Begining 36" oven in the Missouri Ozarks

[bobmurphy]

Re: Begining 36" oven in the Missouri Ozarks

My adjustable sticks from the previous post worked very well for several courses. Once I got to the top couple of courses of bricks they were not effective. I ended up stacking some bricks inside of the oven and cutting a circle of plywood for the bricks to rest on. This worked good for holding the bricks, but didn't allow me to really see how they were aligned on the inside.

[kbartman]

Re: Begining 36" oven in the Missouri Ozarks

Congratulations,
Your build is looking great and moving along quite quickly, when compare to my snail's pace..... Ground breaking til dome plugged, wow. Its great feeling to get her plugged...... Looking forward to seeing your first fire soon.

[hodgey1]

Re: Begining 36" oven in the Missouri Ozarks

Bob
Glad to see you have the dome closed up, congratulations. What a great feeling when that is finished. Pretty soon you will be cooking up some great pizzas.

[thickstrings]

Re: Begining 36" oven in the Missouri Ozarks

Looks pretty good Bob! Time for the small low curing fires.

[texman]

Re: Begining 36" oven in the Missouri Ozarks

Bob

Lets see the inside of your beauty! Good job and congrats.
Texman

[bobmurphy]

Re: Begining 36" oven in the Missouri Ozarks

Thank you everyone for the kind words. I am a little worried about starting the curing fires. It has been quite cool, actually it's been great fall weather for working outside. I know that any cement curing reaction is based on it being kept wet, but it is also a function of temperature. The warmer the faster, the cooler the slower. I do not want to dry out my oven to soon and interfer with the chemical reaction of the mortar. On the other hand a little heat would be a good thing. Does anyone have an opinion on this?

[bobmurphy]

Re: Begining 36" oven in the Missouri Ozarks

Texman, The interior is not as pretty as I had hoped, but here is a pic.

Kbartman, I can not take credit for the speed of this project so far. My wife, (and number one brick cutter) is retired. I work full time. She has done all the running for the materials, All I had to do on a Saturday morning, was walk out to the work site and build. That has been a huge time saver for me.

Thickstrings, I posted a question in my previous post about fires. do you have an opinion?

Hodgey, I cant wait for the pizza! I'm also thinking thanksgiving out of the oven.

[bobmurphy]

Re: Begining 36" oven in the Missouri Ozarks

No fire yet, I was working late and stuck my light in the oven.

[thickstrings]

Re: Begining 36" oven in the Missouri Ozarks

Hi Bob, here is some info on curing http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f16/...uring-767.html It is just a guide....Some folks fire with insulation, some without...I feel that a few small fires with out is ok, but, I would then insulate due to the disparity of ambiant temps and the inside of the oven as the fires get hotter....Its pretty subjective. Go with light bulbs or a small heater inside if it is worrisome. I think it was David S. that had a tip...put a tarp or plastic film propped up over the dome, when curing. If it is wet, it will condensate on the inside of the tarp. Rereading the above link reminded me about using charcoal briquettes. They seem a viable way of introducing even heat.

[bobmurphy]

Re: Begining 36" oven in the Missouri Ozarks

thickstrings, I decided to put in the light, and cover the dome with plastic like you suggested. Thank you for that idea. We had a spell of below normal temps, and the mortar was not setting up. I felt that I needed the extra warmth to cure the mortar, but didn't want to dry the oven just yet. It worked great, I got a lot of condensation on the inside of the plastic that kept the area wet that I wanted wet. It has warmed up perfectly the last couple of days so the light is out now. I'm planning on beginning the drying/curing process this weekend. Even just burning a couple of sheets of newspaper will be exciting at this point.

[bobmurphy]

Re: Begining 36" oven in the Missouri Ozarks

I wanted to use a metal chimney because they heat up very quick. The sooner your chimney gets hot the better the draw. I did not see the need to buy the anchor plate. I will pack a little insulation blanket in the space around the chimney/brick junction. The chimney will be held in place by the metal framing around it in several places.

[bobmurphy]

Re: Begining 36" oven in the Missouri Ozarks

We poured the entry ledge with stained concrete. I am really wondering what it will look like when it is dry.

[stonecutter]

Re: Begining 36" oven in the Missouri Ozarks

Lighter, but a good enhancing sealer will darken it close to what it looks like now.

Nice form work, should make a great counter. Did you use your own mix design or was it a ready made product?

[bobmurphy]

Re: Begining 36" oven in the Missouri Ozarks

Stonecutter, We mixed the concrete our self's. Type 1 cement, sand, gravel. I didn't want just a plane cement gray counter top. I was having a hard time deciding what I wanted for a finished top. I have been hoping something would turn up on Craigslist, but it didn't happen. I bought two bottles of quickcrete's liquid dye, one terracotta and one buff. I mixed small batches of concrete and alternated the color in the batches and poured them in the form. I used very little of the dye. After the form was screed off I dribbled a little of the pure dye randomly across the surface. The dribbled dye got spread nicely as I floated the slab. I like the look of it now. I will probably seal it with something, but do not know what to use. I have seen cement counter tops that look like they have a coat of epoxy on them. Does anybody know what that is, or does anyone have any experience with that type of product used out side?

[deejayoh]

Re: Begining 36" oven in the Missouri Ozarks

My experience is that epoxy will craze and crack when exposed to the elements. Better to seal and apply bees/carnuba wax mixture periodically.