30" cast dome design

[sergetania]

Boogie-D,

Are you asking about the reveal(rebate) that the door rests against? Difference between the dome opening and inner walls of the entrance gallery? That is 1". Sorry if I misunderstood the question and you are asking about something else.

When I built the form I kept the template for the dome opening and then used it to create a template for the entrance tunnel by adding one inch and also to cut the door.

It's a 30" diameter dome. I used hot glue gun to attach forms to the bricks (art&crafts - my daughter thought that was fun). I also used silicon and that is a BAD idea, very difficult to remove silicon from bricks.

Plan thoroughly! Cheers!

[Boogie-D]

Aloha sergentania.... I read through your whole build... nice work... I am in the planning, about to begin phase and will be casting in 2 parts as you did... I have a quick question for you... when you did the first cast of the dome and you made the oven door mold above.. what was the size of your reveal from the oven opening to our outer edge of your form? ... is that 2 inches reveal? the size of your cast?

also is that form just free standing or did you attach it?? Thank serge... I enjoyed your build and the perfect paper mache form.. aloha

[sergetania]

Thanks! Ducks. Something different for Thanksgiving (and turkey is too big and not that great). Here is a chicken I did in the oven as training before I did ducks. That skin was delicious!

[Gulf]

Beautiful food pron. Are those spatched chickens?

[sergetania]

Hopefully this post will help others decide on the size of an oven to build. I did spend a lot of time trying to figure out if a 30" oven will be big enough for me. I think it is after cooking almost everything for the Thanksgiving dinner in the oven last week. Obviously, it is easy to fit a 12" pizza in the oven. For Thanksgiving, I had to cook dishes in 3 "shifts" cooking veggies(30-40 min) first, then the ducks (30 min) while keeping veggies warm and, finally, salmon and meat skewers on the grill (<10 min). Everything turned out VERY tasty, very happy with the oven. For size reference, 3 biggest cast iron pans are 12".

[sergetania]

Thanks, David! Got a vent and roofing sealer. Not planning to use in heavy rain. Hopefully I will be ok. Thanks again!

Do you have Thanksgiving?

[david s]

Weather conditions vary around the world, but where we live the oven is fine to handle some light rain without affecting the oven. After a few days of heavy rain or even prolonged humidity without rain, (we live in the tropics), the insulation gets quite moist and the oven’s performance drops off. In this case oven insulation picks up moisture from the air so any coating won’t stop that.
Any product you use to seal the oven will also prevent moisture from escaping as well as entering, so a vent is advisable. If you live in an area that has low humidity this may not be a problem. A couple of long slow fires soon restores the oven to normal again. Any waterproofing product you use will require UV protection so be careful if it is designed only for indoor use. A flexible product also has the ability to bridge cracks and cope with expansion issues.

[sergetania]

Thanks, Russell! Time to dig out the fishing rain gear!

[UtahBeehiver]

I have done it it the snow and rain, unless you will melt there should not be an issue.

[sergetania]

david s or anyone, with the oven painted with the waterproof flashing sealant, would that be OK to heat and use the oven in a rain shower/drizzle? I have no desire to stay there when it pours but if it is just a little rain? Thanksgiving is on Thursday and they say rain showers The food tastes so much better from the oven compared to the kitchen oven. Is it going to mess up the oven? Thanks!!!

[MarkJerling]

That looks super tidy! Well done!

[sergetania]

Painted the oven, it looks much better now. Heated it to 900F, made Neapolitan pizza, still not perfect (oven temp matters!). The oven is still standing, no new cracks! 3D-prined a foldable peel holder, turned out nicely (pics below). However, it is unavoidable that, with some sadness, I have to admit that I AM (almost) DONE!!! Bored already and the bad weather is just starting.... I wish I had a roof over the oven!

A HUGE "thank you" to david s , SableSprings , UtahBeehiver , handycrowd, Mullster, WoodywWun and everyone else who helped and shared knowledge, too many to mention here, no offense! I really had no idea what I am getting into when I started. Your help made it possible and I had so much fun doing it! THANK YOU, EVERYBODY!!!

[sergetania]

Thank you, Mike and David! I have tried and it was fun!

Love them birds, droppings is a small price to pay... Right until it's not so small.

From the experience, I am always worried when the first one turns out great! It leaves no room for improvement!

[david s]

Great job. The first pizza is never the best. A bit like the first pancake. Usually the floor is way too hot so cook it partially in the oven, partially in the entry. subsequent pizzas can be pushed further in, always maintain a live flame on the side. I see you've discovered the technique of preheating wood in the entry for maintaining the fire.

I'd say you can add the final acrylic sealant by now. The problem can be that moisture trapped in the outer shell layer can create blistering under the acrylic layer, but you should be good to go now.

And put a cowl on top of the flue pipe.

[SableSprings]

Great job on your oven Sergei! I'm glad to see you enjoying pizzas now (and very good looking ones I might add ). Since your oven has gone through the curing process and is obviously clearing completely, I can't imagine why you couldn't put on the acrylic sealant now. And yes, we all have made a sacrifice to the pizza gods...most often it's the extra loaded pizza toppings that hit the back wall when the pizza is "loaded with zeal" into the oven.

(When I have purchased a car, I've always wanted it to be as close as possible to the color of dirt...so the birds would ignore it...)