weekend. When looking at it from the side, where it's an X shape, it's 48" wide, so I'm able to make a very easy form out of a 4x8 sheet of melamine. Probably wind up regretting not building a structure and pouring in place, but I figure 4 guys oughta be able to lift a 600lb slab.

[iijakii]

Found a guy on Craigslist selling both dense & insulating castable for $25 a bag. He also had firebricks and some insulating boards.

[salvatorecostello]

Are you in Portland? Did they have more castable? If so would you mind posting the link, I haven't been able to find it.

[iijakii]

Are you in Portland? Did they have more castable? If so would you mind posting the link, I haven't been able to find it.

Sorry didn't see this until just now. I don't have the guy's number anymore, was on my old phone. He was out in Estacada somewhere.

[iijakii]

So finally got around to this again after not doing anything since April. Goes quick once you actually work on it, Slab to insulated oven in a week!

So laid a 4.5" or so thick pad of the insulating refractory:



Made the sand dome and had some real trouble getting newspaper to stay in place so just casted it right on the sand. The castable was really funky to work with, but luckily the inside is very smooth and the outside is getting covered!

[iijakii]

I had trouble with the flue gallery and getting it shaped right. Unfortunately it also shifted during casting and now it's all cockeyed. Oh well.



Started my first fire in it last night. The spec sheet on the refractory said to expect steam but if you see any "steam spouts" to back off. Didn't see any spouts but it sure got steamy in places. Where there wasn't steam the outside was very cool, so hoping I don't need to do another layer of insulation.



Tonight I am going to buy the exhaust stack and will fit that in and insulate. Next week will stucco and hopefully paint it. I saw a post on here the other week with someone painting theirs black for the flue neck and then an earthen orange on the rest, and I really liked that. Can't find the picture again. Might copy that idea.

Any advice on what to do to protect the exposed insulation slab? Can I just pour concrete right next to it? Was wondering if that'd cause issues from soaking all the water out of it before curing. Here's a better picture of the space I have leftover. I didn't plan it out well heh.



Overall pretty happy with my build. I'm not very handy or great at planning projects which shows!

[iijakii]

Still need to brush out sand. Think I'll be doing that for another 3 hours before cooking anything...

[iijakii]

I guess the insulation is pretty adequate.





I got the chimney installed yesterday. Going to break it in and make some pizza tonight and then start stuccoing. A little curious how that's gonna go. The vermiculite stuff is a bit crumbly. overall Hope I can stucco without it flaking off much. Wonder if I need to do a runny skim coat first just to glue it down a bit. Never worked with stucco so I'll have to do some research for sure.

[iijakii]

Delicious!. Dough was a bit sloppy since I did it on my lunch break and didnt do many folds at all so shaping didn't work, but that just adds to the charm of course. Need to practice some fire management. I made 4 over half an hour while messing with fires and they all had pros and cons on bottom versus sides cooking time.