Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

[GianniFocaccia]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

Russell,

I had the same problem. Over time, the left-hand (as you face the saw) rail shifts slightly. You can put the rail back into alignment by loosening the (allen) bolts on either end of the rail and re-tightening. Should take you 5-6 minutes tops.
John

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

GF,

Thanks, I did try this as well, it would tighten the table some but the center alignment get thrown off. Maybe I do this since I really don't use the scale on the table and as long as the blade doesn't hit the edge of the groove in the center of the table I should be okay. Thanks for getting back.

[u863583]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

Hi Russell,

Been following your build for awhile and used many of your techniques on my 42 inch build. Much of my build has been modeled after some of your work. - Thanks.

I got slightly ahead of you. (Actually hired alot of the build out). I have been doing curing fires for almost 2 weeks. Started with a heat lamp, then just some newspaper and then small fires and built up to larger. I did not have the insulation blanket on when doing the cures. Well on Monday I took the dome up to about 650 degrees and heard a loud pop. Check around the outside of the dome and found a crack that went first around the top of the dome 2/3 of the way from the top, and then two other cracks that intersected that crack and went streight up and down. They seemed about 1/8 of an inch wide. Have not been able to detect the crack from the inside of the oven so far.

Next day after oven cooled the cracks look hairline at best, so not really a problem, but if I had it to do over again, I would have placed at least 1 inch of insulation blanket down before starting higher temperature fire cure. It may not have made a difference and based on thickness of the cracks, it does not appear I will have any problems going forward. I did place the thermal blanket on today (3 inches thick) and did a new curing fire. Went up to 750 degrees today. Just giving you my experience with not having the blanket on when curing.

I was a little upset about the crack, but after sleeping on it and seeing how thin they are when the oven cooled, plus reading what others have said about cracks, it's not bothering me at all and just glad to move onto next step and have the insulation on the dome.

best,

Manny

[Karangi Dude]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

Russell,

There is a bone of contention when it comes to curing with or without insulation.
My take on it is, the insulation helps distribute the the heat more evenly and holds heat it in for a longer period any moisture will pass though the insulation the small amount of moisture in the insulation is not the problem it is the the moisture in the thermal mass that you are trying to get rid of.
The reason I went with the heat beads is because I did not want a flame (the tip of a flame big or small is very hot) that would hit a small area I wanted even heat all over the oven see;http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/51/k...tml#post109852

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

Completed the vent arch today and just letting it dry for a couple days. I have had my share of breaking loose green mortar joints. Planning out my front arch design, trying to factor in insulation and stucco thickness so the transition from the front arch is smooth. Using a slight inset of the outside arch like Karangi Dude did on his. Ready to stuff the ceramic rope in the thermal gap. I have 3/4" but it compresses to 3/8" to 1/2" so it should fit nicely. Debating whether I should put high temp caulk over the joint afterwards. Going to work on the HF saw tonight to see if I can get the wiggle out of the sliding table corrected.

[cloita]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

so clean, love those arches way more than mine.

[Karangi Dude]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

Nice work Russ,

Remember you can't use the old door arch template for the decorative arch as it will be to small to fit the door through so you will need to make a new one that is about an inch smaller than the vent arch and an inch bigger than the door arch, that is if you made the vent arch two inches bigger than the door arch as we discussed.
Sorry thats all a bit wordy but I am sure you will make sense of it.

[Tscarborough]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

It looks like the outer arch is 3/4-1" larger than the inner, so he should be GTG.

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

KD/Tscar,

Yes I made the outer arch almost 1.5" I.D. bigger on each side and planning on insetting final arch about 3/4-1" each side. KD, what I have been doing in using my old orignal dome arch then I cut out new vent templates and screw them the to the old dome arch base. I will now make a smaller final arch template remove the vent arch template and screw on the new final arch templates. Hope this makes sense. Thank for the input guys.

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

GF,

FYI, Got the HF Saw table figured out. On the left side facing the saw there are three rollers, two on top one on the bottom. There were two allen screws that allow you to snug up that bottom roller. It took care of the wiggle. Thanks for you input.

[flyfisherx]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

Russell....no worries on the curing with your build. I started with a newspaper fire, then paper and cedar shingle scraps then on to oak.......in a series of three days. Today I brought the dome up to 650 degrees with no cracks. Your build should withstand much more than that without issues.

One thing I can say is that I used Heatstop 50 and not homebrew. My oven so far rocks. Keeping my fingers crossed once I get passed the 800 degree mark!

You will do great during the curing stage!!!

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

Spent last night and this morning cutting bricks for the final arch. Decided to use some surplus fire bricks I had for a couple reasons, same material as oven so thermal expansion hopefully will be similar, plus I had them and save me a few bucks. But they were not in the best of shape and were all different widths but the color was good. So I resurfaced all the exposed views with the wet saw. Made a new arch for the final decorative arch and screwed it to my old original dome arch (TIP: TSCAR and Gulf reminded me to save the arch template as a guide to making the oven door). Dry fitted arch bricks the layed a few bricks. Done for the day other than a little mortar cleanup.

Karangi Dude - Went out and bought 6 bags of heat beads for the curing.

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

Wahoo, final arch is done, form removed, mortar tucked and excess cleaned up. Just need to make the chimney transition to the vent anchor plate and install the thermocouples. Maybe I will make the Labor Day deadline. Looking for an old cabinet or fridge to make a dough proofer like KD did and started my research on polished concrete which I am going to do on the hearth. The list keeps expanding..........

[Pompeii Nate]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

Russell,

It is looking great!! Amazing job. Because of so many things I haven't been able to even touch my oven for the last few weeks which is frustrating but oh well.

Again, great job!!

Nate

[irelande5]

Re: Wood Fired Beehive in Utah

wow, what a awesome arch, incredible work Russell, I am jealous!