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Record of my 32" Homebrew cast oven, on a brick base - West Midlands, UK

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  • Yes, I was lucky to be in the first wave for vaccination as my day job is in icu. Pizza oven a covid distraction!

    I would love a plasma cutter... Colin Furze style

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    • Cement board and vermicrete door finally crumbled, so decided to give my father an 'experience birthday present' as is the current vogue..... basically he can make me a stainless door. Used old door as a template. 2 pieces 1.5mm SS. Rear formed around MDF buck cut to size and hammered to form. Joints welded as shown (not strictly necessary). Front and rear held together with 4x SS bolts. SS threaded nipple welded on for thermometer. Handles bolted to rear of front plate (to minimise heat transfer). Core filled with spare CaSi insulation and bolted up. Will be adding glass fibre 'stove' rope to flange to make seal, as per old vermicrete one
      Last edited by Nick J C; 06-15-2021, 12:57 AM.

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      • NIce door! If you get a chance you might post in the "Show us your door thread" as that is where many folks go looking for inspiration and tips.
        My build thread
        https://community.fornobravo.com/for...h-corner-build

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        • The final door in situ
          Attached Files

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          • Neighbours have chopped down an enormous tree that was concealing/absorbing the smoke. Not complained about it, but wondering if anyone had any ideas on best ways to minimise smoke... it is mainly a problem when starting up, as it burns pretty clearly when up to temperature. I was wondering about whether extending the flue might help, or perhaps using smokeless fuel initially until hot..... Any views?

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            • For those interested.... the demise of the tree... exposing my little oven below
               

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              • Do you do a top down preheat burn under the chimney then push the fire in once the chimney is drafting well? Also overloading the wood while the oven is starting to heat causes smoking. Try these things before resorting to extending the flue. BTW, if refer to your build quite often to builders wanting to do a cast oven.
                Russell
                Google Photo Album [https://photos.google.com/share/AF1Q...JneXVXc3hVNHd3/]

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                • Thanks... I wasnt sure what you meant so googled it.... This seems to be 'top down' - i.e. small kindling on top down to larger beneath. No, I havent been doing that, so can give it a go, thankyou for the tip. I take it that I build this right at the front of the oven under the chimney.

                  Thanks for the referrals, I can see quite a few people have come across my project. BW Nick
                   

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                  • That is a top down start but I start mine right under the chimney vent then once the draft is good I take a garden hoe and push the stack farther into the dome chamber. Here's a top down burn on steroids and Jack Daniels distillery in Tennessee.

                    Click image for larger version

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                    Russell
                    Google Photo Album [https://photos.google.com/share/AF1Q...JneXVXc3hVNHd3/]

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                    • Nick,
                      You probably know this, but really well seasoned wood and smaller pieces help a lot to reduce the smoke.

                      Last fall I got some avocado wood for free, but had no idea how long ago it had been cut. I used a moisture meter (one of the pin types) and got to 12-14%, not too bad I thought, so I used it.
                      Lots of black, foul smelling smoke.
                      I tried a few times, but every time I put this wood on the fire I started getting dark black smoke.

                      Now, probably 10 months later, I just tried a piece of the wood again, and there is hardly any smoke. I'll carefully re-introduce this wood to see if it has seasoned enough.

                      I also now make a smaller fire to start with (with smaller pieces of wood) to get the oven going as Russell suggested above. It not only reduces the amount of smoke but also seems to use less wood overall.

                      I hope you got some firewood out of that tree your neighbors felled. That would last for a while.

                      Andreas


                      My oven build thread https://community.fornobravo.com/for...y-32-cast-oven

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                      • The book From the Wood-Fired Oven by Richard Miscovich goes into some detail on how to reduce smoke (between other things). It's a great book, I really recommend it.

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                        • Originally posted by Nick J C View Post
                          Up to date today - Reinforced slab completed, now need to wait for it to cure, so will move to preparing dome gallery formwork....Had time to do a bit of concrete mixer maintenance!
                          Looking at doing something similar myself for a base
                          Question, did you only look at using bricks for the base? Or did you explore steel frame?
                          To close in the cast for the concrete table top you used a piece of concrete board? Did you leave that in there after the cement was dry?

                          Thank you!

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