Christo's Cucina

[christo]

Re: Christo's Cucina

Haven't worked on the oven in a while. Had a business trip to Hong Kong that interrupted things....

While travelling - Hendo happened to be in the same area. He went out of his way (ditched his family and got out of some shopping....) and met me for a beer at my hotel. He is a smart and funny guy. More of that later.

I can tell I'm anxious to get this over. I'm cutting corners (litterally) and not taking the time I used to take to get things done. As a result, my chimney opening looks a bit toothy. I'm happy with the taper on the bricks but could have spent a bit more time truing up the opening. My wife says "who's going to see that?" - I know it will be there..... bygones

So on to the outer arch; terra cotta vent; and chimeny. All went very well. Really nice to be done with the firebrick part of this exercise. I had to lay a few scraps of firebrick on the arch to fill in some holes left by the trapezoid shape of the vent arch. It freaked me out to have to trim the mortared together halves of the vent with the grinder but they held together just fine.

Christo

[christo]

Re: Christo's Cucina

Thanks RT!

I either stole that from Dave during his Rumford build or saw it on the rumford site he mentioned. I spent way too much time researching and reading about this than actually doing it!!!!!

The arch went pretty smootly - not as precise as I wanted - somehow reassembly made some differences. It looked great dry fitted.....

With all the smoke on the opening worries that I have - I wanted to do everything I could to have a smooth draw. I'll put a matching bevel on the other side as well.

Christo

[RTflorida]

Re: Christo's Cucina

Yet another great idea I wish I had seen a month ago - cutting the bricks at a 45 degree to promote draw up the chimney. Although mine seems to draw fine, I do have a bit of smoke coming out the entry on start up.
As we keep saying, GREAT planning and execution.

RT

[dmun]

Re: Christo's Cucina

I didn't use any buttressing on the side of my opening: I plan to pour in some vermiculite concrete, but I don't think that's too structural.

[christo]

Re: Christo's Cucina

left the arch mocked up and cut the terracotta tile to make a transistion. I will glue up the Terracotta tonight.

Then - cut compound tapers on the arch and it seems to work well.

Cut an angle on the arch bricks and put one end under the door opening to support the dome. The center bricks were cut at 45 to encourage smoke to travel up the opening.

Tommorrow - finishing up the second half of the arch.

Question for today - do I need to add some kind of butressing to the sides of the opening to support the arch?

Thanks

Christo

[christo]

Re: Christo's Cucina

Stuart,

The oven went up quickly, but we spent most of our time on the foundation and base.

I believe that the precast units you mentioned probably go up a day or two faster than the Geodesic build we did with the added benefit of prebuilt vent and entry arches available.

Prebuilding - I bet I spent a good 8 hours cutting little triangles out of bricks. On another day, It took us 2 hours to glue up the little triagles to the top of the individual bricks. I let them set for 3 or 4 days to cure before cutting them in to their tapered triangle shape. I made one hex and one pent jig. I put the pieces in a bucket to soak while I mixed the mortar and made one of each per day over the course of several days. Total elapsed time from start to finish of this phase was close to a month.

Foundation/Hearth/Dome - For vacation, we started the foundation on Monday; laid the base blocks on Tuesday; poured the upper pad on Wed; ended up with laying the floor and installing the first ring on Thursday; Worked about half a day on Friday and almost completed the dome; Worked about 2 hours on Saturday and filled in the last pieces of the dome. Seems like we spent as much time cleaning brick as laying brick on the last 2 days.

Vent and Enclosure - In the 2 weekends since then we've been super busy and I've only added the walls to the entry to support the chiminey flue - not started the vent arch - in hindsight casting that in advance would have saved me a lot of time. I plan to have fun with an tapered vent arch and traditonal brick entry arch in the next couple of days. Cutting the tapers to make the vent arch should be good..... On a whim, we had sunk some 1/4 inch galv carriage bolts into the hearth pad during the original pour to attach the metal studs - seemed to work quite well......

Christo

[jahysea]

Re: Christo's Cucina

Sooooo... I must finally weigh in... I'm Christo's bro-in-law... and had an amazing (and exhausting) time working with him on the oven. Yes, with the help of some chemical assistance from time to time...

Since you seem to like the oven... how can we get a discount on some Lindemans Char????? My wife is also a fan!

Well, the repeal of prohibition set some strict laws in place. North Carolina has a strict 3 tier system. We can ship CA wines direct to consumers, but pretty sure not Australian imports. How about send me your address and shirt sizes in a private message and I'll send you some apparel for future oven building?

[stuart]

Re: Christo's Cucina

That was quite an accomplishment getting that oven put up in 5 days! I live in a community with a very watchful HOA, which has compelled me to buy either a Casa or Artigiano (size versus aesthetics cost comparison). I've wanted to build my dome all along but fear the work will drag on too long and the HOA, some members of which are neighbors will come down on me, my wife wants it done quick too.

But each time I see the geo dome pictures of your oven and Dave's, I start to rationalize... "I could pre build all the sub components etc in the secrecy of my garage area..." Now all I need is a brother in law with some aptitude, he's got the beer though!

[Gregorio]

Re: Christo's Cucina

Sooooo... I must finally weigh in... I'm Christo's bro-in-law... and had an amazing (and exhausting) time working with him on the oven. Yes, with the help of some chemical assistance from time to time...

Since you seem to like the oven... how can we get a discount on some Lindemans Char????? My wife is also a fan!

Very very impressive. You did an absolutely beautiful job, are you also a watchmaker in your non-spare time?....

My hands hurt just to look at all the brick cuts.

And..



Lastly.. As an actual real life official representative of the maker of Lindemans Chardonnay, thanks for the plug and being a fan.

[RTflorida]

Re: Christo's Cucina

Gutsy move. Although I did alot of leaning on my dome during construction and a bit of banging, pushing, prodding after it was done; I didn't have the guts to actually climb on top like that. Although I am very confident in my building skills, I just didn't have it in me
Although I cut each brick to fit, I didn't put in near the time or effort that you did with your geodesic dome - it would have devistated me if I had climbed on top and something "happened"
GREAT job, LOTTA guts, and most of all - thanks for sharing

RT

[jahysea]

Re: Christo's Cucina

Very very impressive. You did an absolutely beautiful job, are you also a watchmaker in your non-spare time?....

My hands hurt just to look at all the brick cuts.

And..

I would also like to thank the makers of Blue Moon, Lindemans Chardonnay, and Ibuprohen without whose help this oven would not be possible!!!

Lastly.. As an actual real life official representative of the maker of Lindemans Chardonnay, thanks for the plug and being a fan.

[christo]

Do not try this at home

Playing around with the oven.

Our wives did not share our sense of humour.....

A big thanks out to my brother in law who kept me sane, kept me focused, and who kept a beer in my hand!!!

Note - My oven did crack after a couple firings - I have no idea if this prank caused the issues but wanted to issue a disclaimer - CS 12/4/09

Christo

[christo]

Re: Christo's Cucina

Thanks Dave!

I tried to learn from your experience and incorporate yours and others insight into building this oven. I feel having exactly flat polygons and making them the exact shape they needed to be was a big help. Leaving some of the polygons unassembled made the last part of the build go relatively smootly (until I slipped and knocked the entire oven entry down - just practice for the final time).

I also want to thank James and the rest of the folks on this list who directly or indirectly provided input to this project.

I would also like to thank the makers of Blue Moon, Lindemans Chardonnay, and Ibuprohen without whose help this oven would not be possible!!!

This is a great list!!!

Christo

[dmun]

Re: Christo's Cucina

Boy that looks great. I think your parts fit together better than mine did:



I was definitely not smiling at that stage in the proceeedings.

[christo]

Re: Christo's Cucina

The rest of the dome build went fairly smoothly.

The oven looks very high off the ground, but we are putting in a patio and 8 inches of gravel sand and brick will level it off to a nice height.

The last triangle to go in was custom cut to fit into the hole as I had evidently lost a triangle or miscut one somewhere else. It was about 1/4 inch wider on one end than the other triangles. Over all very pleased with the level of sub assmebly we did and the piecework with triangles at the end. I am getting out very easy as the second time around build!!!!

Almost fell off the front of the opening while working inside the oven on the last few pieces.

More to follow!!!

Christo