Christo's Cucina

[christo]

herring bone floor is finished

We mixed up fireclay and applied it to the new hearth with a notched trowel. We were going to apply a layer of foil over the clay to create a moisture barrier between the hearth and the iso board, but it had rained the night before and the iso board was soaked (and heavy). We opted out of the foil and placed the board on the clay. The board became very stable.

As the board was wet we decided to try the notched trowel and clay on the isoboard. This did not work at all.... The wet Iso board still sucked enough of the water out of the clay that the firebrick would not press down - even with some hammer taps.... We scraped all the clay off the isoboard and put down dry clay. My brother in law and sister did a nice job on the herringbone floor while I cut bricks and continued to mock up the dome.

This is where we ran into some of the same problems that Dave talked about when he built his Oven. Huge gaps all over the place. It looked much better during our trial assembly on the driveway. At the end of the head scratching, we adjusted the diameter of the dome 1/2 inch and things started to line up rather nicely.

As expected from Dave's advice (but still not totally understood why), the bottom row needed to tilt in a bit and there was a gap most pronunced with the half hexagons. Instead of trimming the pieces to fit, we added a little bit of extra mortar to one end of the first row of half bricks.

Clamps - lots of clamps came in handy. Orange slices in the beer and wine were optional, but Ibuprohen was mandatory at this stage.

Christo

[christo]

Re: Christo's Cucina

It was a late night but the first two rings were completed.

Christo

[maver]

Re: Christo's Cucina

Christo, that is coming along great! - thank you for posting your progress pictures

[christo]

Re: Christo's Cucina

More of the dome is complete. So far no cutting of preassembled pieces, but we did have a joint that was hitting the max of 3/8 inch. We fussed around with that one for a while and tried to minimize the size of the gap. We got into a situation where there was not room for clamps and switched over to using sticks to support the pieces.

I stressed out my brother in law by getting a little over confident with the mortar. I was taking out supports less than 15 mins after we placed the polygon - no tragedies this day.

We assembled all the preassembled pieces - and a few of the individuals. Washing the bricks after install was a pain - lots of water and sponges but it looks really nice when finished.

At the top is the hole for the pentagon - I thought that would be the last piece. But it looks like we will work down towards the door.

I'm having a really bad hair day and hadn't shaved - but I left the picture in there anyway....

Christo

[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

[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

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

[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

[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.

[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

[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.

[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!

[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?

[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

[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