42 inch Michigan Oven

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: 42 inch Michigan Oven

congrats on the plug

[Greenman]

Re: 42 inch Michigan Oven

Congratulations. The care taken with your work is obvious. Very nice.

[kbartman]

Re: 42 inch Michigan Oven

Wow!!!
Very impressived a flared entry at rocket speed. Congratulations on closing the dome ......Where is your ritualistic pictures? Must post your head in the oven I?m told.

[jbruning]

Re: 42 inch Michigan Oven

Thanks Greenman and KB.

Wow!!!
Very impressived a flared entry at rocket speed. Congratulations on closing the dome ......Where is your ritualistic pictures? Must post your head in the oven I?m told.

After the plug was placed I pulled my template and did some final cleanup in the oven. I had a couple of 2x6's and a some plywood spanning from a ladder to the oven opening. I had placed some tape around the floor beneath the template in case stuff oozed down the side. I'm 6'2 and a little north of 250 so that opening is a bit on the snug side. At one point I was on my stomach with my legs flailing around so I could reach the last bit of tape against the back wall. Thankfully, my wife was in the house and had no idea of what I was doing (at least that's what she said) and no pictures have surfaced......not yet anyway.......no one would want to see that!

[jbruning]

Re: 42 inch Michigan Oven

Amazingly, I was able to meet the overly ambitious self-imposed deadline. Today is my wife's fiftieth birthday and we were able to have pizza for a small gathering of family and friends. The oven is far from complete, as the enclosure is only a minimal frame and barely supported roof to keep the rain off, but it is cooking!

I cured it in about 6 days, first using charcoal which is quite easy to control temps with, then adding wood to get it to higher temps. I only have one layer of insulation on so far but it was able to maintain temps very well. Cooked about 10 pies and although my dough handling skills require development, the crowd really liked the pizza and are anxious to do it again.

It really was fun and made the effort of construction well worth it.

[Bacterium]

Re: 42 inch Michigan Oven

John its great to get cooking........ and very rewarding. I think friends really appreciate your skills.....building and cooking at this point.

[Greenman]

Re: 42 inch Michigan Oven

Way to go John. The first performance for friends is special and an ordinary pizza out of your own oven is more than equal to the best from anywhere else. I think that dough wrangling is a skill that comes with experience. I am still some ways from a buckle but happy with the fruits of the oven anyway.

Good to see that you made your deadline.

[jbruning]

Re: 42 inch Michigan Oven

Thanks Damon and Steve.
I appreciate the comments. Everyone was anxious to plan the next pizza party and we are happy that they enjoyed it.

[deejayoh]

Re: 42 inch Michigan Oven

That entry way design is pretty impressive. I remember twisting my head around design and I couldn't come up with anything as clever as that. The whole build is nice, really.

Great work, and congrats!

[jbruning]

Re: 42 inch Michigan Oven

Thanks Dennis!
I am quite pleased with the way it turned out. I am really enjoying using the oven too, although I have a lot to do on the enclosure.

[jbruning]

Re: 42 inch Michigan Oven

Haven't posted for a while but here are some older photos of the two cracks that developed. One of them let what appeared to be a very small amount of smoke out as evidenced by a small spot on the inside of the insulation. Certainly nothing to worry about, but I smeared a little moldable ceramic caulk over it just for peace of mind.

[jbruning]

Re: 42 inch Michigan Oven

Here are some photos of the oven an it's 'temporary enclosure'. I had to get something up to keep the rain off of it and have been slowly working on it since but it is still very open with a lot of work to do.

[jbruning]

Re: 42 inch Michigan Oven

Oven in use.

[jbruning]

Re: 42 inch Michigan Oven

One thing I did notice was associated with the sand/fireclay mix used to set the floor level. I had a couple of places where the CF board joints were a little wider than I would have liked and I "lost" some of the sand mix in the joints ( used it dry and screeded it for level). This material apparently provides a conduit for heat between the CF boards and in a couple of places I noticed when the oven was heated to or near 900 degrees the edges of the boards got hot enough to start burning the binders out of the boards which takes place at around 400 or 500 degrees. I just pushed some CF blanket into the vertical joints where this occurred, opened the joint slightly and pumped some of the CF caulk into the opening an inch or two. It worked fine and won't be a problem, but If I were to do it again I would 'seal' the joints of the CF board with the caulk before placing any leveling material.

I understood the boards had this binding material in them and that it was designed to burn off and I actually took off a corner of one of the boards before I placed them and burned it with a torch until the binders were gone. ....I was concerned about the physical properties of the board after this took place which would happen during normal oven use. The binders char and burn off and the board is more compressive after this occurs but this doesn't seem to be an issue given the practical experience of builders on this forum.

[Cyungle]

Re: 42 inch Michigan Oven

Beautiful work! Are you planning on replacing the temporary enclosure with something permanent when all work is completed or leave it uncovered? That is a question I have not answered about mine but I'm in Arizona where we don't get a lot of rain.