40" corner build in central TX

[Greenman]

Re: 40" corner build in central TX

Congratulations. 'Firsts' are always tasty and cause for some pride. It is about there when the realisation of how much scope there is for improvement and how many variables there sinks in.

I look back at my first cook pics and wonder how I lost the skill to make random shapes that were a signature of mine then.

I have made a lot of different things in the WFO since I completed it but have not really given bread a go. For some reason I have avoided it and the more I read the scarier it seems.

Good luck with your cooking journey and putting the finishing touches on your oven.

[ogorir]

Re: 40" corner build in central TX

I finally made a pizza!

...and I've only been cooking in the oven since last thanksgiving.



Anyhoo, they turned out pretty well. crust was 3c h2o, 6.5c King Arthur AP, 1 tbsp salt, 1 tpsb sugar. no knead mix, then 3 punch downs over 3 hours. I kneaded the dough balls a bit when I separated them off the big chunk, but it was starting to get springy all by itself when I did the last few pies. Dough made 5 pies roughly 12".
I made sauce from a few cans of whole tomatoes I had around. next time I'm going to cook it down a bit further, it was a little damp, but not bad.
I used shredded mozz for the first 2(#1 is pictured), then sliced up a log of fresh for the last 3. The final pie(2nd picture) also had a bit of kraft 5 cheese Italian blend sprinkled on which turned out very well.
Sliced grape tomatoes and basil rounded out the load for all but the first pie.

I used more or less the same dough recipe to make some crusty bread yesterday. I burned the crap out of the first loaf (oven at ~800 degrees will do that, yeah?) but the second one turned out well. The center of the burned loaf turned into stuffing and the second loaf was eaten at Christmas dinner with a parsnip&celery root soup. The remainder became french toast this morning.


In other news, I finally finished the insulation and got the first coat of stucco finished out. The second rendering/shaping coat is 1/2 done. I made a chimney cap last weekend, so no more soaking the inside of the oven when it rains. Which is a plus.

A note on the perlite insulation... I wound up having to buy another bag of perlite locally from a landscape company... and it's about 4x the grain size and 50,000,000 times easier to work with than the stuff I bought from tscarborough. like... I wouldn't have been dreading working on the oven for the last year if I had that product. I think I paid roughly double per 4cu ft bag, but what a difference.

So, when I can string some time together to finish evening out the dome shape, stucco the block stand, and fix the pointing on the decorative brick, she'll be all done.

I am thinking of making a rain canopy to hang off the chimney, maybe with a light. I also bought a few peels and a brush today that I'll need to make a holder for. webstarauntstore is solid gold for that kind of thing, I think the 8" turner was $15, 12x14 picker was $17, and stacking 8" dough trays are $3.19/ea

[ogorir]

Re: 40" corner build in central TX

I back-filled the corbel and put the mortar cap on. I used the leftover profinish type-s mortar with a 1c of lime, 1c of fireclay, and 2c of marble dust added. It trowelled out nicely.

I cleaned up the mortar on the chimney with a chisel, rub brick, and sponge. There are a few spots I'm going to need to point later.

On a whim, I decided to see how the random orbital palm sander w/ 120grit paper did on the concrete countertop. It does just fine It's far from finished, but not bad for 4 sheets of wood sandpaper and 1/2hr.

I also bull-nosed the top edge and sculpted the cast corbels under the counter a bit. I'll probably do more work to those.

[stonecutter]

Re: 40" corner build in central TX

We're on the same page, I'm withholding any opinion until I get the base and dome stucco'd. It may look great, it may look like too much brick.

Any ideas on the stucco dome to non-stucco chimney transition? The only idea I've got is doing a ring of 1/4 round tile and stuccoing up to it. I've been thinking of adding some cobalt blue accents, might be a good place for it.

Sounds nice.

[ogorir]

Re: 40" corner build in central TX

We're on the same page, I'm withholding any opinion until I get the base and dome stucco'd. It may look great, it may look like too much brick.

Any ideas on the stucco dome to non-stucco chimney transition? The only idea I've got is doing a ring of 1/4 round tile and stuccoing up to it. I've been thinking of adding some cobalt blue accents, might be a good place for it.

[stonecutter]

Re: 40" corner build in central TX

It's not that bad, the stucco coat would balance it out. But I personally like the brick too.

[ogorir]

Re: 40" corner build in central TX

Thanks, Stonecutter. I was trying to keep my design elements at least somewhat consistent by mimicking the corbel on the block stand. I may stucco the chimney up to the corbel, but my wife likes the brick. we'll see how it looks next to the stucco'd dome.

I think I've used that program before. The sodium lamp on the garage is the real culprit, though. It's about 3x as bright as the lights shining on the near side of the oven.


You can probably see on the left side where I got a bit off plumb. I'm thinking I should've rigged something up to have a straight line to follow, but oh well... it was a learning experience. Also, if I were to do another one, I'd be loath to use king size brick. It's dimensions don't lend itself to structural applications. As such, I solidly filled all the cores for the first 2' and for the corbelled courses. Filling the cores completely takes roughly twice as much mortar and half again more time, but when you're doing the corbels, the extra surface area to adhere the brick to makes all the difference in getting them stuck without leaning outwards. I still had to use a brick on the inside edge of the bricks or a dried piece of mortar in the joint to keep them from leaning until the mortar grabbed, though.

[stonecutter]

Re: 40" corner build in central TX

The corbeling detail was a nice touch.

For your iphone, try the camera+ app. It's free, and it has great photo editing features.

[ogorir]

Re: 40" corner build in central TX

Yeah, probably close to 750 lbs for that 4' chimney Those numbers really start to add up when you're looking at a big house chimney with multiple flues.

[Novaslo]

Re: 40" corner build in central TX

Wow that looks great....Crazy to think how much weight it is holding. Nice Job...

[ogorir]

Re: 40" corner build in central TX

Chimney case is done, more or less. It's a bit rustic, but a learned a lot about keeping everything true by the 6th course (doh).

I'm going to try to fill in a row of bricks behind the corbel if the rain will let up tomorrow and do the mortar cap. In hind sight, I think I went a course too tall, as my flue is only about 3 inches proud of the top course of brick.

I'm going to fab a stainless flashing/cap/spark arrestor/air director to sit on top, just need to locate some stainless. I was originally going to do copper, but I can't really justify the expense.

I guess I need to stop procrastinating about covering the dome, that's about all that's left

(yes, I know, terrible picture quality. iPhone doesn't do so hot in the dark)

[ogorir]

Re: 40" corner build in central TX

I've been using type-s quikcrete profinish premix mortar for the decorative stuff and I like the way it works.

Based on 25psf wind load(roughly 100 mph), it doesn't really matter what I use, the load is almost negligible (125 lbs).

[EricU]

Re: 40" corner build in central TX

I was just thinking... should I use homebrew for the first few courses of chimney brick? It is sitting directly on the flue arch, so it's going to get fairly hot.

I've only got a few chimney bricks set, not the end of the world if they need to come back out.

I used the homebrew for my entire chimney stack, why not?

Your build is looking good, have you started cooking in it yet?

[ogorir]

Re: 40" corner build in central TX

I was just thinking... should I use homebrew for the first few courses of chimney brick? It is sitting directly on the flue arch, so it's going to get fairly hot.

I've only got a few chimney bricks set, not the end of the world if they need to come back out.

[ogorir]

Re: 40" corner build in central TX

Thanks! It was a last minute addition. I purchased 12 common 3-core red brick from lowes while I was laying the oven out initially and they fit the opening space better than the king-size brick I built the rest with, so I decided to use them for the deco arch. I couldn't figure out how to make a decent looking keystone with the brick, though. I needed a few more bricks, so I went to lowes and bought a few more (at $0.73/ brick :/ ) and checked over in the outdoor gardening area and sure enough there was ONE nice yellow piece of Austin stone. That stuff cuts and chips beautifully, I see why everyone uses it around here.