36" in DFW Area - Building the Oven!

[Texas]

36" in DFW Area - Building the Oven!

Inner arch mortared in place!

[Texas]

36" in DFW Area - Building the Oven!

Picture #1 - We would stay an arch brick (or two) ahead of the oven dome rows. After tying in a row, we would set the next arch bricks so they would be dry when putting on the next dome layer.

Picture #2 - Bricks cut to almost finish left side of arch. Sometimes we finished with the brick against the arch and sometimes did that brick, then finished a few from that brick. Depended on where the grout joints were to determine where the partial block should go to minimize joints lining up.

Picture #3 - Mortared one side of arch in place of dome row #3 (looks like 5 because of floor level and sailor level). Very important to use the level with the IT... easy to have the side next to the arch droop with just the IT because you don't have the inside corner of the brick being set to help hold it up. On the right side of the oven (as looking at the front of the oven), we had a slight droop that we had to correct between layers #4 and #5. I think we had a small droop at layer #3, then a small droop at layer #4 that then became more noticeable at layer #5. We did use the level when dry fitting, but didn't always use it when setting the brick... should have.

Picture #4 - After dome layer #4 (#6 looks like from outside because of floor layer and sailor layer), we finished the arch because layer #5 will go over the top of the arch. We still need to cut the TDC.

[Texas]

36" in DFW Area - Building the Oven!

Picture #1 - The inside edge of the arch ended up being 4" after the first couple of rows. We started out marking the bottom of the arch brick with the top of the prior brick and using the IT to mark the top, but decided to make the arch more consistent and straighter cuts.

Picture #2 - Shows trapezoid shape of inner arch bricks

[Texas]

36" in DFW Area - Building the Oven!

For cutting the arch bricks on the inside of the dome, we used this information as a guideline. http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/8/ac...d-16501-6.html post #53 and http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/51/n...-18249-20.html post #194 (picture he references is in the top left corner of the post).


Here is my attempt at describing what we did, as I do not have pictures of this part.
1. Put next arch brick in place with "mortar" wood joint spacer (i.e. popsicle stick or balsa wood).
2. use IT to mark the dome curve on top of the brick and side facing the bricks of the oven wall.
3. mark bottom of brick by tracing along the top of the brick below. Measure the Front to Back (F-B) of the inside arch side of brick below and mark measurement on bottom of brick. Since the top and bottom marks don't totally line up, we just started using 4" as our cut off point and it worked pretty good.
4. at the saw, use "magic wedge" from when cut off the side of original arch bricks to prop up the brick such that the wide, uncut edge of the brick is 90 degree to the cutting table (on the TDC brick, this edge is the top, for the others, it is the outside of the arch).
5. line up the IT marks on the top of the brick and cut. The mark will be curved, so line up the ends and not the middle.
6. use bigger wedge to prop up brick to cut off the extra at the bottom. Place bottom of the brick facing up and line up saw with measured mark and tracing. It will be quite an angle in order not to cut off any more of the top of the brick which is now facing down on the saw bed. Feed the "point that matters"" into the saw first. Point that matters is the one that was measured and will be the exposed corner of the inner arch.
7. Using small 90/level/metal ruler thing, mark a line 90 to the top cut that is 4 1/2" long. The 4 1/2" should but up to the outside edge of the brick.
8. We have been laying the brick on the side with the top side up and cutting like this. Will have to see if cutting at an angle causes problems later. (We kept cutting like this the entire time - except the TDC, we propped up )
here is a picture of what shape they were when cut - shown in place at left and right of inner arch, on top of the form. This is at layer 4. I did not take any pics of us doing the cuts on the saw. Sorry.

I think the important part of above, is laying the brick perpendicular to the saw surface....step #8, it was not perpendicular, but just laid directly on the saw cutting surface.

The links above are more helpful than my description!

[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.

[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!

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!

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!

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!

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 - 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!

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!

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!

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.

[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.