Jim's Build for the Common Man

[TropicalCoasting]

Re: Jim's Build for the Common Man

Makes sense
neutralising the lime(base) with acid

[jimkramer]

Re: Jim's Build for the Common Man

Huzzah!

Finished the dome! I gotta say, although this ain't no precision build, I'm still amazed at how circular it came out. I made a two piece plug that looked kinda like two halves of a weird turd, but it all seems to work. If I had tried to make it fit more correctly to the flatter surfaces of the bricks in the last course, I would have driven myself insane.

When I added the mortar to set them, each half popped up a bit on the outside. I guess I could grind them down, but I'd rather not vibrate the dome. Besides, it'll all be covered. I've pretty much only used the diamond blade on my angle grinder for the plug, but it was worth it, as I was able to shave it down little by little until it fit in.

For the last course (not the final plug) I wanted to see if I could bevel the bricks just for fun. It does look a bit cooler, and they fit a bit tighter, but I'm glad I didn't do it for the whole dome, cause I was never able to get the bevel exactly right, and it would have slowed me down.

I've been doing a lot of work on this ever ending project at night, about twice a week. My neighbors must be annoyed, as I've been pushing it - doing a few cuts as late as 10:00PM a couple nights, and tonight I was shaving down the final plugs until about 9, but no complaints yet. I'll invite them for pizza and all will be forgotten.

Now on the the vent arch!

[deejayoh]

Re: Jim's Build for the Common Man

Congrats! I remember how good it felt to finish the dome. Pizza soon!

[GianniFocaccia]

Re: Jim's Build for the Common Man

Soweeet!!! Won't be long now!!!

Nice job, and don't worry about the neighbors. The memories of 10pm grinding noises will fade pretty quickly once they bite into one of your wood-fired masterpieces!

[cobblerdave]

Re: Jim's Build for the Common Man

G'day Jim
Beveled cuts with an angle grinder.... Impressive!. Sounds like you up to speed and that entrance and vent area are sounding good already.
Congested from me
Regards
Dave

[Greenman]

Re: Jim's Build for the Common Man

Congratulations Jim - A great feeling when the plug goes in and if it sits a bit proud then why not! Onwards towards the first pizza cook, or the interesting pre-pizza cooks with the larger of the drying fires.

I have had the pleasure of helping a couple of people get their ovens built lately and have had the pleasure of dropping two keystones in place in the last 2 weeks. The owners both had a grin like a watermelon that has been hit with a machete.

Good job and if a pretty build cooks well it is hard to tell the difference between the food from the pretty oven and the 'robust' one.

[jimkramer]

Re: Jim's Build for the Common Man

Thanks all! Every time, I get a kick out of hearing from people in Australia. I guess I'm still not used to this whole internet thing.

Steve - I like that - my build is "robust." I'm gonna keep using that.

Dave- The angle grinder was only used to shave a cone-ish plug. I definitely am not skilled enough to make bevel cuts with it. For that, and for all the side 5 degree cuts, I used my trusty jig, see pic. At first, I didn't think I could do a bevel with a 10" saw, but I didn't use a bottom, just propped it with a brick. The angle stayed pretty steady, and the rig stayed lower to the sled, which allowed me more cutting depth.

I'm suddenly feeling sentimental about the jig and IT. Maybe I'll have them bronzed. Or maybe I'll just burn them in the oven in a spectacular blaze of glory.

[jimkramer]

Re: Jim's Build for the Common Man

So I've been planning on 12" deep vent. Is that enough room for an 8" flue?

[jimkramer]

Re: Jim's Build for the Common Man

I am almost done with the vent, looking forward to pizza soon, I hope. However, I'm racing the weather, just N of NYC. If I finish the oven brick work by this coming weekend, I still have to let it sit a week. Then the curing could take a couple weeks, as I don't think I'll be able to tend to a six hour fire every week night. Then the insulation, as it seems to me best to let the oven cure without the insulation, so more water can escape.

I plan on finishing it with stucco and lathe, or maybe hardware cloth, which dmun once mentioned to keep more of a shape than chicken wire, but hopefully easier to work with than metal lathe. Is stucco the same as mortar, in that I can't use it when the weather dips below 40F at night?

If I fire up the oven at night, think that will make it just warm enough on the surface to apply stucco, even above 3" of ceramic fiber? I hate to think of having to go through one more winter, all just because I couldn't do the very last step.

[cobblerdave]

Re: Jim's Build for the Common Man

G'day
Go for charcoal or charcoal heat beads. They make a heat source that doesn't need looking after and will produce heat over a number of hours. Best thing no flames to cause hot spots and uneven stresses. You'll need to go to wood in the end for higher temps but they'll do to dry things off
Regards dave

[jimkramer]

Re: Jim's Build for the Common Man

Sounds like a good idea. But do you know why it says not to use coal in the FB pompeii plans?

[cobblerdave]

Re: Jim's Build for the Common Man

G'day Jim
Could not tell you with any certainty why. But I can tell you a cast oven is different
The floors are on the whole thinner and built in 4 quarters perhaps they might crack from uneven heat if they had a heat source in the middle where the come together. They have less residual water left in them and don't need dry heat like a home built? Charcoal would certainly couldn't take the oven to pizza heat by itself. They designed for wood with flames.
Home built have heaps of residual water which if turned to steam with high heat fires could lead to cracking. The need is there to remove as much of that water first before those higher heat fires.
The hearth is made of brick usually thicker in a home build plenty of stress cracks already built in.
I've seen plenty of ovens cracked over my time on the forum. So I believe in seeing them dried first without render first before flames and high heat .
Its impossible to tell if an oven is still to wet for any given heat range to advise anyone...so I always advocate low slow drying before starting the curing fires.
Regards dave

[Greenman]

Re: Jim's Build for the Common Man

Not using coal is probably about the more intense heat that is possible and not least, the smoke (and its qualities) that it emits.

I would not like my food to taste like the smell of burning coal or the smoke from it.

[cobblerdave]

Re: Jim's Build for the Common Man

G'day Steve
That's why I use "heat beads " and charcoal" together.
Saves confusion ( I hope )
Regards dave

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: Jim's Build for the Common Man

Coal fired pizza restaurants are quite popular in NYC. Here is a little blurb on coal fire vs wood fired ovens I found.

What is a Coal Fired Oven -- .Coal-burning ovens are hot commodities for pizza makers since the only way to get one in New York City is to inherit it. Coal fired ovens have a long history to pizza making in the US. New York City was the birth place of New York style pizza. Lombardi's which opened in 1905 was the first pizzeria in the United States, and it happened to use a coal-fired oven.

One of the main differences between coal and wood comes not from the coal smoke but by the intense heat a coal fire generates. Coal provides about 13,000 BTUs of heat per pound, while wood provides about 6,500 BTUs per pound. Oven temperatures in a coal fired oven exceed 900 degrees imparting a characteristic char to the crust. In addition the higher heat lets the crust get crispier

But I still like my WFO...........