Pat's 42" WFO build begins...I think!

[jimkramer]

Re: Pat's 42" WFO build begins...I think!

Great build! I admire your use of the mason string, no IT. Maybe I'll try it for a couple courses, see how it goes. Funny, the way you worked on chains going up before completing the one below reminds me of the partially rebuilt Death Star in Return of the Jedi. I am such a nerd. I swear, I don't have action figures.

[irelande5]

Re: Pat's 42" WFO build begins...I think!

Funny stuff Jim...I am a sci fi geek too

[GianniFocaccia]

Re: Pat's 42" WFO build begins...I think!

I think Gianni (Octoforno) towards the top rounded his bricks to get an almost perfect joint. Cutting the bricks smaller also reduces it.

It was a fairly quick process to slowly drag the face of each brick across the rim of the diamond blade to leave a concave surface not only top-to-bottom, but also side-to-side. This effectively removed any upper-brick hanging over the adjoining bricks below. The concave radius got progressively smaller with each successively-higher course.

[irelande5]

Re: Pat's 42" WFO build begins...I think!

Completed the last 3 courses, these were real hard as the angles/bevel were extreme, center piece end up being 5" in diameter, so I just used 2 pieces cut from 2 full bricks. I made a form for the last piece, so that suggested somewhere, really helped.

Pretty happy with the way everything came out, its not the prettiest girl on the block, but she is my girl! Really liked the duravent, real easy to install, sure I went over board, embedded it in mortar, tap con it down, then topped sides with full bricks mortared again.

Will start facade for front/chimney next month. Glad to have the week break to let this dry out before curing, I'm really beat! All in all I have 3 months build time (thanks to my wife schedule as teacher, and mine as a firefighter), otherwise it would be more like 5 or 6 months. Really enjoyed the process, what a great site, feel blessed to have the mentors showing me the ropes, especially Russell!

Here are the pics......

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[irelande5]

Re: Pat's 42" WFO build begins...I think!

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[deejayoh]

Re: Pat's 42" WFO build begins...I think!

Looks great Pat! Congrats. What are your curing plans?

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: Pat's 42" WFO build begins...I think!

Pat,

Congrats, you cross your hurdle. Knew you would. Good luck with the cure. I am still farting around with my chimney.........

[GianniFocaccia]

Re: Pat's 42" WFO build begins...I think!

Impressive build, Pat. Love the attention to detail and super-tight joints. You say she's not the pretties on the block, but as soon as you fire her up, she's gonna be hot! Great job!
John

[jimkramer]

Re: Pat's 42" WFO build begins...I think!

Awesome! Looks pretty damn great to me.

[irelande5]

Re: Pat's 42" WFO build begins...I think!

Thanks John, that means a lot coming from you, really appreciate that!

[irelande5]

Re: Pat's 42" WFO build begins...I think!

Thanks Jim!

Thanks Russell, you will have the chimney in, in no time!

[irelande5]

Re: Pat's 42" WFO build begins...I think!

Thanks Jim! The death star is complete..


Thanks Dennis. Right now its been in the 80s, so I am getting good curing for mortar, although I noticed the last few courses are not drying as fast, maybe due to the lack of airflow now that the dome is sealed, so I put a small electric space heater in there too, going to give it close to a week before curing fires start.

Was thinking of a paper fire (like manual states), then starting with charcoal briquettes, think Russell was talking about that, startin small then working up. How does that sound, any suggestions? Planning on laying blanket around dome, heard this may prevent cracking. Take care, pat

[irelande5]

Re: Pat's 42" WFO build begins...I think!

Been a while before updates...

I let the oven cure for week, then started the curing fires, all went well I keep the heat controlled the best I could using a temp gun and breaking down the fire (spreading it out) when it went beyond recommended temp for that particular fire, total of 6 fires and up to 550F. After 500f i noticed small 1/32 width cracks running over dome, maybe 8 of them, looked like brain veins!

I do have a crack on front entrance brick arch mortar joint that spans the entire joint. Its around 1/32 when its cooled, when it heats up it spread out to 1/16, all other brain veins disappeared when dome cooled, no cracks inside yet. I am not going to repair arch crack, all bricks are solid its going to stay.

Wrapped the dome in 3 layers of 1" blanket wrapped that in chicken wire, then topped that with perlite concrete, what a mess that stuff is, I got good coverage on top but the sides I had a hard time covering and getting to stay on, maybe 2" on sides, but got at least 4" on top, think that will be enough.

I had a small section of blanket left, so I wrapped the entry/vent arch as well, not sure if this needed it or not, now it looks like a snail!

I have some blanket left, think about using that for insulation the inner door I am having fab this week, thinking about using 1/4" steel with high heat paint, then sandwhiching the blanket in the middle, with cement board on opposite side, any suggestions? Definitly want an insulated door. I also had an entry door made, just to keep the bugs/weather out of the entry.

Any suggestions on how long to let the dome perlite mixture cure? Would like to start getting some more curing fires going, and start stucco/bricking out front entrance. Will post pics later, take care, Pat

[irelande5]

Re: Pat's 42" WFO build begins...I think!

After several fires, all is well! Still have not found the best wood, used oak and cherry, but believe I need to have them cut smaller, oak seemed to burn really slow, want to bump it up and get the soot to burn off bricks and turn them white as most have described as being true temp for cooking pizza.

I had a friend help me out with bricking the front/sides of oven for finish purposes, turned out great, he is a craftsman. Looking to have stucco completed next week, excited not to have to have a tarp covering the oven all the time.

I had a piece of metal, 1/4" cut for outer door, and one for inner door. They are pretty heavy, planning on painting them and installing hand brackets so they can be picked up/removed easier. Also intend on attaching cement board with insulation in between as I have seen many other do, so I can insure tight and insulated fit.

Was thinking of having a square box like cover for the dura chimney cap that I can place right over and cover chimney cap when oven is not in service worried about driving rain running in on sides, any input on this?

Here is a couple of pics, finished late so not the best, will post more this week.

Plan on fabricating cabinets in basement over winter, installing and 8' and 7' maiking one section 15' long, and L take off will be 7'. Hope to have these cut and assembled so in spring I can pull them out and run with it.

Hope all is well with everyone! Take care, pat

[mrchipster]

Re: Pat's 42" WFO build begins...I think!

I had a piece of metal, 1/4" cut for outer door, and one for inner door. They are pretty heavy, planning on painting them and installing hand brackets so they can be picked up/removed easier. Also intend on attaching cement board with insulation in between as I have seen many other do, so I can insure tight and insulated fit.

Oak and cherry are great wood to burn but save the cherry for smoking. Sounds like your oak may be wet still or your pieces are to large, shoot for wrist size pieces.

1/4 inch is way over kill on the thickness of the door. because the door will rarely if ever exposed to direct flame thin stock will hold up just fine. Stainless is the best for the interior if you can get some and thin is great if you are using it as a cover for insulation, the outside can also be stainless or aluminum. Stainless rivets work well to hold the pieces together.

For a look at my two doors seaarch for "chips 42 in minnesota"

Chip