George's Pompeii progress

[Ken524]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

Has it warmed up down South? Hope those twisters stayed away from your oven.

When that mess went through here, it wasn't too bad at our house. We were really (really) lucky. There are trees down everywhere. Just down the street from us I saw about 100ft of 4-board horse fencing obliterated (like, turned into toothpicks). I was amazed that my tarps stayed on the oven. I was sure they would blow off.

I'm so glad I was in training that day and not out flying in it. I hope everyone else on the forum made it through ok!

Ken, Robert's out there in 20 degrees cutting bricks.

It's been either frigid & dry or warm & wet here in KY. I don't work in either of those conditions. Robert's got drive that I can't imagine. I'll leave the "adventure building" to the younger crowd .

My avatar, for the time being is the tongue twister, as demonstrated by my daughter.

The pic is priceless.

[Ken524]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

Cuz winter has made us ornery.

I am SO GLAD you didn't put an 'h' in front of 'ornery'. When I skimmed your message, that's what I read. Dirty mind, I guess .

[gjbingham]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

I got ya Rob. I can work in 45 degrees with no problems, at least for a short while. It was raining sideways today while I was polishing concrete. Not fun at all. Glad to hear your weather has warmed, at least during the days.

Dave,
I understand completely. Wasted words on me. I just wish more work was going on elsewhere. This weather sucks,,,,,,,I need to second guess someone.

[Acoma]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

George, it hit 51 today We are looking at low 50's for the next 5 days, YES! My oven was excited to see some light, no heating, and fresh air These are day temps. Nights in high 20's, still not bad.

[asudavew]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

Perhaps a pic of my ugly mug next time? Naaa......

Yeah... dont do that Doc!

And we're just giving ya grief... for fun

Cuz winter has made us ornery.


And my wee ones have grown.. No babies around.

I think babies keep life interesting...and keep you from aging

but then again..
I could build whenever I wanted to.....


Dave

[gjbingham]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

Hang on. I was planning on posting the pics today but got busy.

Ken, Robert's out there in 20 degrees cutting bricks. Has it warmed up down South? Hope those twisters stayed away from your oven.

My avatar, for the time being is the tongue twister, as demonstrated by my daughter. Funny pic, probably won't last too long. Perhaps a pic of my ugly mug next time? Naaa......

[asudavew]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

Yeah! I want to see concrete polishing pics too!

I guess he's making us wait....

Anticipation...

Reminds of that old ketchup ad

...

ho hum

No one doing much these days.....

[Ken524]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

Yeah! I want to see concrete polishing pics too!

[asudavew]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

Well make sure to post some pics of the concrete.

I've seriously been thinking about polishing mine....
haven't quite decide on that or tile.


So I may have a bunch of questions.


BTW Cute avatar.


dwats

[gjbingham]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

Bump up.

How are things progressing George?

building?
decorating?
cooking?
or
hiding in the house?

dave

Dave,
I just came back in from trying to polish the concrete landing. Someone else posted a link to a web page about polishing concrete that recommended at least 10 days curing before polishing. I did a slurry fill of the voids in my concrete 10 days ago. I had a short break in the weather, so today was the day to get back out there and have another go.

I've come to the conclusion that it will never look fantastic. I messed up when I set the concrete forms to pour the landing and didn't include the sides back to the hearth. I knew it might be a problem when I did it, but I got lazy, didn't widen the forms out to allow coverage of the stained concrete over the existing hearth, and now I'm paying for it as I can't match the new cement color patches to that of aggregate patterns on the sides to that of the landing.

Anyway, the top of the landing is finished and looks pretty nice. I decided to take the polishing deeper into the concreteon the fron of the landing to expose more aggregate, which exposed more porosity. So I'm back to rubbing in more cement into those voids, letting it sit for 10 days, then finishing it again on the front. I may let this go until Spring or Summer. It's very wet work in 40 degrees. It keeps my entryway bricks wet and hence, keeps me from firning up the oven.

I plan on firing the oven up with a few medium fires over the next few days, then I'm cooking again.
-----------
Christo, I think I'll pass on the broken glass in the face. I think I've seen those melted bottles years ago. Pretty cool!
----------
RT, I think a little of the citrus used in the mid-heating of the oven will probably speed the heating of the dome. Too much...... call the fire department

[RTflorida]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

Yeah, 1400 is way too high, won't happen again. I merely built my normal raging fire....just went very wrong using the citrus instead of the the halfway seasoned hickory and oak I had been using. Less definitely equals more in this case.

RT

[christo]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

1400 degrees is just about enough to slump a wine bottle into a cheese tray.

But don't try this without really good face and neck protection (heck - body protection for that matter) - shoving a cold bottle into a super hot oven is recipie for shattered glass!!

[asudavew]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

Bump up.

How are things progressing George?

building?
decorating?
cooking?
or
hiding in the house?

dave

[gjbingham]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

Citrus is right around the top of the BTUs produced on the wood burning list. I'd kill to have some of that!

160 bucks for a chord of that mix sounds pretty reasonable to me RT. James said something about $300 for oak in CA. I see those same prices on the Portland, OR Craigs list.

1400 degrees is way hot. I think the Duravent parts are only rated to 1200 for short periods. Anybody remember? I'm not sure I'd try to do that intentionally.

George

[asudavew]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

I guess it depends on what you are doing. 1400 is probably ideal for cremating your neighbors cat or dog but just a tad too warm for my pizza, It took over an hour for the temp to come down even with the minimal fire and coals all pushed to the side and back. I did six pizza all on the same spot without raking any coals back over the floor to recharge. Very hot , very fast, and it retained it much longer than usual.

sounds perfect!