42" Pompeii Oven in Virginia

[mirassou]

Re: 42" Pompeii Oven in Virginia

Cemented the rest of the third course above the soldier and more than half the fourth course today, as well as the entryway...tomorrow I'll try to tackle the angle cuts on the dreaded arch!

[kbartman]

Re: 42" Pompeii Oven in Virginia

Allied has 12 x 12 and 8.5 x 12 pipes, but they also have an 8" inside diameter thimble which is 18" in height. I think I'll get a couple of these. With the roofline, I may need three.

Mirassou,
Don't cut yourself short most the ovens I've seen with the 8" flues mostly have smoke stains on the decorative arch. I went with a 8" x 17" glad I did, it also work out great transitioning the outer arch to vent/chimney. The smaller 8" depth worked to my advantage keeping the vent area depth to a minimum. Just my opinion.

[mirassou]

Re: 42" Pompeii Oven in Virginia

OK, I understand, will go for the larger one

[mirassou]

Re: 42" Pompeii Oven in Virginia

Finally cut the bricks for the arch today...I fussed with it for ages...I still have an issue in that the depth of the slope does not equal 4.5", so I'm going to have to figure that one out.

[mirassou]

Re: 42" Pompeii Oven in Virginia

Now that I think of it, I'm still either going to need to notch the bricks on each row that covers the arch, or I may need to re-cut all of the bricks in the arch in order to get 4.5" of depth in the slope to carry each of the bricks on the rows.

[mirassou]

Re: 42" Pompeii Oven in Virginia

Cemented the 4th course above the soldier and half the 5th course today--committed to the angle bricks for the start of the arch at 35 degrees, as well as the arch brick cuts done the other day...doing them each side one at a time and I'm not re-cutting the arch bricks like I previously indicated. They'll do fine. It's starting to get steep now!

[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"

[mirassou]

Re: 42" Pompeii Oven in Virginia

On course 6 now! Onward and upward!

[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

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

[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

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

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.

[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

[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