brickless dome on a shoestring oven

[michelevit]

Re: brickless dome on a shoestring oven

high temp concrete applied over the sand mold last night.
pics here....

Gallery | bricklessoven

now the hard part, waiting for it to set up.

[michelevit]

sand, bucket, bottle and can removed...

Pulled the sand, wine bottles, beer cans and 5 gallon bucket out of the oven.
Looks great. Will start curing fires asap in hopes of new years pizza.

entire gallery here...
Gallery | bricklessoven

any comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

[michelevit]

Re: sand, bucket, bottle and can removed...

Started small curing fires. the dome is slowly changing from wet concrete color to white. its hard restraining yourself from starting a large fire.
So far no cracks. Will insulate with Perlite before lighting a crazy fire.

Also removed the wood flue plug. Installed a common 6 inch wide, 36 inch long steel vent and it works great. ($7)

Will create a flue cap out of a used stainless salad bowl.

Pulled the sand, wine bottles, beer cans and 5 gallon bucket out of the oven.
Looks great. Will start curing fires asap in hopes of new years pizza.

entire gallery here...
Gallery | bricklessoven

any comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

[Archena]

Re: brickless dome on a shoestring oven

Congratulations!

[cannyfradock]

Re: brickless dome on a shoestring oven

Michelevit

Love your "brickless dome on a shoestring oven" thread. I also built mine on a shoestring, but had reclaimed bricks, so my build was quite different in construction to yours. The principle still remaines the same.........To build a functioning wood-oven with the minimum of cost, using what materials are at hand.

Hav'nt posted on this thread until now, but have followed from the first post and wish you every success in completion of your project.

Terry (C.F)

[michelevit]

Re: brickless dome on a shoestring oven

Oven now looks nice and white. There was sustained small and medium fires over the weekend.
If all goes well we will insulate with Perlite this afternoon.
Might have a pizza fire by this Christmas, well ahead of our New Years deadline.
Look for more pictures soon.

Thanks for all the comments and advice.

[michelevit]

Re: brickless dome on a shoestring oven

pics of insulation and flue.
next stucco and finish work.

[fxpose]

Re: brickless dome on a shoestring oven

Looking good so far!
Are you going to offer free pizzas to the apartment dwellers behind your property in lieu of paying The Smoke Tax?

[david s]

Re: brickless dome on a shoestring oven

Be careful that your perlite layer is really dry before you stucco. You end up adding gallons of water to this layer and the steam it can generate is considerable. Best to wait a week at least before stucco, then keep the stucco layer damp for a week by wrapping it in clingwrap or damp burlap.

[JoeyVelderrain]

Re: brickless dome on a shoestring oven

Is the Perlite supposed to be applied loosely on top of the dome or does it need to be packed down,compressed?

That is my next step.

[david s]

Re: brickless dome on a shoestring oven

If you are doing an enclosure you can add it loose. If you are doing an igloo you need to add something (cement probably) to bind the perlite (or vermiculite) together so it will stay in place.

[JoeyVelderrain]

Re: brickless dome on a shoestring oven

If you are doing an enclosure you can add it loose. If you are doing an igloo you need to add something (cement probably) to bind the perlite (or vermiculite) together so it will stay in place.

I should have explained my question better.
I am applying the perlcrete wet, but do I need to pack it down on top of the dome or just kind of slop it up on top?

[david s]

Re: brickless dome on a shoestring oven

Compressing it too much will reduce its insulation capacity. I usually just pat it with the flat of a trowel to get a nice shape.

[michelevit]

Re: brickless dome on a shoestring oven

Cooked pizza!

Our original deadline was new years, but fires were lit
and cooked 6 pies, roasted bell peppers, and made awesome
chicken and linguisa sausages on Dec 27th

the oven performed beautifully.
Pics below.

[michelevit]

Re: brickless dome on a shoestring oven

Another firing of the oven last night.
This time with a an even hotter fire. Flames shooting out of the flue.
The dome goes white just like a brick oven. Floor and wall temps over 900 degrees according to my IR gun.

No cracks or failure in the dome. New Years Pizza Party is a go.

Here are some pics of the oven and a homemade peel/turner