36" in DFW Area - Building the Oven!

[Texas]

Here are the links to the different portions of our build:

In Getting Started section, I included the Design, Specs and Supplies & Equipment:
36" in DFW Area - picture of finished product - post #1 http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f6/3...rea-21562.html (36" in DFW Area)and below.

36" in DFW Area - Design Phase - post #5 http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f6/3...tml#post184271 (36" in DFW Area)

36" in DFW Area - Specs - post #14 http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/6/36...tml#post184280 (36" in DFW Area)

36" in DFW Area - Supplies & Equipment - post #15 http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/6/36...tml#post184281 (36" in DFW Area)

In the IT, Jigs, & Forms section, I included our IT, Jigs and Forms used:
36" in DFW Area - IT, jigs and forms - http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f28/...tml#post184284 (36" in DFW Area - IT, jigs and forms)

In the Pompeii Oven Construction section - I included the building of our oven:
36" in DFW Area - Building the Oven - http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f8/3...tml#post184381 (36" in DFW Area - Building the Oven!)

We had the base for the oven made by a contractor, then we built the oven, and they came back and did the oven enclosure and finishing work. The concrete on top of the oven base was covered with a leveling concrete to make it smoother and more level.

[Texas]

Re: 36" in DFW Area - Building the Oven!

Preparing the insulation board

Pictures #1 & #2 - After laying the pieces on the garage floor and marking each layer with a marker, we used the jig saw to cut any pieces. Cutting was not as dusty as we thought it would be.

Cut the insulation to a 22 1/2" radius (18" floor + 4 1/2" brick) except where the mouth of the oven is... made that straight. Each layer was laid out so that the seams did not overlap. By cutting the insulation to the round shape, we could get all 3 layers out of 1 box. Without cutting, we would have needed another box.

Additional dimensions are in the planning portion of our build http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/6/36...tml#post184278 and more pictures are later in this section.

I didn't take pictures when we had it laying out on the garage floor, so I showed you these here.
Picture #3 - bottom layer
Picture #4 - middle layer
Picture #5 - top layer with where the 12x12 floor bricks and the floor row of cut Empire S bricks will be placed

[Texas]

36" in DFW Area - Building the Oven!

Floor of oven

Picture #1 - Laid out 12" x 12" floor tiles on garage floor. When the tiles were first laid out, we moved them around and rotated them, until we found the best sides with the tightest joints and least amount of change in thickness with the neighboring tile, then laid wooden template to mark. (by the time we remembered to take a picture, the left, right, and top tiles had already been removed to cut). Those 3 tiles were cut in a straight line first to the desired width because the bigger portion of the tile was used in the circle floor and the smaller portion was used in the left/right of the vent/inner arch area. The tiles were marked with a masonry pencil and the rounded cuts were made by taking multiple cuts tangent to the circle.

Picture #2 - Here is what they look like cut and in place, except the corner brick on the left side of the opening should be rotated to look like the right side. The triangular piece on the right will be cut again for the first row of bricks to but into. A drawing is in the planning portion of our build. http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/6/36...tml#post184278

[Texas]

36" in DFW Area - Building the Oven!

Picture #1 - Dry fit on garage floor of bricks around cut floor tiles. That triangle brick at the left corner of the opening still needs to be rotated to look like the right. We did something different with our floor layout... there is a half 12x12 floor tile cut in a trapezoid shape that fits into the 90 degree corner to the left and right of the first full floor tile. This prevented us from cutting the circle shape on the lower portion of the floor tiles just inside the inner arch and then filling that cut portion with some small cut bricks.

Picture #2 - Cut bricks dry fit around the wooden template. These will be the sailor course.

Picture #3 - Cutting bricks to go around the floor layer and for the sailor course.

[Laurentius]

Re: 36" in DFW Area - Building the Oven!

Hi Texas,

I see a big problem! Not only your hearth should sit on insulation, so does your sailor course of fire bricks, other wise the heat from your dome will sink into your support slab.

[Texas]

36" in DFW Area - Building the Oven!

We were doing pre-work and dry fitting in the garage, but now our corner base is ready for the oven building to begin! Hard to see, but we drew the circle for where the insulation needs to be laid and we marked the center lines for the front to back and left to right as guides to help us line it up in the right place. If I did it again, I would have also marked the center lines on the insulation pieces when they were laid out on the garage floor.

The layout used to cut the insulation board is in the design phase of the build (http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/6/36...a-21562-2.html post #12). I've also included the drawing in picture #2.

[Texas]

36" in DFW Area - Building the Oven!

We started laying the insulation board.

Picture #1 - First few pieces in place for bottom layer.

Picture #2 &#3 - Continuing with bottom layer.

Picture #4 - Bottom layer complete. We had to adjust the pieces so that they all lined up with the red outline and were parallel to the front edge or the base.

[Texas]

36" in DFW Area - Building the Oven!

Now the middle layer:

Picture #1 - Starting with middle layer.

Picture #2 - Middle layer continues. The middle layer was designed to lay perpendicular to the bottom layer under the oven floor and the ends of the boards shown in the mouth of the oven, do not line up with the seam of the bottom layer.

Picture #3 - Middle layer complete.

[Texas]

36" in DFW Area - Building the Oven!

Picture #1 - Top layer showing how that layer continues the staggering of the seams.

Picture #2 - Top (third) layer of insulation complete.

Picture #3 - After the third layer was in place, we verified it was in the correct location and drew the center lines and used the wooden template to draw the location for the floor tiles.

[Texas]

36" in DFW Area - Building the Oven!

Picture #1 - A mixture of sand and fireclay (brick "saw dust" from the cuts made so far were kept, dried, and sifted through a metal kitchen strainer) was put on the insulation board to help with leveling the floor tiles (I call them tiles, but they are 2.5"thick like the bricks).

Picture #2 - Each tile was leveled as best as possible with the surrounding tiles. Even though they are all the technically the same thickness, they are not all exactly the same thickness.

Picture #3 - Floor tiles in place! (we did come back later and used Heat Stop 50 to secure the three, small triangle bricks at the front of the oven)

Picture #4 - Here is the view from the front. You can faintly see the red guide marks on the back, left, and right floor tiles that line up with the red lines on the insulation and the oven base. By marking the center lines, it helped us line up the oven position on the base.

[Texas]

36" in DFW Area - Building the Oven!

Picture #1 - Next step was to dry fit the cut firebricks around the floor tiles, also using the sand/fireclay mixture for leveling. We used tile spacers to keep a consistent mortar joint between the bricks and to keep a gap to the floor tiles.

Picture #2 - After the cut bricks were all dry fit, they were Heat Stop 50 to each other on the left and right sides, but a gap was left between the cut bricks and the floor tiles. Here is how we measured and mixed Heat Stop 50 http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f28/...tml#post184323

Picture #3 - The wooden template had the front portion cut off to allow for the inner arch form. It was also cut into three pieces so it could be removed after the oven dome was complete. The IT was installed and the pieces were taped together using gorilla tape. We did tape both the top and the bottom so that it didn't come apart.... when the dome was done, he cut the tape when it couldn't be pulled off of the bottom. The IT rotates in a weld nut mounted through a hole drilled in the center of the wooden template. A piece of thin plastic was taped under the weld nut to help prevent the floor tile from being scratched by rotation of the IT.
The sailor course was Heat Stop 50 in place - side to side and bottom to top of floor layer - using the IT to help place the bricks around the template. He started with the back, center brick and then laid bricks to the left and to the right. We stopped where we did to allow for the inner arch.

Picture #4 - Here is what it looks like from the front.

[Texas]

36" in DFW Area - Building the Oven!

Cutting of inner arch bricks. we used our 10" wet saw and cut the angle from the top on both sides, then turned over and cut the bottom at the same angle. For the vent arch, we rented a 14" wet saw and it was so much easier.

Picture #1 - Here is how we helped get the correct angle. We calculated the angle, then cut a piece of wood and attached it to a wood base, then clamped it to the saw table. This gave us something to hold the brick against. I also made template of the desired dimensions - 2 3/16 wide end and 1 7/16 narrow end (for a 4 1/2" distance between wide end and narrow end) (picture #4 - the one cream colored on the left). On each of the 19 bricks, I marked the center line on four sides (along 2.5" edge of brick - what will be the top, bottom, front, back of the arch brick.) , then traced the template on the front and back of each brick. I tried using the angle-izer, but did not get as consistent of marks as using a cardstock template. When we put the brick on the saw, we used a square against the blade and on top of the brick to properly line up the brick so that the blade would cut straight the long distance of the brick. We used a combination square to line up the marks on the end of the brick to make sure the marked line was perpendicular to the saw table (hence straight up and down, like the blade). After adjusting and lining up the top, front, and back, tweaking and realigning, we then made the cut.

Picture #2 - The saw with a brick in place after first cut

Picture #3 - Some of the inner arch brick cut. Most show with the left and right sides cut half way through. One shown finished (although would be cleaned up more to smooth out that saw mark.) There will be 19 inner arch bricks.

Picture #4 - Finished inner arch bricks. Accomplished by cutting half through, and then turning the brick over and lining up the angle of the cut and the straightness of the cut, to cut the other half of the brick.

[Texas]

36" in DFW Area - Building the Oven!

Here is how we built the inner arch form - http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f28/...tml#post184285

Picture #1 - Dry stacked the inner arch bricks using popsicle sticks and balsa wood as spacers for the mortar joints. Made some adjustments to obtain a better fit. Due to the double lining up (cutting top, then turning over to cut bottom), not all of the arch bricks were exactly the same size. I measured each one and used that information to help line them up. A big one on each left and right, a big back with a small front, etc. to help even the arch out. We still needed to make some adjustments, since the top dead center (TDC) one was not a wedge shape and was much smaller. We used popsicle sticks and balsa wood as spacers for the 1/8" mortar joints.

Picture #2 - Cut some wooden blocks (because cheaper and easier than cutting bricks!) to determine what adjustments might work. We made some trim cuts on bricks that were slightly too big. I made notes on a piece of paper as to which mortar joints needed to be slightly larger or smaller to even out the arrangement.

Picture #3 - this is what the inner arch looked like when it was completed on the oven.... that wouldn't happen for a while in real time... but thought it would be useful to show the picture here!

[Texas]

36" in DFW Area - Building the Oven!

Picture #1 - After setting up the jig using the bricks marked with the templates as described in the jigs and forms section of our build, we cut a few bricks to test the fit. We did this for each layer. http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f28/...tml#post184287 I made these cardstock templates for each layer based on the calculations in the spreadsheet http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f6/3...tml#post184276 and summarized here http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f28/...tml#post184287

There is more information about our jig and cutting technique in the Tools, Tips and Techniques section http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f28/...rms-21566.html post #5

Picture #2 - Here is testing the first few bricks for fit. As the dome got higher, and we got more confident, we no longer propped them up and leveled them. We would hold a few in place, guided by the IT and make adjustments if needed.

[Texas]

36" in DFW Area - Building the Oven!

Picture #1 - We would cut nearly the whole row at one time, leaving a couple of bricks to be cut smaller if needed to adjust the mortar gap spacing.

Picture #2 - We stopped mortaring a few bricks away from the inner arch. We put the arch form in place and dry stacked the arch bricks in place. Here is how we decided where to put the inner arch http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f6/3...tml#post184272

Picture #3 - The arch bricks were numbered on the back, so we could put them back in the same order. They are numbered weird because they fit better this way and I had numbered them before dry fitting them.

Picture #4 - We took the dry stack down. Marked the backs of the arch bricks with the it and cut them to mate up with the dome. We then HeatStop 50 the first few in place.