Another Texas oven

[christo]

Re: Another Texas oven

Love that firewood tray!!!! Very nice!

Christo

[Ken524]

Re: Another Texas oven

Beautiful oven, Wade.
Thanks for posting the details about your stucco!

[Chris]

Re: Another Texas oven

Looks great! Now that the weather is cooling off, I have resumed work on the oven. You have inspired me to get it done and post some pictures.

[rlf5]

Re: Another Texas oven

OK, I am ready to take my lumps about my masonary technique.

Finally getting around to posting some more progress. I have the dome almost finished. I will be capping the dome with a poured piece of KS-4 (about 9" in dia) instead of the jumble of cut pieces. I am tired of cutting bricks and thought I would take a short cut.

Sorry, James, I did not take alot of pictures of the casting of the vent transition. I was a little to eager to cast it and I was using more KS-4 than I wanted to so the transition looks pretty ugly and I cut it short of true round. Will try and cast an extension when I pour the dome cap. KS-4 by the way is awesome stuff. It is so dense that when I hit it with a hammer it makes a nice ping, like when you hit a block of steel. If I were to do another I would cast the entire vent arch opening with it. Don't use aluminium foil as a mold release by the way. Found out is sticks incredibly well to KS-4 and it has taken alot of work to get only about 60% off.

Notes about my frankenstien. My expanding arch opening was not as much a pain to make as I thought, but it is making the vent transition difficult. We will see how well it pulls the smoke later and I hope it makes moving around the peel and tools easier. You will notice an unusual shape to the dome. I started out with 1/2 bricks and after reading posting here I decided to transition to 1/3 bricks near the top. The 8th ring is made with alternating 1/2 and 1/3 bricks, hence the unusual shape. Thought I had enough thermal mass and would not hurt to make the top of the dome a bit lighter.

Wade

Where did you get your KS-4 from? I'll most likely be casting my vent, and possibly the top of my dome. Thanks.

RF

[Kemo]

Re: Another Texas oven

Wade,

That looks great! I will use a similar style to finish out. I love the limestone with stucco. Nice touch with the lone star...how bout I just copy your design and be done with it...

excellent!

[wlively]

Re: Another Texas oven

RF

I bought my KS-4 here;
KS-4 PLUS (CASTABLES)

You can see a good picture of my "plug" here;
http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/8/ca....html#post9230


One 50 lb bucket was just enough to do the dome plug (with a full size brick inside) and the vent transition. I probably should have bought 2 buckets. Don't forget the stainless needles and that you will need to at least cure the dome plug in your kitchen oven. My vent trantion was a bit too cumbersome to try and fit in my oven. I figured with the heat flow path it would be fairly slow to get to temp, so I could get by without oven curing. Looks like I was right since my vent has no cracks.

Wade,

That looks great! I will use a similar style to finish out. I love the limestone with stucco. Nice touch with the lone star...how bout I just copy your design and be done with it...

excellent!

Thanks, I must say I am pretty pleased with the way it turned out. There were more than a few times I wasn't so sure. Feel free to copy away! I have "appropriated" a few oven and airplane ideas from other builders as well, but sshhh don't tell anyone.

[rlf5]

Re: Another Texas oven

RF

One 50 lb bucket was just enough to do the dome plug (with a full size brick inside) and the vent transition....

You say bucket, but website has everything in 55lb sacks. Are they just putting it in sacks now instead of a bucket? Also, is this a dry mix or wet? Thanks!

[wlively]

Re: Another Texas oven

Yes I assume they are the same. It said 50lb bag when I bought mine, but arrived in a 50lb plastic bucket, same stuff. Could have been 55lb, it has been a while. Is is dry and you add water to mix. A set of mixing instructions came attached to the bucket. I had to search and download the manuf spec sheet to get the temp curing schedule. I may still have it somewhere, so if you are unable to find it, let me know and I will look for my copy.

[rlf5]

Re: Another Texas oven

Yes I assume they are the same. It said 50lb bag when I bought mine, but arrived in a 50lb plastic bucket, same stuff. Could have been 55lb, it has been a while. Is is dry and you add water to mix. A set of mixing instructions came attached to the bucket. I had to search and download the manuf spec sheet to get the temp curing schedule. I may still have it somewhere, so if you are unable to find it, let me know and I will look for my copy.

Wade

If its not too much trouble could you look for yours? I tried to search for it online but wasn't able to come up with anything. I think I'm gonna go ahead and order two sacks. I'll probably end up casting the vent, transition, and dome cap. Thanks again!

RF

[wlively]

Re: Another Texas oven

RF

Here is the document I used;
http://www.hwr.co.uk/members/products/M&U%20KS4.pdf

I just converted the temps to F. I wanted a good long cure so I added an extra hr at 500 deg and started in the early evening so I could just turn the oven off and go to bed. That way it could coast down in the oven overnight.

I also just found this document already in F, but it is slightly different.
http://www.hwr.com/products/mixingv1/KS-4.pdf

Happy casting and have fun.

[waynebergman]

Re: Another Texas oven

Way to go Wade! Oven is looking great. I hope to follow the top of the dome treatment you used. I think I am about a month or so behind you. Looking forward to that first fire as well........wayne

[fullback66]

Re: Another Texas oven

very nice oven.
fb66

[wlively]

Door and very interesting observation

Howdy and Merry Xmas all

I finally got around to making my door this week. I cut a piece of Durock, then sunk 3 coarse screws to help hold the perlcrete. Mixed up a batch of 4-1 perlcrete and poured on top of the Durock. Cured 48 hrs outside and then overnight in the kitchen oven. Wrapped in heavy duty foil and attached cedar wood and handles for finish. We will see how it works in 2 days.

I made a very interesting discovery today. Abbout 6 months ago, I noticed 2 typical small stair step cracks up the side of the dome, no worries. I used a bright light to inspect for changes, ect today and found something surprising. The cracks do not go all the way up, but stop at the first course where I went from 1/2 thick bricks to 1/3 brick. From the first 1/3 brick course up to the top there are no cracks of any kind. Going to have to really think on this one. My cast dome plug looks as good as the day it was cast, definitely something I would do again.

[crowtrapper]

Re: Another Texas oven

Sorry folks I've come in a bit late on this one - what is KS-4? Sounds like something I needed, I have just finished my 42" dome today with a flurry of brick cutting - it looks pretty terrible actually, I used half bricks all the way and sure enough it was ok up to about the 4th course but after that the overlaps and gaps got rather noticeable. However it is all done now, and awaiting an insulation layer of vermiculite/cement. One thing I am not sure about though - do I need aluminium foil or other insulation over the dome before the vermiculite mix is poured on it? If so, why?

[Kemo]

Re: Another Texas oven

my brother in law used a layer of foil between his bricks and the vermiculite. he said it would help with the insulation and also allow a "slip" area for the two different layers as they will probably expand at different rates. It sounded like a good plan to me and his oven cooks great.

on my oven, I used the ceramic blanket for the first layer of insulation. I then secured it down with chicken wire and put an additional inch of vermiculite mix. in my mind, the insulative blanket provides the same "slip" but with the added benefit of insulation.

oh, and dont worry about how the oven "looks". once you get the thing up and running, I doubt you will spend too much time in there looking at the underside of the dome

I have been kinda on a small haitus from the forno bravo board, have you started a thread or posted any pics? I would love to see the progress of your oven.