My 36" oven

[william]

Re: My 36" oven

Hi
Took advantage of the long weekend and insulated the dome. three layers of fiber blanket, used lathe to form the shape and got my base coat on. My hands and finger really hurt today. should of bought gloves.
Bill

[william]

Re: My 36" oven

Hi
Made a mold to cast my chimney cap, received my flue pipe and cap a few days ago these pictures are just with it dry set will mortar in after it's had a chance to dry. I have been pondering whether to fill the chimney cavity with insulation or leave it empty my thought is if the seal at the flue ever fails the insulation would turn into a sponge and take a long time to dry if empty the water would just wick thru and dry. any opinions.
Bill

[gugahulk]

Re: My 36" oven

Looks great, I might copy your style...

[william]

Re: My 36" oven

Thanks
still have lot's of finish work to do
Bill

[gugahulk]

Re: My 36" oven

Thanks
still have lot's of finish work to do
Bill

Are you Crazy Bill, you are right there my friend! I can smell the finish line and I must say it looks amazing! You have done a phenomenal job. Like a pro. I love the shape of the oven and also the front of it. Looks so COOL! Congrats my friend!

[GianniFocaccia]

Re: My 36" oven

Looks excellent, Bill!

[william]

Hi
Has been a while since I posted, I have been waiting for these website issues to get worked out. Have finished most of the exterior work on and around my WFO, still need to finish my door but have been using my arch form in the mean time, it works pretty good as long as I keep it from catching fire. I have done a little cooking so far bread and some meats no time for pizza yet, Thought I would share some of my thoughts at the end of this build. The first thing I noticed in doing a full heat up, I used two different brick in the dome as I had been collecting brick for a few years to build this, I had a bunch of brick from a customer of mine that were left over from a fireplace they built, I would consider these low duty brick as they were not as dense and hard as some of my other fire brick I used, For the first three courses I used a higher alumina brick the dense yellow brick most people use, I use these at my shop in the kilns for holding my molds in place when I melt glass.The rest of the courses were the low duty fire brick they were softer but still a good fire brick. What I noticed is that when doing a full burn the dome would clear the softer brick first and leave a perfect black ring for the first three courses it took a long time for these to clear. so I would imagine that building with the dense brick it would take a longer burn to clear the dome. The low duty brick work fine and hold heat well so I have no reservations about using them. I still need to spend some time with this oven to see how it preforms but so far not bad.
Thanks to all who offered advise or took interest.
Bill

[gugahulk]

Looking good, what did you use to water protect the dome?

[william]

Hi
After about a week of letting the stucco dry I coated it with a cement sealer and then two coats of masonry water proof paint from home depo its like a elasticmeric coating.
I have been watching your build looking great.
Bill

[gastagg]

great looking oven! love the chimney detail!

[Greenman]

Looks good William. It certainly shows off your skills and transforms the area.

[william]

Hi All
Did my first pizza's on Sunday,
My results were so so I have had better, I think part of my problem was I didn't get the oven hot enough I fired up early in the day as I wanted to bake some bread first, I let the oven cool down some and temper and baked , then reheated the oven later for pizza but I don't think it was hot enough the pizzas took almost three minutes to cook and were not getting that toasty brown under. Will try better the next time
Cheers Bill

[Wozza]

This dorky site won't give me access to the last page of the thread so I don't know how the next batch of pizzas turned out, but I just wanted to say thanks William. Great pictures and it's very similar to how I want to finish mine, so all in all a big help to me.

You've done a great job.

[william]

Hi
Wanted to share my oven door build, I started off with 1/8" mild steel and rolled and welded the sleeve. I cut K26 insulated kiln brick for the inside of the sleeve, I then cut one inch LD fiber board to back up the ply door, which was one of my forms to build the outer arch. I ran three bolts thru the ply to the back of the brick and used carriage bolts and fender washers to hold together. For the thermacouple I drilled thru the ply and brick and since the probe was only four inches I counter sunk the brick so it would protrude into the inner air area. The weight is not to bad although if I was to do it again I would have used a lighter gauge steel, that is the heaviest part. I will in the future replace the ply with a more decorative panel.
Bill

[Novaslo]

Your oven looks fantastic....one thing I ran into....the 1st door I made was too heavy. I made it out of 1/4 in steel and put fiber blanket inside. It was about 30 pounds and was damaging my brick. i stressed whenever anyone touch the door and my wife could not cook in the oven simply because she couldn't easily move the door.

The next one I built, I went for the lightest possible option. I am really happy with it. I put 4 inches of insulation and used very thin steel. It is still over 10lbs. But easy for my spouse to move.
Something to consider if you start getting damage like I did.

Awesome job BTW.
D