your awesome... 1mtr internal dome Sydney Aus

[Sharkey]

Re: your awesome... 1mtr internal dome Sydney Aus

It is not essential to use a proper brick saw. I built my oven using a hand held power saw with abrasive cutting disks. One of the worlds best known oven builders, Stefano Ferrara uses a small axe for most of his brick cutting.

As Dave said, the bricks are basically cut in half, stacked in place over a sand form and then a wet mortar mix poured over the top and worked in.

Here are some pics of Stefano building an oven for a restaurant in New York.







Pics are from this story Donatella Arpaias Pizza Oven

[huskerduck]

Re: your awesome... 1mtr internal dome Sydney Aus

Thanks for the tips.

Cast able keystone! Great idea!

I got out tonight and cut a few with the grinder. I can see how it would have taken you 9 hours.
I'm resigned to just hireling the saw this weekend again so I can do it right.


The dome before I tore it Down to about 6 rows.... Here is to a sunny weekend

I finished this from the arch Keystone to the dome keystone in one day, basically a 42" oven in a day since this is a 54" inside. Thanks to a chop saw

The reason the mortar looks dried on bits and pieces for the first 3 layers above the arch is because we used heat stop 50 for the upper 1/3 of the arch and 3 connecting courses of the dome and that stuff is set up super fast especially when you run a heater in the dome the entire times.

I tried to be a little ugly to a point just because of how the final look is going for very old.

The top half of the dome is super easy, I didn't use sticks or anything to hold bricks even when they were basically 85% vertical. Home brew and Heatstop hold extremely well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw1VtkH-F9A&feature=youtu.be

If it doesn't slide off the trowel your brick won't slide off the other bricks

[cobblerdave]

Re: your awesome... 1mtr internal dome Sydney Aus

G'day again Bren
Sorry can't post more than one pic with an I phone



Yes this is my oven, old pic , but you can see the brickwork is less than perfect .
4 years of pizza, plenty of bits of cow pig etc have gone through without ill effects
Regards dave

[cobblerdave]

Re: your awesome... 1mtr internal dome Sydney Aus

G'day Bren

No this is not my oven but a pic of a fairly typical Italian style pizza oven and the typical method used to construct them
Notice the bricks are stacked into position then the mortar is poured into the gapes . Not many fancy cuts in there and once the mortar gets its first set the sand mold is dropped and the newspaper is cleaned away.
Once that last brick is in position the mortar isn't the glue that keeps it together but rather the spacer that keeps the bricks orientated onto a dome. Gravity forces down on the dome making it a strong structure.
Point is whichever way you complete you will have a dome and it will be one of the strongest structures.
Enjoy the weekend
Regards dave

[Bren]

Re: your awesome... 1mtr internal dome Sydney Aus

Thanks for the tips.

Cast able keystone! Great idea!

I got out tonight and cut a few with the grinder. I can see how it would have taken you 9 hours.
I'm resigned to just hireling the saw this weekend again so I can do it right.


The dome before I tore it Down to about 6 rows.... Here is to a sunny weekend

[Toomulla]

Re: your awesome... 1mtr internal dome Sydney Aus

thanks coblerdave - Yeah i think i got a case of the perfectionist. I will try to finish this weekend without all the fancy cutting at the top of the dome. so the perfect lit up photos you see on other members photos aren't a necessity to cooking well? good to know.
Ill post photos after the weekend.

Take your time I spent 9 hours for the key stone and associated final ring and most of that on the grinder with a similar diamond wheel. You will most likely only do this once so why rush it and not be happy with the final result

[mikku]

Re: your awesome... 1mtr internal dome Sydney Aus

Hello Bren,
G'day Cobblerdave,

If closing the dome is as difficult as it seems using brick, then why not consider using a castable refractory? The products have very similar usage characteristics and would make a single (larger) keystone possible that fits perfectly.

Many large kilns use a variety of products: brick, castable, gunned and rammed. Mostly to achieve the best results at the best price overall.

I don't know the price for quality castable in Australia but I'm sure Davids would be glad to provide sources and costs if you asked him.

Here, a 25kg bag of Asahi goes for about 2800yen or $25US. All you need to do is add water, mix and pour into your form. It sets quickly, forms stripped the following day.

[cobblerdave]

Re: your awesome... 1mtr internal dome Sydney Aus

G'day
So you going ahead on the weekend. What's your plan of attack?
Regards dave

[huskerduck]

Re: your awesome... 1mtr internal dome Sydney Aus

[QUOTE=Bren;182029]

Get a 12" sliding chop saw and be done with it.

wow! That thing looks like i could take off a finger as well. I have never seen one before except the mega version for digging train tunnels.

They're the cats meow and aren't limited to brick and tile, want to cut some 8" crown moulding when you're done with your oven.... go for it. You can hook up a small pump and hose if you really want water to cut down on dust but buy the right type of blade for water cutting. I just dry cut with a garbage bag wrapped around the exhaust port

Compound miter cuts are so simple and take seconds to adjust every row I just tap the settings 1 degree on bevel and angle, cut 2 bricks into 4 pieces, test fit dry and then cut my others. If you find a brick needs some shaving I just hold it on the saw table and eyeball "chop"

I really wish I had used mine from the beginning instead of dragging out my wet saw and making jigs and getting water and dumping trays and.... I got to the arch bricks grabbed my Makita 12" and "chopped" out 20 bricks in 15 minutes

I've had my saw for over a decade and it's built a crazy amount of things and had I used it for the first 6 rows of my oven I would have saved probably a day at least

I can attest to the Makita "toughness" mines been abused big time and has sat in snow and rain and mud and.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d56P9zpIaCE

[Bren]

Re: your awesome... 1mtr internal dome Sydney Aus

thanks coblerdave - Yeah i think i got a case of the perfectionist. I will try to finish this weekend without all the fancy cutting at the top of the dome. so the perfect lit up photos you see on other members photos aren't a necessity to cooking well? good to know.
Ill post photos after the weekend.

[Bren]

Re: your awesome... 1mtr internal dome Sydney Aus

[QUOTE=huskerduck;182017]Get a 12" sliding chop saw and be done with it.

wow! That thing looks like i could take off a finger as well. I have never seen one before except the mega version for digging train tunnels.

[Bren]

Re: your awesome... 1mtr internal dome Sydney Aus

Brick halves


Set up


First seems easy

Gets hard from here on.


Next photo is not on the computer yet

[Bren]

Re: your awesome... 1mtr internal dome Sydney Aus

The stand test photo

[cobblerdave]

Re: your awesome... 1mtr internal dome Sydney Aus

G'day
I built my dome and finally a fully brick veneer brick cover over my oven with brick bulster and angle grinder for a few fancy cuts . Not highly accurate but were building a dome here, and mines still cooking away after 4 years.
I brought a 125 mm angle grinder and a packet of cheap diamond blades, a case of "horses for courses" my expectation was that they should survive the built. Just. The grinder still runs but its internals are pretty chewed out with dust.
I thought I had no illusions of the dust that dry cutting could produce until I started cutting.
The foliage of the bushes surrounding the oven were covered with dust that I had produced. The respirator mask had to its cartages replaced often and worst my prescription safety glasses had to be wiped down after ever cut. Otherwise you were as blind as a bat . They were useless after the build the dust is pretty abrasive.
So I became pretty good with the bluster and the angle grinder was used to mark the surface. Scour and snap.
Would I use the same method again? Yes, and I've helped someone else do the same and it produced a good working oven.
But would I attempt to build one with fine and accurate cuts with a dry saw. No way, nor would I encourage anyone to do it either. A wet saw is the only way to go if you are going to cut every brick. If you can't source one, that's fine. You'll still produce a good strong working dome without all the cuts.
Regards dave

[Greenman]

Re: your awesome... 1mtr internal dome Sydney Aus

That is the interesting bit. You will have to share some pics with us.