Pompeii Nate's 42" take two

[Pompeii Nate]

Re: Pompeii Nate's 42" take two

On the 9th course I decided to switch to cutting a single brick into thirds. This seemed to work out fairly good. I felt that the half bricks were just getting too close to all the joints so I went with thirds. I also found that I needed to start using supports for each brick and that is what you can see if the first picture. I got the system worked out well enough that after I got these first seven or eight bricks put up with supports, by the time I was ready to put up the next brick the "oldest" brick with a support was capable of staying in place without any support or slippage. My placement of each brick wasn't perfect but it worked well. I continued with this method up until I got to the point that I needed to change my attachment on my IT. I was happy with how it turned out.

I thought I had a picture that showed how well my courses were staying round but I guess I am just remembering standing about the build, looking down and thinking "Holy Crap! That is almost perfectly round!!!" In the third picture I am most of the way done with the 9th course and you can kind of see how round my courses stayed. I definitely owe this all to the IT.

[Pompeii Nate]

Re: Pompeii Nate's 42" take two

Thanks Sharkey!!

I totally agree with you about how things have changed. Gianni Focacci and some others totally revolutionized how to build these ovens and I owe many thanks to people like them for being amazing innovators. I definitely would not have thought something out like they did.

[Pompeii Nate]

Re: Pompeii Nate's 42" take two

When I completed the 11th course I switched my attachment on my IT to use the round plate to rest the bricks on instead of trying to use the clamp. It worked great. The only problem with it was that I totally lost my ability to keep things nearly perfectly round. for the last few courses I felt like I kept getting more and more off from round but oh well.

The second picture is an inside shot of the plate attachment. Maybe I should have tried to support it better but it was actually staying up exactly how you see it in the picture...totally by itself. Somehow I got it to balance and even when I would put bricks on it it would stay. I think there was enough rust on it to keep it wedged against itself. Whatever it was, it worked.

The third picture shows my last course before the plug being dry-fitted into place. You can see that there is definitely a large difference between some of the pieces. I just went with what I could make fit and that was it. These last two courses (11 and 12) definitely took A LOT more fine cutting than any other course. It seemed like I would get four or five fitting and then when I brought in a new brick the rest would no longer fit the way they did just moments before. At times I started to get frustrated but then I just kept laughing to myself and thinking "Dang, this is awesome!!! And I am almost done with the dome!!!" Those simple thoughts took away the frustration and just made the day better.

In the 4th picture the whole course is in place but as you can see it was pretty bad with lots of angles and just not meeting the way I wanted. So my solution was to take a dremel tool to it and just grind it down. The result was the fifth photo. It definitely made it more uniform but still not a perfect circle. I found myself getting out of control with the dremel so if anybody ever tries this be careful. You can get carried away pretty fast.

[Pompeii Nate]

Re: Pompeii Nate's 42" take two

I plugged my dome and boy did that feel good. At the same time the joy of working on the dome was over but I still had the entry arch to work on so it wasn't all bad feelings. As soon as I got it plugged I immediately put a halogen work lamp in the dome to start the drying process (you can see the red extension cord in the bottom right of the first picture).

Before I put the plug in I kind of stole an idea of Russell's from Wood Fired Beehive. Using the dremel tool again I carved what is called the Fire Dancer (Dave Matthews Band anyone?!) into the plug then covered it with mortar to stick out more. This was another first for me so it isn't perfect but it was fun trying.

As I mentioned before I tried to keep all the mortar from getting to the inside but from the photos you can see that I didn't always succeed. I actually had my 12 year old nephew climb in there with a tool to start chipping away at the pieces that were really obvious and he did a great job but there are still a few in there.

A shot of my oven with all the forms pulled out and the oven cleaned out. I really loved to see that!

[Pompeii Nate]

Re: Pompeii Nate's 42" take two

Here is a shot looking at my oven from the front. It actually looks pretty round. At the beginning of the project I thought about bringing the dome top down to have a 42" floor but a 19" or 20" inch roof but I ended up not doing that and I am fine with it. Maybe in the future I will wish I would have done it differently but that is not the case now. In this first picture you can still see my original design for the smaller, 1" reveal but in the second picture where I have started building the entry arch you can see the change I made. The second brick in on each side was made much wider to allow for a much larger reveal. You will see later on how much bigger I made it but for now you can compare the two and see I almost doubled the size of those two bricks. Also in the second picture if you look at the hearth slab on both the left and right you can see two pieces of duct tape. I ran conduit through the slab and those two pieces of tap are covering what will be two electrical outlets at a future time. I also have the ability to take power up into a canopy (to be constructed in the future when there is money for it) to allow for lighting of whatever type I decide. Luckily my cousin is a seasoned electrician and helps me out with all my crazy projects. He has definitely earned himself a pizza party or three.

In the third photo my new reveal design is somewhat visible. I guess you could say I took the 1" reveal and completely flipped it around. All of the bricks for the entry arch were angled to make the most accurate fit possible. I actually had a friend of mine do them who is a professional mason with a much larger brick saw than I have so in a few simple and fast cuts he was able to cut most of them for me. It turned out that I was a couple short so I ended up cutting a few on my own so I didn't bother him again and I was very happy with the result. It just proved to me that I could make just about any cut I needed as long as I planned it out, marked it correctly and took my time.

The shot from the side shows that I did not put any mortar between bricks on the same row. It did create what appeared to be a slight gap as you can see in some of the rows. I later went back and just filled those by showing some mortar in there and wiping it down with my sponge. If nothing else I thought this improved the looked 100%. Also, I did not mortar the entry arch to the dome. They are two separate structures that are butted up against each other. This made some gaps that let smoke through as I found out later when I began firing the oven but I took care of that with some high temp caulk and fire rope. I did not make the efforts that some did to minimize heat loss though the entry arch but I am hoping that by minimizing the surface contact between the two I am saving something. I might not ever know if it really makes a difference but I will just tell myself that it does.

Well my wife is waiting for me to finish so we can watch a little netflix before bed so for tonight this will have to be it.

[SableSprings]

Re: Pompeii Nate's 42" take two

That's a fabulous job Nate! I also appreciate that you did such a nice picture summary of the build so far. Looking forward to seeing how you finish it up and how you both like the "new & improved cooking/baking options "

It's really amazing to see so many of the ideas presented in this forum used and refined during each build...sometimes I think I'd like to tear my oven down just to use some of the great techniques and innovations in building my next one. But then, my wife and friends would probably have me committed and continue to make bread & pizza without me

p.s. I hope you got to pick the first netflix movie to watch.

[Pompeii Nate]

Re: Pompeii Nate's 42" take two

Thanks Mike for the compliments! But I was thinking I left a lot of things out of my photos and could have done a much better job. Oh well. Thanks again!

And for the record we are watching the TV show Chuck right now and having a great time with it. If you haven't watched it I highly recommend it.

[GianniFocaccia]

Re: Pompeii Nate's 42" take two

Wow, Nate! What a beautiful oven! The symmetry of your dome shows just how many hours you spent cutting bricks and reeks of craftsmanship. I'm always amazed at how new builders can simply look at pictures, ask a few questions, then go and build an oven. Yours is the best example of that.

Congrats, you have an oven to be proud of.

John

[Pompeii Nate]

Re: Pompeii Nate's 42" take two

Thank you John for the kind words. It means a lot coming from you. I tried in many ways to recreate your masterpiece but came up short pretty much every time. But still, yes I am very proud of it and look forward to getting many years of use out of it.

I have yet to insulate it or put on finishing touches so I will still have some questions I am sure so don't think you guys have heard the last of me just yet.

Thanks again!

[Gulf]

Re: Pompeii Nate's 42" take two

Nate,

I agree with everything that has been said about your oven....................except for what Mike said about "tearing down and building another oven". Though, I would like to build another oven to include some of the new innovations . I mostly think about having two ovens at different temps, just so the whole meal can be served hot and fresh at the same time .

Great job!

[Pompeii Nate]

Re: Pompeii Nate's 42" take two

Gulf,

That is a fabulous idea. I think you should do it! I would love to see two ovens working side by side. It would be your own "innovation".

And thanks for the kind words. It is appreciated.

[Pompeii Nate]

Re: Pompeii Nate's 42" take two

Here is another shot of the entry arch going up. A little bit closer to nearing completion. And then the second picture shows the completed arch.

For my vent I tried to do something similar to John's vent opening but mine is not nearly as elegant or perfect as his. The third photo is obviously the side profile and then the fourth shows how high I ended up so far. I will have another picture that shows the inside vent but I didn't take one of those until after I started firing.

And the fifth photo is my youngest daughter who was 2 at the time of this picture. She fit in there very nicely with plenty of room. She also gets kind of shy when a camera comes out.

[Pompeii Nate]

Re: Pompeii Nate's 42" take two

The first photo shows how I decided to even out my vent by putting on the front and back sides. It took me a few attempts to get these rounded cuts right so I did go through a few bricks. It definitely is not perfectly level but if I decide to go up some more I will be able to compensate the difference in my mortar. You can't really tell from the front angle but the chimney vent is actually set back about half an inch from the front arch so I guess I have room to add cement board if I decide to go that route with my finished product.

The second photo is shooting up the vent to show what I did there. In the top half of the photo you can see a few things. First you can see light coming through which means my two separate structures are more separate in some places than they are in others. Second you can see how I angled my back vent bricks with the hope of assisting in the whole "path of least resistance" idea that the smoke with follow. It doesn't look nearly as pretty as others on here but I gave it a shot nonetheless. You can also see the lack of symmetry between the left and right sides. One looks really nice with a nice mortar joint and the other is not so nice. In the bottom of the picture you can see that the keystone of my arch is different and that is simply because of how I cut the brick for just this one. On the top (back) I did the same thing and you can see how I added a filler piece but I opted not to do the same thing on the front. In the end I figured it wouldn't really mess with the structural integrity but maybe I will be wrong in the long run (lets hope not ).

The third picture is a top view of how I tried to make a level chimney vent. As you can see I did not do a fantastic job of this but as stated previously I think I can level it out with a little mortar in the right places if I decide to go any higher. The 4th and 5th photos are side views. Personally I like the view from further back and slightly lower because to me it makes it look less uneven.

And yes that is the view off my back porch. Though I am a city boy from Southern California I sure do love living out in the open.

[GianniFocaccia]

Re: Pompeii Nate's 42" take two

The way you built it Nate, your vent is going to draw like a champ. A couple of nights ago I was watching the initial start-up smoke exit my oven for a few minutes. It tried to migrate out the front of the oven (with the help of some moderate winds) but by the time it got to the leading edge of my vent, the draw sucked it up the flue in a swirling, circular pattern. This was curious to me given that my flue is square.

All I know is that I am a huge fan of deeper vents and after all this time still don't have any smoke stains on the front of my oven. All the extra cuts angling multiple sides of your flue interior can't hurt, and after all, its what makes your oven unique.

[Bert]

Re: Pompeii Nate's 42" take two

Absolutely beautiful clean brick work Mate! Be proud! Bert