Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

[texman]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

Les
the only mortar would be on the bottom of the brick then? No mortar on the vertical joint at all?
Tracy

[Les]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

Les
the only mortar would be on the bottom of the brick then? No mortar on the vertical joint at all?
Tracy

I only used mortar in the back to maintain the angle. I used shims to get the brick where I wanted it and then used a grout bag to fill the space with mortar. I have no mortar on the interior except the plug and one brick on the transition to the arch (if I remember correctly, it's been a few years).

[cloita]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

I have been following this forum for over a year now, savaging materials and supplies. I am building a 42" corner build and I have to give credit to all the members for their ideas and innovations. I started last May but was shut down due to shoulder surgery but I am hard at it again now. I just stripped the forms off my build. Thanks for all the inspiration of you WFOs

Russell

Love the arch for wood storage

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

Cloita,

Thanks for the compliment. The forming of the arch almost drove me to drink (not a bad thing) with compound angles and such. The wood storage area doubles as my "man cave" since the better half says I spend more time with the WFO than her

The monolithic arch pour I stole from other WFOs in the group just modified mine for a corner build.

Russell

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

Dee,

Still mulling the arch thermal break over. Since there is an air gap between inner and out arch the outer arch is free standing, any concerns about not being tied to inner arch other than CF rope or refractory caulk? Is your build an igloo or enclosed?

Russell

[deejayoh]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

Russell -

I was pretty perplexed about the free-standing arch approach and worried about stability. What I finally decided to do (props to Gianni) was tie the arch into the hearth using a buttress. Since the arch is already isolated from the dome, I wasn't too concerned with heat loss from the buttress - but just in case it might be an issue, I built the buttress with insulation. I mortared an insulating firebrick to the arch, and then tied that to the hearth with a chunk of CMU. You can see it in the picture.

It's not the prettiest thing in the world - but the arch now seems rock solid. To your question, I am building an enclosure so I didn't really care how it looked.

Another approach is in Gulf's thread - he built a heat break that tied straight into v-crete. I didn't have that option since I used FB board.

Dennis

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

Deejayoh,

Thanks, I am building an igloo with no Vcret to tie into (using FoamGlas and CaSi board). So unless I can find a better way to secure the inner and outer arch without buttressing then I may not be able to place an air gap thermal break. May use a similar partial air gap that Aegis used. Thanks for the feedback.

[deejayoh]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

Off the top of my head, a couple ideas that might work with an igloo

- cut away the FB insulation under the arch bricks and tie straight down to the hearth through a layer of IFB - the idea being that the IFB is more structurally solid than the calsil and foam glass, so you can sit the whole arch on it
- Tie the arch into the dome in only a few places - e.g. leave a 1/4 gap except for a few inches at each side and at the keystones. That would reduce the area for thermal transmission.

I have to say that even just curing the oven, I can see a signficant drop between the temperature of the dome and the temperature of the arch. I'm pretty happy I put in a heat break.

[Gulf]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

I think that the arch could be set directly on the concrete hearth if it is seperated from the oven by a heat break. The floor of the entry could still remain on the insulated layer to keep the height consistant

[cloita]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

I planned to start my arch tomorrow at 0600 but now considering building in a heatbreak as well after reading your thread and a few others. Decisions decisions, going to take some scotch and another cigar... Good luck on your progress tomorrow, waiting to see more pictures.

- Jonathan

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

Finally put up the popup tent cover, getting a little warm here in Utah. Spent the day yesterday installing course 1 tweaking the mortar joint cuts and trying to keep the mortar out of the floor hearth and base course ring. After everything was cleaned up I ended up masking the seam to keep future excess mortar from dropping in. I did put in a ring of cardboard in originally that other previously WFOs had done. Started my inner arch, making a template and using the "Anglelizer" software to help determine my cuts. After spending enormous amount time cutting my first arch brick it became apparent that it is now time to build a brick jig for the upcoming angles and bevels. I remember seeing someone on this forum making a wood jig that could adjust for angle and bevels for a single cut. I have looked and looked but can't find it. If anyone remembers the link please let me know. So today is reserved for making the brick jig. Here are some pics of my progress. Thanks all you WFOs for your ideas and innovations.

Russell

[cloita]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

Looking what did you use for the exterior cladding? happy progress today.

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

Jonathan,

I have not quite figured out the amount of home brew to mix and the amont I can lay so not to waste the material I just used it as cladding on the previous course.

Russell

[cloita]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

i like it!

[Tscarborough]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

Looks good, but your closers are looking small, try and keep them to more than a 1/4 of the full size brick. Cut two a little instead of having a chip.