Casting practice - an oven of other type

[sergetania]

In my build thread, David has said something that made me stop and think. His argument for casting the dome and gallery separately was that I will learn a lot from casting a dome first before casting gallery. I thought that it was actually crazy for me with very little experience working with concrete to start even on just a dome. So I got an extra bag of castable concrete to practice. To make the casting practice relevant, I thought I would make another "oven". So I made a form... it looked weird. Anyone wants to guess what I am making?

[sergetania]

Overall, the casting itself went pretty good. I have progressed from sheer panic to feeling somewhat confident. Still, not sure I have achieved the optimal consistency of the concrete. I usually end up adding more water to a mix than is probably needed. When trying to form it around a corner patting one side pushed another one away from the form. Is that OK? Also, I run out of concrete so the top of the cast maybe too thin... but I didn't want to open another bag just to practice. Here is what the completed cast looked like. So what am I making?

[sergetania]

Here it is, demolded, a little (weighing only 60+ lbs) tabletop grill like they use to grill Japanese skewers. In a pinch, it could also be used as a planter.
I really pushed the concrete onto the mold as much as I could, pushed it and vibrated it. I think the walls are solid, the defects on the inner surface are rather cosmetic. Am I right? Do I need to change anything about how I cast it when I am casting a dome for the oven? Thanks!

[sergetania]

Made it portable (for two people carrying ). I will start curing fires in a day or two. The goal is to eat yakitori before pizza

[seannieboy71]

That looks really cool. Let us know how well it works.

I might have missed it, but did you use a castable refractory?

[sergetania]

Thanks! Yes, I got an extra bag just to practice when I got commercial castable refractory for the oven.

[sergetania]

I think I am done with curing fires. It's probably much easier to cure a rather small structure, much smaller compared to a dome of an oven. Got the temps into 500F with charcoal, strong concrete smell is gone. I don;t think it will get much hotter during normal use. I was surprised at how long and how hot the charcoal burnt. It would be gone in 20-30 minutes in a larger grill.

[sergetania]

A yakitori dinner naturally concludes this experiment.

[seannieboy71]

Looks delicious.

[sergetania]

It was delicious!

Thanks! It was a fun little project.