I think I'm creating a beast that may or may not be a great pizza oven. In any event it will look marvellous with 3 cast iron doors, and a stucco, terracotta look exterior. The build though is going to be challenging and I'll probably post quite a few questions through the process. I'm guessing this might be the most appropriate section of the forum? I'm not sure if anyone else has tried this, but I'd like to hear about it if so
The 'structure' is built for 4 chambers (even though I have to rebuild two of the interior 'floors'). Long ago it was modified from coal to oil. The cast iron doors are just too cool to mess with too much, other than heat paint. So my up to down plan is this: cook chamber, fire chamber, ash chamber, wood storage (no door).
The stove is between 4 and 5 feet high, and has a nice shape. The exterior is some kind of asbestos I'm guessing as its probably 100+ years old. There is a kind of paint or whatever that holds the semi-soft fibrous insulation together, but it is fragile. Below this outer layer is a DOUBLE wall (1.5 to 2" space between) steel or cast structure that is the bones of it all and quite remarkable (very heavy duty). The whole thing is basically a water jacket. This leaves the possibility of filling it with some kind of extra insulation down the road some.
My first task is to modify the top cook chamber. On the back side there is large flue opening, but the opening to this is inset to about 1/2 way into the chamber horizontally. The other half will be my cook area with a yet-to-be-determined type of cook base. The fire/gasses come up each side of this 'inner' flue and then horizontally into the opening. There are two large square tubes that criss cross the chamber and head to the ceiling double layer, so I've been cutting those out of the way with cutting grinders (not easy!). The base of the cook chamber is also the same kind of double wall water passage, so when I finish cutting out the square tubes, I'll also be cutting out the top layer of the base of this chamber. That still leaves me a dropped steel shelf to put in fire bricks or ??. As the fire will be below, I know its CRITICAL that I find a heat balance that will be hot enough to cook the the pizza bottom as well as the top. The flow of hot gasses through the chamber is yet to be determined as to suitability, so once I put this thing in place, I'll do some test fires to see how hot I can get it (including experimenting with different base materials). One nice thing about the lower steel plate (that is about a foot above where the fire will be) is that I could drill or cut holes in it to allow progressively more heat to the bottom of the cooking surface layer if that is what is required.
I'll stop here for now....going to be a quite a project... pictures soon...
The 'structure' is built for 4 chambers (even though I have to rebuild two of the interior 'floors'). Long ago it was modified from coal to oil. The cast iron doors are just too cool to mess with too much, other than heat paint. So my up to down plan is this: cook chamber, fire chamber, ash chamber, wood storage (no door).
The stove is between 4 and 5 feet high, and has a nice shape. The exterior is some kind of asbestos I'm guessing as its probably 100+ years old. There is a kind of paint or whatever that holds the semi-soft fibrous insulation together, but it is fragile. Below this outer layer is a DOUBLE wall (1.5 to 2" space between) steel or cast structure that is the bones of it all and quite remarkable (very heavy duty). The whole thing is basically a water jacket. This leaves the possibility of filling it with some kind of extra insulation down the road some.
My first task is to modify the top cook chamber. On the back side there is large flue opening, but the opening to this is inset to about 1/2 way into the chamber horizontally. The other half will be my cook area with a yet-to-be-determined type of cook base. The fire/gasses come up each side of this 'inner' flue and then horizontally into the opening. There are two large square tubes that criss cross the chamber and head to the ceiling double layer, so I've been cutting those out of the way with cutting grinders (not easy!). The base of the cook chamber is also the same kind of double wall water passage, so when I finish cutting out the square tubes, I'll also be cutting out the top layer of the base of this chamber. That still leaves me a dropped steel shelf to put in fire bricks or ??. As the fire will be below, I know its CRITICAL that I find a heat balance that will be hot enough to cook the the pizza bottom as well as the top. The flow of hot gasses through the chamber is yet to be determined as to suitability, so once I put this thing in place, I'll do some test fires to see how hot I can get it (including experimenting with different base materials). One nice thing about the lower steel plate (that is about a foot above where the fire will be) is that I could drill or cut holes in it to allow progressively more heat to the bottom of the cooking surface layer if that is what is required.
I'll stop here for now....going to be a quite a project... pictures soon...
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