Danish 37" WFO build - Beginner!

[Madsen]

Hi,

Long time since my last post. but there has been done some progress on my WFO. And i have also been a lot wiser the past 6 month since my last post in this thread. My build is a 37"

A project that started out, at least in my head, to be over with in a couple of month, and yet I'm just finished the insulation layer.

I attached some pictures for you to look at. ( I have taken a ton of pictures, just don't want to bore you with all of them, so ask if you need different angle etc, maybe i got it )

Please comment on what you thinks good/bad. ATM Im strangely not having any questions for anything. Maybe i have read to much, i doubt it. however if something comes up, ill post it, if i don't find a reasonable solution my self

The weather in Denmark is very "unstable" so its raining a lot, so i put up a cheap tent for cover, however the last 4 weeks we have had a head wave over whole scandinavia more or less. so its been so warm here.. love it But then it gave me shade for working

The countertop I'm kinda proud off First go on it, and have never tried anything near this before. However, i have polished with beeswax, and ??? Is this it, what are you using for keeping moist etc out ?

Tomorrow I'm starting at work after 2 weeks holiday, but I'm going to cut the oven base so it fits when the insulation layer is dry enough to continue to the first course of firebricks.

I made the insulation layer of perlite and portlant cement. ration 1/8 - and finding it very porous ?

----------------
Hmm it says i don't have any rights to upload any pictures. so i shared a folder with google. - trying to fix it though.

https://drive.google.com/folderview?...Tg&usp=sharing

Its me with the green cap ;-)

Cheers

[deejayoh]

Re: Danish 37" WFO build - Beginner!

Countertop (and the rest of the patio) looks good. I am curious, how much insulation are you putting between the cement and the oven floor?

Also - is that a dike behind the house?

[Madsen]

Re: Danish 37" WFO build - Beginner!

Morning Deejay.

Yeah and no. Maybe some language diffrences here. but a dike in my English is when you have water on the outside ? In my back garden its a dike that hides the noise from the street behind it But its a new house so the trees etc hasnt grown up yet.

The insulation layer is just shy of 4 inch thick. With that said, its also only 2 days since the perlite pour, maybe that has something to do with the porous insulation layer.
Its maybe not the best Picture of the insulation layer, but there is a small form behind the firebricks. so they only act as a weight to keep the form in place - it was what I had laying around the garden

Straight on top of the perlite I will put fireclay and the the firebrick itself ?

[jeeppiper]

Re: Danish 37" WFO build - Beginner!

Your concrete countertop looks fantastic! You must have spent a lot of time polishing it. I also admire your overall workmanship on the patio. I am curious if you have any drainage issues with your patio.

[Madsen]

Re: Danish 37" WFO build - Beginner!

Hi jeep!
Thanks for the kind words, appreciate it. I bought the house with my gf two years ago. And back then I had little to none experience in this kind of work, back then it was alcohol and hanging with friends. But once you start a family (got a 1,5 yo daughter) you have to prioritize a little.

All you see in the photos are a first for me ! And I'm somewhat pleased

The countertop I used a whole day of polishing! From grit 20 up to 1200... Phew my arms where shaking some time afterwards but for the first time, with only 1 small 10x10 inch test I'm pretty happy with it

New pictures added just now of the build - link below.

[Madsen]

Re: Danish 37" WFO build - Beginner!

Jeep,

To your question about the drainage - it works perfect! What you don't see in the pictures is that I have crossed some coarse stones wrapped in some kind of blanket and made them go into the the corner where I have a large pipe with a lot of stones. I don't know all the English words for this but I think you understand
In Denmark during the fall we receive large amount of water so it has to work.

If everything fails, I got a large water pump to help me

Tomorrow I'm going to make the IT. However still not convinced how - but I have some ideas it's not easy when we don't have the same stores like all of you "over there" which means I need to research my self

[boerwarrior]

Re: Danish 37" WFO build - Beginner!

it's looking great, Madsen!

Unless it's too late, you may want to slant the bricks on the landing as well, so that you the metal peel doesn't "stick" when you slide it into the oven. If it is too late then don't worry!

Neil

[Madsen]

Re: Danish 37" WFO build - Beginner!

Neil,

No it's not to late, thanks for the advice. I also considered to do it my self ..
But it should only be the once on the landing ?

Madsen

[boerwarrior]

Re: Danish 37" WFO build - Beginner!

Madsen

your floor is much nicer than mine! But here is what I did.

[Madsen]

Re: Danish 37" WFO build - Beginner!

Some progress has been made the last couple of days, you can have a look at my Pictures in the Photo link in my signature.
(I'm typing from Work, and here we have a stupid system that docent allow me to upload any Pictures from my drive, hence the link)

however second course and the inner arch is done, and I'm just started on the 3rd course. I don't know what happened to the joints, I guess its the smaller circle that doesn't allow me to bond the stones as they should, but i found out a bit late, and chose to make it anyway, because actually besides the structural advantage they give they have actually nice symmetry. That was the last time i place them with mortar prior to dry-stack them.

I'm beginning to Count days before i get the final stone cut in my dome. Hopefully this coming weekend i can finish the dome, so i can Work on the vent and outer arch/landing... And start a fire-that-hardly-can-burn-a-smurf size.. Love it !

The tent i have put up around is really helping me out, i can leave the tools out so its really only to plug in the power for the radio and saw and im ready to build.
Also we have had the last 5-6 weeks about 85-90 degrease fahrenheit (which is not normal in Denmark) so it protects me from the sun
The best part is that it only costs 15 usd ! But we have alot of Wind here on the West coast of Denmark (im Living in Esbjerg) so its about 10% duck tape.

What is that item called you place on top of the vent area that holds the chimney in place ? i have seen alot of Pictures but have no idea what its called. hope you know which one im talking about.

Now, back to "real" work

[boerwarrior]

Re: Danish 37" WFO build - Beginner!

Looking good! I think this is what you were saying... but you should try and make sure that the joints on successive courses don't line up. The cracks (and you will get a few cracks) like to follow long straight joint lines. It's not a big deal and not worth redoing anything.

You have a beautiful daughter! (I assume it's your daughter)

Neil

[Madsen]

Re: Danish 37" WFO build - Beginner!

Hi Neil.
Yeah I have just made 2 courses to night. Some small point I'm not to happy about. The inner arch did not line up as I would like to. It's .5 inch lower than the course that's supposed to hit it. Hmm maybe confusing and I did not take a picture of it. Doh. But I filled the very small gab with mortar. So now it's ready for the next completely full course - yay! And no1 ever gonna notice unless the climb inside the dome.

But in general I'm more than happy ..

And thanks, it is my 1,5 yo daughter :-) she is very interested. She don't know it yet, but I'm gonna buy a small electrical powered pink Barbie car so she can deliver pizza to the neighbors!

[Madsen]

Re: Danish 37" WFO build - Beginner!

Again a constructive Day! 2 courses again. So its total 7 and soldier in 6 days.. With work and family..
However, I find it to be more and more difficult! Especially after I cut the stones to 1/3 brick, so they are more alive! But it's okay, I have still more than met my expectations I had before I started this project. And also happy if I just get an oven half as fine as many of yours

By the end of the weekend the dome should be closed and the outter arch should be in progress.

New picture in below link.

Madsen

[boerwarrior]

Re: Danish 37" WFO build - Beginner!

you are making great progress! Those last few brick courses look perfect.

You are absolutely correct that any small errors will only be noticed by yourself. I have a lot of errors in my oven and only I know about them!

Your daughter delivering pizza would make a great picture - you'll have to post one when the time comes!

[Madsen]

Re: Danish 37" WFO build - Beginner!

Good Morning, atleast here in Denmark its morning.

Well i finished the dome, not to my complete satisfaction - especially when i see all your remarkable key stones out there. I simply could not figure out in my head how it was supposed to be cut on the brick saw. But in any case it just looks like a grenade went of right around the key stone area But its a really tight fit. Now its done, and im really REALLY happy with the final outcome of the entire dome - it exceeds my best expectations by far.

Also som rather big changes will be made from now on, instead of an igloo im going to build a house around it. The Whole patio will be having roof over it before the end of 2014, and then I will build some kind of wall of wood that is matching my shed around the Whole table, and inside this i will make 3 walls to the front in the same stone as my house is build in. I have no idea if you understand my idea, but i will try to sketch it up at some point.

But now - 1 week of air dry and by then i will have the outer arch/chimney done ! Hopefully.. NeXT weekend im quite disabled so it will have to be done by then. After that curing fire ! yay!

By the way, my fine cheap excavation tent blew of in the small local storm we had during the weekend. And its still windy outside so a new one will come up tomorrow in order to have better airflow around the dome.

New pictures on the link below -->