36" in Chapin, SC

[hubert_s]

Re: 36" in Chapin, SC

I did not get much done today, only about half of the eighth course is in. I am having trouble with the saw again. There is a lot of water coming out of the nozzles, but sometimes it does not hit the blade at all. I don't see any adjustment on the nozzles, maybe they are getting worn. Instead of producing a stream of water directed at the blade, the water just drips down the back.

On the lower courses, I just eyeballed the cuts and have a quite bit of variation in the width of the bricks. On this course, I am trying to be a bit more consistent and I have started marking the cuts. When the saw is working, I now get three pieces out of each brick. Next course, I am going to increase the width by 50% and will try to keep the joints staggered.

The home brew mortar works great at grabbing the bricks and holding them in place, but with the heat I do not have a lot of time to use it up, so I have gone to smaller batches. I forgot my mixing drill in the car this morning and did not feel like going to get it, so I tried stonecutter's suggestion and hand mixed the mortar. It was easier than I thought, but I broke the handle on my cheap trowel in the process! I now have a wobbly trowel handle, and that's my excuse for all the bricks that are not quite set right on the eighth course!

[hubert_s]

Re: 36" in Chapin, SC

Thanks, Dave. I will proceed as planned.

[cobblerdave]

Re: 36" in Chapin, SC

My plan is to have brick sides, but no visible arch. I have 13" from the front of the base to the inner arch and plan to have a brick wall on either side slightly angled to open up towards the front. I thought to put a vent hood similar to nissanneills on top of the brick walls. Instead of an outer arch, I am planning to have a rectangular opening in the durock trimmed out with stainless steel U-channel around the edges, and either mosaic tile or stone around the opening.

Does this sound like a reasonable plan, or do I have to rethink this?

G'day
Sorry I read things wrong. That's a great plan. A hood will look great and should prove very functional. Domes coming along nicely
Regards dave

[hubert_s]

Re: 36" in Chapin, SC

I did not have much time for the oven today, but I did manage to complete the seventh course and I am over the arch. The two bricks on top of the center of the arch are proud in the back by about 1/8". Otherwise it looks pretty good and level all around. The transition into the arch was surprisingly simple. No complicated compound angles on the wet saw, just a little bit of angle grinding. I guess I got really lucky that the arch was only about 1/4" higher in the center than the sixth course.

You may notice the anchor brick for the eight course is in a different spot today. The one I put in yesterday was loose this morning. I knew I had bumped into it a couple of times yesterday. I have to be more careful as space is getting tighter.

[hubert_s]

Re: 36" in Chapin, SC

G'day
The entrance way does form an important function and that is to stop any breezes from interfering with the oven function. It doesn't go all the way to funneling the smoke from your face if its in the open and subject to breezes and winds.
I suppose it depends on the local breezes and location. But I would be prepared to change you mind and brick the sides in if its required.
Regards dave

My plan is to have brick sides, but no visible arch. I have 13" from the front of the base to the inner arch and plan to have a brick wall on either side slightly angled to open up towards the front. I thought to put a vent hood similar to nissanneills on top of the brick walls. Instead of an outer arch, I am planning to have a rectangular opening in the durock trimmed out with stainless steel U-channel around the edges, and either mosaic tile or stone around the opening.

Does this sound like a reasonable plan, or do I have to rethink this?

[cobblerdave]

Re: 36" in Chapin, SC

G'day
The entrance way does form an important function and that is to stop any breezes from interfering with the oven function. It doesn't go all the way to funneling the smoke from your face if its in the open and subject to breezes and winds.
I suppose it depends on the local breezes and location. But I would be prepared to change you mind and brick the sides in if its required.
Regards dave

[hubert_s]

Re: 36" in Chapin, SC

Arch joints look fine to me. Remember this is your inner arch and will be part of the chimney vent and will be covered with soot. You will see very little of this arch, maybe your reveal, the outer arch is where you want to do you best cuts.

My plan is to go without an outer arch. I want the oven opening to be rectangular and was thinking about building walls on the left and right and putting a stainless steel vent on top. I have not quite figured out the details yet.

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: 36" in Chapin, SC

Arch joints look fine to me. Remember this is your inner arch and will be part of the chimney vent and will be covered with soot. You will see very little of this arch, maybe your reveal, the outer arch is where you want to do you best cuts.

[hubert_s]

Re: 36" in Chapin, SC

Shaping up nicely, good brick work, joints staggers. Don't envy you having to work in such tight quarters.

Thanks, Russel. I am pretty happy with it so far, but I wish I had spent more time on the arch and did not have such big mortar joints there. Hope it does not crack too badly and holds up.

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: 36" in Chapin, SC

Shaping up nicely, good brick work, joints staggers. Don't envy you having to work in such tight quarters.

[hubert_s]

Re: 36" in Chapin, SC

I have the saw working again. The seventh course is complete up to the arch and I set one brick of the eighth course to have a solid starting point when I get to that point. I removed the insulation boards in the front to have a place to step on. It is getting tight inside the dome. I accidentally knocked the eighth course brick down the first time I set it.

Somebody is doing something to the water, the five gallon buckets are getting heavier every day. At least, the cut power line to the old well has been fixed, so I don't have to carry them all the way up the hill anymore.

[hubert_s]

Re: 36" in Chapin, SC

I made a little bit of progress today. I finished course number six and mortared in the arch bricks. The form dropped right out.

The saw is giving me problems. To lock the up and down motion of the blade, there is a plastic knob that tightens a collet on a shaft. Once clay gets in there it becomes virtually impossible to lock the blade in the down position (oh, btw, clay gets everywhere). I tried to clean the collet and the shaft, but never could get it to lock reliably, so I had to hold the saw head down with one hand while pushing the table with the other. I hope I can fix the problem tomorrow and will bring some cleaning supplies out there.

So far, I have kept the brick count the same on each course, i.e., I have been cutting progressively smaller bricks. What is the smallest size brick I should do this way? I am thinking of continuing with smaller bricks for one more course and then increasing the size to 1.5x on course eight to avoid aligned joints. Is this a good plan, or should I try to keep the bricks bigger?

[hubert_s]

Re: 36" in Chapin, SC

I got quite a bit done today. All the arch bricks are tapered, course five is in and I have started on course six. I accidentally installed the second arch bricks on the wrong side, but they are so similar you can barely tell the difference between left and right. You might notice that I left myself a little bit of angle grinder work on the inside of the arch bricks...

I decided not to cut out the angled brick sitting on top of the vertical section of my entry. When I mortared it in, I thought nobody will ever see it. Now, I wish I had cut another brick because the mortar joint is a bit big and it does not look symmetric. I just have to remind myself that it will be covered up.

The top of the center arch brick is about 1/2" above the sixth course. I am quite curious how the arch will transition into the sixth course. I hope to find out tomorrow.

[hubert_s]

Re: 36" in Chapin, SC

You should be fine, but you really don't want to prop up the centering too much. Even on my gothic vault running through my oven, I only had a drop of 3/4".

I mainly added the 2x4s to have a more stable base, not so much to increase the drop.

[hubert_s]

Re: 36" in Chapin, SC

I know you are using a better saw than to old cheapo HF so doesn't your cutting head rotate up and down to give you more height?

The saw head rotates up and down, but the clearance gets worse when you rotate up because the blade guard extends past the pivot point and drops when you raise the blade. I had to cut a little bit off the width and length to avoid hitting the blade guard in the rear and make the cuts in one pass. I cut all the bricks and finished them off with the angle grinder.