36" in Chapin, SC

[ATK406]

Re: 36" in Chapin, SC

Beautiful build. Did you take any pictures of your dome to inner arch transition? With the skill you have shown, yours might be a good example for others to follow (if you've got some pictures of of how it was done) - Sadly I didn't join the forum until I had completed my transition with many custom cuts and the obligatory "droop" - Oh well it's all hidden away now, I've even offered to help others to look inside but so far no takers - anyway it works just fine. I engraved my keystone too (in mirror image) - for posterity. Most of the time it isn't visible anyway as it is all cover in soot.

Congratulations on your build, it looks great so far. Good luck with the rest of it.

Regards,
AT

[hubert_s]

Re: 36" in Chapin, SC

AT, I have tried to take some pictures of the arch transition from the inside of the dome, but it was too bright outside the dome and the bricks were not really visible. It is not particularly clean looking, I cheated a lot in the areas I knew were going to be invisible. I will try to take some pictures at night.

I think I got really lucky with my arch transition. There was one brick on either side that needed a 45 degree cut. On the next courses, all that was needed was a little bit of angle grinding to tie things in.

[hubert_s]

Re: 36" in Chapin, SC

I cut the keystone that I engraved today and filled the engraving with a slurry of cement and fireclay per UtahBeehiver's recommendation. I have not mortared it in yet. The slurry filled the grooves very nicely and made them look smooth, but the color is greenish gray and does not really add a lot of contrast. I am thinking about adding graphite powder to the slurry to make it pop more on my next try.

[hubert_s]

Re: 36" in Chapin, SC

The dome is closed! I made a new plug and changed the engraving to include the year. I added a bit of graphite powder to the slurry I used to fill the engraving to increase contrast.

Now I have to work out how to finish the oven. I think that is going to take longer than building the dome...

[ATK406]

Re: 36" in Chapin, SC

Sandblasting appears to be the way to go. That looks awesome and I bet it didn't take as long as my Rotozip and diamond bit technique. Well done.

[hubert_s]

Re: 36" in Chapin, SC

Sandblasting appears to be the way to go. That looks awesome and I bet it didn't take as long as my Rotozip and diamond bit technique. Well done.

Thanks, AT. Sandblasting is quick and easy, especially if you have a vinyl cutter to cut out the template for you. The longest part of the process was sanding the brick smooth with the belt sander.

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: 36" in Chapin, SC

HB,

Nice job on the finale..........the new builds keep raising the bar.

[hubert_s]

Re: 36" in Chapin, SC

Not much progress on the oven itself, but I cut some wood this morning with my new toy. I really like the saw, but it was pretty hot today and splitting the wood with a maul was only fun for a while in the heat. I guess it is about 1/2 cord of wood.

[stonecutter]

Re: 36" in Chapin, SC

Which one is that? I can't see the model number in the pic...

Stihl is the only brand I buy. When I moved here I sold a bunch of stuff I couldn't use down here, one of them being my 044 mag (now the 441)..it was a great saw. I kept my little saw, it's all I need now...

[Gulf]

Re: 36" in Chapin, SC

Not much progress on the oven itself, but I cut some wood this morning with my new toy. I really like the saw, but it was pretty hot today and splitting the wood with a maul was only fun for a while in the heat. I guess it is about 1/2 cord of wood.

Great idea, thinking ahead! The wood takes time to cure. Stihl is my chosen brand as well. You can use vegetable oil for your bar chain oil. That will keep petroleum products ....... out of your oven,......... and your food .

[hubert_s]

Re: 36" in Chapin, SC

It's a 261CM. I grew up about 20 miles from Stihl, so I did not even look at the Husky even though the dealer is much closer.

I think the wood is pretty well cured, the trees were felled last September. It split easy enough. There is a huge pile of pretty big logs, oak, maple, birch and hickory. It looks almost exactly the same size as this morning, I barely made a dent in it.

I thought veggie oil was not viscous enough and gums up the saw? Can you really use it for bar oil? I asked at the Stihl dealer about the bio bar oil but they did not have any. The guy said I was the first person to ever ask about it...

Btw, how much wood does a WFO use?

[Gulf]

Re: 36" in Chapin, SC

It's a 261CM. I grew up about 20 miles from Stihl, so I did not even look at the Husky even though the dealer is much closer.

I think the wood is pretty well cured, the trees were felled last September. It split easy enough. There is a huge pile of pretty big logs, oak, maple, birch and hickory. It looks almost exactly the same size as this morning, I barely made a dent in it.

I thought veggie oil was not viscous enough and gums up the saw? Can you really use it for bar oil? I asked at the Stihl dealer about the bio bar oil but they did not have any. The guy said I was the first person to ever ask about it...

Btw, how much wood does a WFO use?

That just means that you have plenty of wood to start. You also have some great smoking woods to play with.

Just have 3 chains, and change them out as they get dull. Flip the bar each time you switch chains. There are no "real" warranties on chains and bars, so no worries .

That depends on how you insulated and dried your oven. Also, on how often you fire.

[hubert_s]

Re: 36" in Chapin, SC

I made a little bit of progress today. With the help of a friend, I was able to turn the chimney to the right orientation and connect the missing pieces. It came out pretty well centered above the opening and only about 1/2" off the height I calculated. It is not perfectly level and plum, but I think I can work with it. I only fixed it in place with a couple of straps so I can move it a bit without too much trouble once the vent is fabricated.

I put a light in the oven a few days ago. There are a few thousand dead bugs inside the oven, but it is drying out pretty nicely. I used white portland cement, and now that there is less moisture, the mortar joints are turning from grey to white. The inside top of the dome is at about 140 F according to my IR thermometer, not sure how accurate that thing is.

I have to go to a conference for a few days, so there won't be any progress on the oven for a while.

[hubert_s]

Re: 36" in Chapin, SC

I am back from my conference and hope I can make some progress on the oven this week. I bought a sheet of stainless steel and plan to start fabricating the vent on Thursday.

I have noticed a sharp increase in temperature inside the oven. I have had a 500W shop light in there for a while now and it has been pretty steady around 140?F, but it jumped to 160?F overnight. Might just be the heat here in the South, or maybe the energy is now going into heating the brick versus evaporating water.

In other news, I more than doubled the size of my wood stack on Saturday. The log splitter made things easy, even though it was quite a bit slower than the maul.

[hubert_s]

Re: 36" in Chapin, SC

I started fabricating the vent today. I am using 16 gauge 304 stainless steel. I was going to use 316 initially, but could not find it locally. Getting the right welding gas and MIG wire for 316 would have been quite expensive anyway. So, 304 it is.

Things went pretty smoothly and I got all the pieces cut, bent, rolled and punched, except for the last four bends that require a pan brake. The picture shows one side piece of the vent and the collar for the chimney pipe before cutting and welding. I hope to get the last four bends done tomorrow and weld it all together on Sunday. I think I will just tack the collar in place and take it out to Chapin for a test fit first. I have designed for a good bit of clearance, but you never know.

I also cut some pieces to make a door and then rolled a piece to match the radius of the oven opening. That is for later, though. Right now I really want to get the vent done and build the oven entry.