Mississippi 44"

[Lburou]

Re: Mississippi 44"

Karangi, I use a sturdy gaff from my fishing days to place my firewood on the fire. The hook shape allows me to balance the split wood on top of the hook and place it where I want it. The hook also allows me to pull wood as well as push it. I sometimes wonder about a pair of tongs, but often simpler is better.

Chris

Chris, do you have picture of your gaff?

[SCChris]

Re: Mississippi 44"

I don't, but it's a 4 foot gaff with a 2 diameter stainless hook. Like this one, but with an aluminum handle.

The flat side of the hook allows me to balance the log and place it.. A piece of rebar with an L at one end and a handle on the other would do as well.

Chris

[aceves]

Re: Mississippi 44"

Gulf,

Nice build, man. Very unique!! Keep the pics coming!

Aceves

[Gulf]

Re: Mississippi 44"

Thanks Aceves for the compliment and for getting me thinking about my camera. I just went and got it from the shed beside the build. It's been there since saturday. Ouch!

Al, that's funny. They will have to worship quick because I hope to have the "Mayen Ruins" covered up by spring

Chris, with all the great ideas for tools on this site, I may have to build the Home Made Forge that I read about in Popular Mechanics some time back. Maybe that way I can "afford" to build an arsenal

Doug, I appreciate your insight and had not thought about how I would place more wood in an already hot oven. I guess I was thinking about split stove wood size. I haven't read very much on firing the oven, yet. However, I don't plan on having much more distance than the flu/fireplace to reach over. The corbels will support a concrete ledge. I have seen some great work on this sight with exposed aggregate and polished concrete and I wanted to try my hand at it. I came pretty close to not including the corbels as I had done some ?test reaching? and saw that it would be a stretch just placing the interior door. I couldn?t picture the oven without them though and came up with an idea to allow me to have the ?look? that I wanted for the front veiw of the oven and still not further increase the already long reach. I don?t have sketch-up or auto-cad and really hate to think about the learning another program. I did do a rough powerpoint to help me explain this.

It is a very rough example and is not to scale. When pouring the entry/counter top/ledge I intend to arch upward and outward from the corbels up to counter thickness (2?). Exposed aggregate on everything except the 2? band and the counter top itself. I will also inset a curve inward in the form in front of the entrance to allow me to stand closer. I haven?t worked out all the dimensions but I hope to at least have a usable counter width on either side of where I stand. It is going to be a ?fun? form to build. That is also why I haven?t removed the hearth forms because I would just have to put them back.

[Gulf]

Re: Mississippi 44"

Thanks Doug,

I think it was a potential problem. No one can ever be sure that they have thought of every single pitfall in a project unless they have "experience". Keep the observations and advice coming

[Tscarborough]

Re: Mississippi 44"

Experience doesn't always prevent issues. I built my inner and outer arch the same size in consideration of other things, and now have to have a 2 piece door.

[Gulf]

Re: Mississippi 44"

I got a little more time to work on the flu. I took each row back down from the “dry stack” and laid them out where they would be easy to reach. I only have one old set of scaffold bucks, but so far that is all I need.



To make the flu square at a convergence I had to split the last row (about 1’’). The ID of the flu is now 11 ?” X 11 ?” front to back and side to side.



Now the sloped brick for the sides can be used for the front and back as well. Just one row brings it to 9 1/8” X 9 1/8”.



I figure that is a good cross section to put in a damper before transitioning to 8” ID.

[Gulf]

Re: Mississippi 44"

I had to break out the cheep tile saw again.



I don?t know if you can tell much from the dry stacking pic, but I am trying to fab a ? turn valve style damper. (there is probably a real name for it out there somewhere)



I don?t know if this will make it any clearer, but I did a powerpoint cross section of how the damper is supposed to work. It is nothing new as dampers go, but maybe a little radical as far as being set into brick.

(not to scale)

[Gulf]

Re: Mississippi 44"

The damper is supposed to be 1/8? stainless steel (8 ?? X 8 ??) with 3/8? stainless all thread pins. I will have to wait until it is built to explain more, and by then I will have had time to make some more of this s--t up. Was that 3 or 4 drinks
To have clearance for the damper to open and close I will turn one whole brick up. Then I will lay one more row on a bevel (not as steep as the one shown) to bring the inside diameter of the flu to 8? X 8?. ( once again I am out of damn brick)

I may keep the flu square until it is topped out. I am just not sure, yet.

[brickie in oz]

Re: Mississippi 44"

Are you going to insulate the damper?

[brickie in oz]

Re: Mississippi 44"

( once again I am out of damn brick)

You can use normal house bricks in the flue, might save you a few bucks.

[Gulf]

Re: Mississippi 44"

Are you going to insulate the damper?

No, My oven will have heatbreaks between the oven and flu, along with an insulated interior door for baking, to help stop the loss between the two.

The style damper I went with would not have been to difficult to insulate. Had I not have already included the heatbreaks in the build, your sliding type insulated damper would have been the way to go.

My damper will be probably be used for smoking meat along with an exterior arch door. Probably not as critical to have an insulated dampfer in my case.

[Gulf]

Re: Mississippi 44"

You can use normal house bricks in the flue, might save you a few bucks.

That is a good idea,
I am used to the practice of carrying the flu liners completely above the roof line (fireplace/house). Since there should be no combustibles in this build, no codes, and probably enough cooling from the intake of the entry air to allow common brick from the damper up $

Thank's

[Gulf]

Re: Mississippi 44"

I got the damper today. It was built for me by a good friend on the promise of beer and pizza It was fabbed from 1/8? stainless steel plate and 3/8? stainless bolts.

I laid it out on a flat surface to do some final fitting. It is much easier doing this close to the saws and not having to jump up and down from the scaffold.

I was able to do the adjustment for the damper in a full closed position. I have yet to do the adjstments for it to fully open. I had only about an hour and 1/2 of daylight when I got home from work. Maybe before the weekend I will be able to fab a flat surface with an opening to allow a full throw of the damper. The time it would take to build one would still be faster than working from the scaffold.

[Gulf]

Re: Mississippi 44"

Private message to a "yankee lurker": When I get finished with this thing and if you want to build one of your own, my mixer, wet saw and anything else that you can use is available for loan. I probably will have had my "brick fix" and will not want to look at any of them for a long while The kids can cart them back and forth

PS, Research "Cob Oven" before you make up your mind. They are looking more and more appealing every dollar, I meant day