Boogie’s cast 37inch WFO Hawaii

[Gulf]

...... also after thinking it through going to install a ground slab under my cmu stand/walls... so need to do a lot of digging first to achieve that.....

Not knowing your soil conditions, nor the depth of a solid surface under that, I think that is a good decision.

[Boogie-D]

Aloha!!! Finally the peices are coming together.... The 2inch CalSil blocks arrived from Plastered in Missouri... The 3inch Super duty fire bricks and the 1inch ceramic fiber blanket arrived from California PTI thermal solutions... and I was able to purchase 4 Inch foamglas blocks at Unitek Hawaii / Oahu.... I have just about everything I need now... the last bit is some just the rebar and the white Portland cement and the sand...

I bit the bullet on the concrete slab and cinder blocks walls... I’ll be going with the classic u shaped block wall over a reinforced 5 1/2 inch slab.. all the cmu and concrete is on site.. I had to do a lot of digging to level the hillside area and in the process as you will see in the pictures I hit a vein of basalt... if you are wondering about my soil content it is heavy hard Hawaiian red clay... I swear you could make bricks with this stuff.... ad sand and straw then bake... Adobe... and under this red clay is a slab of basalt... the rear wall is somewhat of a retaining wall and I’ll do some kind of waterproofing to the cinder block as well as install some drainage around the u shape before back filling and installing the final rocks...

I about to form up and pour the base... but first I am getting a jack hammer from a friend to break up that basalt vein marked in green before I install my form... I need to level it better... compress the soil... add some sand... maybe a moisture barrier underneath? But getting close to pouring the slab..

another big mission is the landscaping behind the oven... as you see we tamed and cleared the wild jungle and planted beautiful star apples behind the oven... as well as other fruit trees and plants... I made a trail up to a future bird house... my wife is a wild bird rehabilitater.... so making the area around the oven beautiful and that alone has been a lot of work... I’ll keep you updated as I go... aloha

[Boogie-D]

I have done a design template that I want to share with you... the sizing of my oven revolves around the size of the fire bricks I could reasonably get to Hawaii and to simplify the cutting process.... 5 @ 18x18 oven floor fire bricks... 36x36 total for the dome... plus the one for the galley... I chose an inner diameter of 33 1/2 inches as to fit it onto the 36 inch fire bricks... here is the layout.... everything look ok? Let me know your thoughts... thank you

[UtahBeehiver]

Is there a reason why the entry is so deep? This deep of entry makes it harder to access the dome cooking area. If you look at David S cast ovens he advocates a shallower vent chamber.

[Boogie-D]

Yes Russell I am seeing that... I just laid it out that way as that is the size of my bricks... I can easily cut that landing brick back to make it easier on my back... @ david s what would your recommendation be for my length of entry/galley?... by cutting that entry brick back, and with the cut offs I could essential make a wider opening.... but I think 15 inch is sufficient wide?... it looks like with the height formula I will be at a 10.5 inch high opening... (16.75 hgt x 63%)
15 inch wide x 10.5 inch high a very tight squeeze for my big Dutch oven

I appreciate all the feed back as to get my correct sizing and make any needed adjustments now... then I can see if that affects my foundation lay outs.... I see some people like a space/ shelf between the front entrance?... and some don’t?... thoughts? I think over all a shorter working distance to the oven will be good for this old back.. and maybe form in a concrete wing/ self off to the side of the entrance.. I really like the look of oven tables that have curves in them as shelves/work area... really appreciate you guys... been doing a lot of reading... picture looking... FB free plan reading... but advise straight from the pros is very awesome... thank you

[Kris S]

... but I think 15 inch is sufficient wide?... it looks like with the height formula I will be at a 10.5 inch high opening... (16.75 hgt x 63%)
15 inch wide x 10.5 inch high a very tight squeeze for my big Dutch oven

Absolute newbie here, but from what I've read on the forum even a 30" oven can have a 19" opening width without issues. I plan to use it on my 28" i.d. oven so I guess you surely can go with your 33.5" i.d.

[Boogie-D]

I made some progress today... I went into Honolulu to pick up my fire bricks and fire blanket from the dock.... holy cow 18x18x3 fire bricks are heavy... wow,,, but all the bricks made it in one piece from Los angels to Honolulu (1 week), no cracks or breaks... I ordered 1 extra brick just in case one broke in shipping... so now I got 1 extra 18x18 brick to work with...

I got home in time to do some jackhammering on that basalt vein with a friend.... We probably didn’t have to since I will most likely shorten my dome entry length and table length.... but we went for it any way and had some good cowboy fun playing around with big boy tools... it took us about an hour to chip out that small piece in green above... from moving 90 pound fire bricks to slamming 90 pound jack hammer, I got a good work out today... feeling that hammer... I can tell you this, volcanic basalt is fricking hard and a big vein runs just underneath my oven foundation slab... it’s not how you get there, it’s the journey... enjoy the ride... lol

david s getting closer to pouring the foundation if I can get a grip on my dome entry length and width... do you have a recommendation for me at 33.5 ID x 16.75 height??... thinking 10.5 inches high opening based on the formula?.. but what would be a good size width and length for my entry? I am thinking, for longer heat retention times that I desire, a smaller opening and door has that benefit... but there’s got to be a balance of practical working space... I would fully appreciate your knowledge and advice here as for width and length of my dome entry way...

[Boogie-D]

You know that feeling... when your all in... no turning back.... sick feeling in your stomach.... this has to work or I am screwed.... lololol you know!!... quick cost analysis to get the knot in the belly tighter...

$200 2 inch CalSil blocks from plastered in Missouri
$482 dollars 6 @ 8x8x3 super duty fire bricks, 1 roll 1inch ceramic fiber blanket, and 1 @ 1 inch cordeirite cooking stone PTI thermal LA
$265 to ship above from LA to HNL
$208 4 inch Foamglas blocks local Unitek pearl city
$200 in cmu block roughly
$150 in concrete roughly
$150 sand, gravel, clay vermiculite, perlite., lime roughly..
$1655 total

and I still need a lot of type 1 white Portland cement, a lot of sand, polypropylene burn out fibers??... chimney? Rebar
I am thinking this will be close to $2,500 when it all done... ha probably a lot more with granit install final coats.. cmu block finish work..

no turning back now... I have to complete.... thank you all for sharing your build, the good and bad..... and for all the input helping me to build the best I can... Mahalo

[Boogie-D]

aloha FB crew.... I have been doing a lot of reading and narrowing in on a size for my oven galley... based on my 33.5” oven and 16.75” oven height I will going with an oven opening height of 10.5 inches... but now leaning towards a 19 inch wide oven opening... I can see in sergie’s build this 19 inch opening width makes it easier to move pots and pans around the oven as I intend to... but I also want good heat retention for multi day cooking (door size comes in play?)...

Question 1) any thoughts on a 19” oven opening width for my oven applications...? or any recommendation for the size of my oven opening width based on my application?

Question 2) of the utmost importance right now is the exact galley floor length for foundation planning..... I see galley length is based on chimney diameter.... and I also see that there is conflicting advice on the chimney diameter size for my 33.5 oven.. I see that smaller diameter has a better draw... so I am leaning towards a 6 inch diameter chimney.... is 6” the correct chimney diameter for my 33.5 oven???

this galley planning affects my slab foundation and my supporting table lengths... so I can’t begin the foundation till I finalize my oven floor plan and know the exact length of my galley... as this affects the length of my supporting table.... and foundation!!! my planning thought is once I get the correct chimney dimension ... I’ll add 5-6 inches to that for casting... and then I’ll be able to plan my galley floor length ... for example if 6” chimney diameter is used I’ll add 5-6 inches for casting making my galley 11-12 inches long...

in the picture above of my plan, Russell points out that my 18 inch oven floor galley is to long... please please help me figure out the proper galley floor length so I can begin my build.. I am so anxious to get started... Thank You Very Much... I fully appreciate all the comments, advice, and help.... MAHALO

[Boogie-D]

Ok I think I got it... 6 inch pipe... galley floor as shallow as possible for ease of working the oven... since I am casting a 2 1/2 inch thick dome... I’ll make galley floor 11-12 inches... 6 inch pipe plus 5 inch on casting.... stop me now if this isn’t right gonna start cutting wood soon for my foundation slab... thank you

[MarkJerling]

That's looking good. Based on your floor size, of 33.5" dia. I would be making the inner door arch width about 16.5". Nothing stopping you going a little wider, say 18 inches x 10.5 inches high.
Your internal dia. of 33.5" will give you the ability to make two 12" pizzas at a time. An entry arch depth (inner and outer arch) of about 16" will work OK, but I'd guard against having a deeper arch than that as it becomes harder to maneuver the pizza peels to place the pizza just where you want it.

[Boogie-D]

After a lot of reading and scouting through post written eons ago this is my new floor design... please look and critique... it’s based on David S theory of a short flue galley for ease of cooking/working... I will be going with an 18 inch wide oven entry... the size of by bricks... I’ll cast over the floor bricks to the foamglass.. the outer line is my foamglas and I will lay the 2 inches of fire blanket on that... I am pretty keen on a 6” stainless steel chimney... cast and attached how David S does with 3 tabs....... my landing is much shorter now... and the oven door frame goes into the inner diameter 1 1/2 inches.... this gives me a total 12 inches of galley floor of which 6 3/4 inches extends beyond the center of the dome casting... I left a 2 1/2 inch space for casting decorative entry arch... and a 2 inch concrete reveal....

the important aspect of this is exercise is that I lose a whole block on my block stand... and also decrease the size of both foundation and table... it’s so very important to completely finalize my floor plan before I begin..

thanks for looking and sharing your knowledge... I truly appreciate it... aloha boogie

[Kris S]

Hi Boogie-D, looks like we're almost using the same template here. This answers my vent gallery length question as well!

Can I ask what circle is the inner diameter on your drawing, as I can see 4 of them?
What i'm really interested in is the distance between the edge of your chimney and the inner diameter circle. In my drawing the chimney edge (the one facing towards the oven, not away outwards) would just overlap or touch the inner edge of the dome. but in your template it looks like it's a little further inwards? probably to achieve the shorter flue gallery as described by David S?

thanks in advance!

edit: added picture of what I mean: on the left is what my build would look like, is the drawing on the right what your going to do? if so, how deep inside the dome inner edge
do you build?

[Boogie-D]

Aloha Kris.... on my drawing above the inner circle is my inner diameter.... so as per your drawing I am the one on the left... my chimney just touches the edge of the inside diameter... when I form the sand dome and make my oven entry I am going to shove the form inside the sand dome at least 1 1/2 inches as you can see in my drawing... David s says he’s a fan of shoving the form deep inside the sand.. this keeps the flue galley shorter... I think I read his is like 5-7 inches.. and I suppose the more you insert the form into the dome you could get your chimney more like the picture on the right....

this is my first build kris and am no expert... I am waiting for any of the moderators to chime in on mine... but I am liking the look of my new template... and my my flu galley went down to 6 3/4 inches from a whopping 15 -18 inches... so i think I am in the right path here... I don’t mind a bit of a galley to warm or cook... I am just waiting for moderator approval because want to get my floor plan right before I start as it affects table size and everything underneath... then I am off to the race tracks... cheers Kris....

[MarkJerling]

After a lot of reading and scouting through post written eons ago this is my new floor design... please look and critique... it’s based on David S theory of a short flue galley for ease of cooking/working... I will be going with an 18 inch wide oven entry... the size of by bricks... I’ll cast over the floor bricks to the foamglass.. the outer line is my foamglas and I will lay the 2 inches of fire blanket on that... I am pretty keen on a 6” stainless steel chimney... cast and attached how David S does with 3 tabs....... my landing is much shorter now... and the oven door frame goes into the inner diameter 1 1/2 inches.... this gives me a total 12 inches of galley floor of which 6 3/4 inches extends beyond the center of the dome casting... I left a 2 1/2 inch space for casting decorative entry arch... and a 2 inch concrete reveal....

the important aspect of this is exercise is that I lose a whole block on my block stand... and also decrease the size of both foundation and table... it’s so very important to completely finalize my floor plan before I begin..

thanks for looking and sharing your knowledge... I truly appreciate it... aloha boogie

The only comment I'll make at this stage Boogie, is that you consider having your floor tile joins on the diagonal. It makes it less likely to hit a slight lip when you slide your pizza peel in. But, I also realise that there's a certain simplicity for the landing floor by going square on. Those are beautiful big floor tiles. If you can level them up perfectly then the join direction probably won't matter.