42" Pompeii Oven in Virginia

[cobblerdave]

Re: 42" Pompeii Oven in Virginia

Gudday
I'm quite surprised in how much that ceramic weighs! It's a good thing you have considered buttressing for strength.
Enjoy watching you build its coming along well!
Regards dave

[mirassou]

Re: 42" Pompeii Oven in Virginia

Just finished row 8 and some more bricks for the flue. I'm going to try to preserve as much flue opening space as possible, since I'll have flues with a 12x12 interior. I'll see about this, but I may have to buttress the outer arches, as each flue is 60lbs....I'm kind of thinking that I'll need 1.5 of them, or 90lbs, plus the brick around them.

Cut out the excess fiber board around the circumference of the oven today. I'm thinking of making a portland mortar or just using mortar mix to lay between the hearth slab and the lower edge of the heat stop mortar of the oven. I also bought silonase to waterproof the edge and a few inches outward of the hearth.

[mirassou]

Re: 42" Pompeii Oven in Virginia

Russell, the gong is really neat. My neighbor in northern VA had given me hers, but I saw that she could really use it on her back porch at her new house, so I gave it back to her. I bought this one and hung it on the pavilion. I have one stone pillar and may eventually get another one to use to hang it between them. In addition to the classic bong sound, it makes beautiful music when rubbed with superball mallets!

[mirassou]

Re: 42" Pompeii Oven in Virginia

Hey Dave, Yes, I see that, and I don't like that I can't see the inside with the ball...if I use it, I'll probably inflate and deflate. It does well with a couple of bricks at a time, then I take it out and use the IT.

Hi Joe, yeah, that's what I'm afraid of. I see it if the mortar is a little too loose, that it takes awhile for it to set vs. wanting to slide in a little.

Hey Chris, I do need to measure some sticks. I tried the hook with the bricks over the top, but that seems to want to life up the inside of the brick.

Hi Russell, we were thinking along the same line...I finished the inside arch today, started the outside arch and I'm almost finished with course 7...have a look.

Thanks for your help,
Paul

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: 42" Pompeii Oven in Virginia

Hod,

Like the gong in the background. When you ring it all the neighbors will come over for pizza. Tip, if possible, try and keep the tapered arch bricks ahead of the dome bricks. It makes it easier to measure your tie-in bricks.

[hodgey1]

Re: 42" Pompeii Oven in Virginia

Paul
I used precut sticks of wood approx 4-5 of them to hold the bricks in place as I went. It worked great, just keep removing the oldest one and keep moving. the length of them, of course got longer with each ring higher. ive seen on the forum people who took the time to make adjustable ones, I just used some scraps i had around to make mine, nothing fancy. Once I got to ring 9 or 10 I switched to the exercise ball, which also worked very well for me. it took a few minutes to get it aired up properly for the shape but once that was done it really went well. i adjusted the air preasure while i had the dry ccut bricks stacked on the ball, i had a plastic table cloth on the ball to prevent a puncture.

[Breadjunkie]

Re: 42" Pompeii Oven in Virginia

Looking good! Watch out for the dreaded droop with the transition bricks. They tend to nose dive on you . Whatever system you use for the last few courses, take the time and make sure there's something secure to set the bricks on.

I just finished by dome and know the feeling and excitement on being where you are right now. Hope you are enjoying the ride.

Best regards,

Joe

[cobblerdave]

Re: 42" Pompeii Oven in Virginia

Gudday
It's best I think not to reach for that ball to soon. Try some rough cuts in the mortar faces of your bricks so the mortar better keys into the surface. Use thin sticks to prop the brick till the mortar gains grip is another.
The ball can sometimes not conform to the shape you want. To little pressure and the brick weight sages it, to much pressure and you can get the "pin head shape" we're the top of the dome bulges up to high.
I recon you might consider the ply disk inside the dome held up with a car jack and blocks of wood. It enables you to make a small sand shape for those final bricks.
The jack enables you to drop it quickly to clean up the brickwork inside.
Anyway that's my take on that whichever way you use it certainly a miles stone part of you build.
Regards dave

[mirassou]

Re: 42" Pompeii Oven in Virginia

Finished course 6 and started course 7 today....I'm in that in between area where the bricks want to slide in and it's too soon for the exercise ball. I'm also going to need to make a form for the arch over the landing, as that's getting vertical as well. The Lackmond saw and blade is really great...I'm still on the first blade.

[mirassou]

Re: 42" Pompeii Oven in Virginia

Just thought of this question. I've been pointing up the inside spaces between the bricks as I mortar them...will this hold or will it just fall out?

[mirassou]

Re: 42" Pompeii Oven in Virginia

Just got two 13x13 flues...inside area of 127 sq in. I figured that I'd need more than 2 feet but less than 4 feet. They were $24 each.

[mirassou]

Re: 42" Pompeii Oven in Virginia

Thanks for the encouragement Chris! The cuts are sometimes frustrating and take time, but I love working with the mortar. Need to get another bag of Heat Stop tomorrow, and figure out the flue issue. There's 12x12 and 8.5x17, so I'll probably delay exchanging my smaller flue until I move upwards on the vent

[hodgey1]

Re: 42" Pompeii Oven in Virginia

Paul, once you get all the rings over the arch it goes much faster. Your only 7 or 8 rings away from having the dome finished. Looks great and keep up the good work.

[mirassou]

Re: 42" Pompeii Oven in Virginia

On course 6 now! Onward and upward!

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: 42" Pompeii Oven in Virginia

You will be happy you spent the effort to do a taper arch. Looks good. The most important part is the inside match of the arch to the dome not so much that your slope on the arch brick are not 4.5"