42 inch Pompeii build i Norway

[Steellearning]

Re: 42 inch Pompeii build i Norway

You may want to cut your plywood form into thirds and reconnect the sections with hinges. It will make it easy to remove when finished. BTW those cuts look smooth to me. It think you'd be fine setting your dome on the outside if the larger size was what you wanted.
John

Thanks, I'll cut it into manageable sections right before I start on the dome, wanted to get the floor and insulation cut and installed first.
It's 42 inches inside, these things are huge in real life. They don't look as big as they are during the planing stages.

[Steellearning]

Re: 42 inch Pompeii build i Norway

It actually happen to me yesterday onto last few bricks it was making sparks!! Couldn't figure out what was going on. I'm glad this post popped up I will try your method to resolve. Using 14" blade on a dewalt cutoff saw( by the way it worked great for a borrowed saw)

My blade would spark after a few cuts. When I cut in to the concrete something like molten metal or slag (red hot, not sparks) rolled off the blade, not much but I think enough to expose fresh diamond. Then it was like new again.
Wetting the bricks helped a lot too.... it helped keep the blade sharper for longer periods.
It doesn't take long to soak a brick, about a minute and its almost soaked through to its core.
I've never seen this mentioned on the forum but it could be, people are discarding their blades a little too early? I know my first thought was "Get a new blade"

[silvfox]

Re: 42 inch Pompeii build i Norway

You may want to cut your plywood form into thirds and reconnect the sections with hinges. It will make it easy to remove when finished. BTW those cuts look smooth to me. It think you'd be fine setting your dome on the outside if the larger size was what you wanted.
John

[GIANLUCA]

Re: 42 inch Pompeii build i Norway

It actually happen to me yesterday onto last few bricks it was making sparks!! Couldn't figure out what was going on. I'm glad this post popped up I will try your method to resolve. Using 14" blade on a dewalt cutoff saw( by the way it worked great for a borrowed saw)

[Steellearning]

Re: 42 inch Pompeii build i Norway

The blades glaze up when cutting hard bricks, more so with vitrified house bricks.
Cutting some concrete or set mortar takes off the glaze as you found out.

Yea, I'm glad I stumbled on to that one. I was about to give up after the second blade went dull.
Just for fun I cut a couple of dome bricks yesterday on the mitre saw and the same thing happened with that blade. I'm looking forward to trying it again with my new found knowledge of brick cutting

[brickie in oz]

Re: 42 inch Pompeii build i Norway

The blades glaze up when cutting hard bricks, more so with vitrified house bricks.
Cutting some concrete or set mortar takes off the glaze as you found out.

[Steellearning]

Re: 42 inch Pompeii build i Norway

I cut my floor bricks yesterday with an angle grinder. Dust was flying all over the place.
The first couple of bricks went fine but gradually the blade became dull and would hardly cut though the bricks. I got myself cleaned off and drove down to the hardware store and got a new blade, went home and started cutting again and the same thing happened, the blade would hardly cut after a few bricks. So I tried cutting into some concrete blocks and after a few seconds the blade started cutting like normal again. So when ever I felt the blade wasn't cutting like it should, I just cut in to a concrete block and it was back to normal. Submerging the bricks in water for a minute prior to cutting also made them a lot easier to cut.
I'm glad I decided to lay the dome on top of the floor bricks, the cuts I'm making aren't good enough for anything else.

[Steellearning]

Re: 42 inch Pompeii build i Norway

I pulled off some of the forms for my top slab and it turned out pretty good, no surprises I'm leaving whats left of the form on for awhile in case I need something to screw or nail into during the build.
Now its time to start laying out my floor while I wait for the diamond blade to arrive.

I'm posting an illustration on how I'm thinking about doing the entry arch and flu. The illustration shows a 15 cm flu but there's room for a 18 cm if needed. Let me know if I'm off track on this. I want a thermal break and I didn't want any bricks hanging without support and this was the best way I could think of.

[Steellearning]

Re: 42 inch Pompeii build i Norway

Never been to southern parts of Norway (not below Trondheim ) I'm sure it's very nice there, the norhtern parts are very scenerey.

I can't say I had any problems finding materials. As you can see from the pictures I have Leca as the stand. Then I put some metal bars and ontop of that lightweight concrete blocks.
I didin't find any good insulation at a resonable price so I put som fire clay and a layer of glas and then fire clay again, hoping it will even out the heat a little.
I bought the fire bricks at Bauhaus, 3? euros, 39 SEK each. And the yellow bricks are noname regular bricks, unused but bought second hand.
I use regular fire clay (Eldfast bruk) as mortar, with a little bit of sand also.

Cutting is done with a regular grinder. A lot of dust, but I think it's ok. I hope the dome will be finished by the end of next week

I will use Paroc (stenull) as dome insulation, I guess you have that in Norway aswell?

What will you use as stucco?

Looks really nice, I'm amazed at your cutting skills with an angle grinder.

My fire bricks for my dome were given to me by a really good neighbor. They are tapered for a radius of about 120 cm. I bought 85 regular fire bricks for my floor and arch pillars, I payed about the same as you did.

Paroc... the equivalent in Norway would be Rockwool. If I don't find anything equal to FB blanket I'll be using that.

As for the stucco I haven't given that much thought yet. But I'm thinking it should be fiber reinforced over a layer of Perlite/portland or leca/portland.
Since I've found a source for Perlite I'll most likely be using that.

I'm trying to find and use the materials that most of the other members are using, like Perlite, homebrew, Cal-Sil board, FB blanket etc...
We'll see how close I get

[Steellearning]

Re: 42 inch Pompeii build i Norway

Without the addition of cement and lime your mortar will be very weak especially if subject to heavy rain. You may want to consider buttressing your side walls on the entry and strengthening the vertical joins at the base of the dome.

I don't think its really fireclay he's using, "Eldfast bruk" is the Scandinavian equivalent to HeatStop 50 mortar. Its made by a company called Weber. It may have fireclay in it as it states that sand is replaced with other materials that can withstand higher temperatures.

[david s]

Re: 42 inch Pompeii build i Norway

I use regular fire clay (Eldfast bruk) as mortar, with a little bit of sand also.

Without the addition of cement and lime your mortar will be very weak especially if subject to heavy rain. You may want to consider buttressing your side walls on the entry and strengthening the vertical joins at the base of the dome.

[Attis]

Re: 42 inch Pompeii build i Norway

Hello Attis
I'm near Kristiansand in a little town called Vennesla.
I'm going for an igloo. Don't think that should be a problem once I get it stuccoed and sealed. I will put a small roof over it though just to keep some of the snow off.
Have you had any problems in finding materials for your build? I really want to use homebrew and I couldn't find fireclay in Norway so I plan to use regular pottery clay. Haven't found the insulation blanket yet but I think that should be the easy part.
I'm going to use a cheap mitre saw from "Jula" to saw my bricks. Wish we had a Harbor Freight store in Norway. I really would rather be cutting bricks on a wet saw.
Hope you post pictures of your build, ...be nice to see how other scandinavians build their ovens.

Never been to southern parts of Norway (not below Trondheim ) I'm sure it's very nice there, the norhtern parts are very scenerey.

I can't say I had any problems finding materials. As you can see from the pictures I have Leca as the stand. Then I put some metal bars and ontop of that lightweight concrete blocks.
I didin't find any good insulation at a resonable price so I put som fire clay and a layer of glas and then fire clay again, hoping it will even out the heat a little.
I bought the fire bricks at Bauhaus, 3? euros, 39 SEK each. And the yellow bricks are noname regular bricks, unused but bought second hand.
I use regular fire clay (Eldfast bruk) as mortar, with a little bit of sand also.

Cutting is done with a regular grinder. A lot of dust, but I think it's ok. I hope the dome will be finished by the end of next week

I will use Paroc (stenull) as dome insulation, I guess you have that in Norway aswell?

What will you use as stucco?

[cobblerdave]

Re: 42 inch Pompeii build i Norway

Gudday guys
The fireclay content can deleted from the mix or substituted with potters clay. It is there in the mix to give the mortar better stick and workability. If you delete it you'll find a squirt dish washing liquid will improve the plasticity of your mortar.
It you are worried about the " hebel" buy one bag of pearlite and make up 50 mm layer of pealite to protect the hebel from the worst heat.
Regards dave

[Steellearning]

Re: 42 inch Pompeii build i Norway

Haven't pulled the trigger on floor insulation yet but, I am thinking about using Skamotec 50mm, kr.1600,- for a 120x240 cm board. They also have 120 x 100 cm for kr. 800,- but not quite sure if thats enough for a 42 inch oven. Helmin AS imports it and they pointed me to a store here in Vennesla where they have a supply so its easy to get a hold of. But ytong is still an option. Ytong Multipor Isoleringsplade FD400 50 mm?

I have found a source for perlite kr.130,- for 100 ltr bag. the place is called hagebutikken just do a search and you'll find it. Thinking I'll be needing 3 or 4 bags.

Have you found fireclay in Norway or are using a mortar other than homebrew?
Also what are you using to cut your bricks?
Hope you post pictures of your build I'd love to see how things are moving along.

[nachtwacht]

Re: 42 inch Pompeii build i Norway

Hello,

have you desided on the floor insulation allready ? I am roughly at the same spot as you are and am also considering the Ytong blocks (usualy called Hebel or airated concrete here on the forum).

I have used it in a temporary oven allready and in that it worked fine. Had it there for roughly 1 year and when I took the oven down to make a permanent one they came out looking the same as they went in. I know from the Ytong website that they have been tested up to 6 hours in direct flames and they withstand that aswell.

I am trying to find "proof" that they will not work as a oven hearth insulator but so far can't find any....

If there isn't any proof it won't work then I do not understand it is not used more instead of the much more expensive options (like fireboard) or the options that onvolve a lot more work (like vermicrete)

Assuming you are still undesided I will update if I find any proof it will not work...

greetings