George's Pompeii progress

[Frances]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

No, its not that far different from the pink... but it is a very nice colour! I liked the pink, too, but this is better!

And 100 times better than the gray you were planning at one point.

.....but can we still call it the Great Pumkin??

[sarah h]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

Looks good, and do I detect a theme here? It looks like it matches the play structure in the background!

[gjbingham]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

James,
Thanks for the positive comments. It's somehow like Dad patting you on the back. Unfortuately, the polished concrete took a shot to the chin a couple of days aog. I was using bricks on top of the oven to keep the tarps on until it was done. A blast of wind yanked up the tarp and dropped a birck square in the middle of the conctrete, resulting in a big blemiish. I'm working on a fix now. I'm feeling a bit stupid about the glaze idea. I'm curious what you're thinking of. Any pics or examples? Thanks!

Inishta: More brown now. I did like the pink too, in stucco. I couldn't see it in paint. Despite the flat exterior latex, it still has a bit of a shine to it. Stucco is awesomely flat and casts better shadows.

Frances: Gray? You do have a good memory. I forget who built that oven that I liked so much in gray and terra cotta. Hmmmm, gray paint????

Sarah, you got it! I was matching the swing set. It was either that or the green moss on the trees.

[brokencookie]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

George was kind enough to allow me to visit him and see his oven in action last Saturday so I thought I would issue a review from an independent source.

First, the oven works great !! It had only a small amount of smoke on start up ( less than my BBQ makes !) and once it was going you could not see any smoke at all. It heated up to pizza temps in about 1 hour with only an armload of wood. The Duratech double walled chimney works great. It looks like George has about 8 to 10 ft of chimney and the draw is fine. You could clearly see the clear air in the lower part of the oven and the smoke in the upper. George has done some really nice brickwork on the front of the oven and the workmanship on the inside of the dome looks great.
After we hit temp we cooked 8 or 9 pizzas with everyone putting their own toppings on. I have tried the wood fired pizza oven restaurants but this was my first time with the real deal. I was less than impressed with the restaurants but the pompeii oven pizzas were outstanding
We loaded them into the oven for around 1 to 2 minutes each. George let me load and manage a few as well. It was a great experience. My wife was already onboard for a pizza oven. But after seeing one in action and tasting the pizza she has gone from supporting me in my obsession to advocating that I need to get moving and work faster on my oven.
After lunch, we let the oven cool and then loaded in loaves of bread. George sprayed water into the oven and loaded the loaves for 12 minutes. I forgot which recipe he used by the bread was terrific. It had a nice crust and a great flavor.
I would encourage anyone who is planning a build to find someone who has one and arrange a visit. I learned more from checking out George's oven in person than I could from looking at all the pictures on the forum. Don't get me wrong, the forum is awesome and contains tons of info. But after spending 6 months reading, seeing the real deal is extremely educational ( and tasty)

So here is the objective part of the review for George's Restaurant.

Atmosphere - 10 stars, George is a great host and has a delightful family. We throughly enjoyed our visit.
Food - 10 stars, Everything thing we tasted was terrific.
Oven Build - 8 stars. I would give George 10 stars but he would argue with me about it. ( George is a bit of a perfectionist for those who haven't noticed.) The oven has a few very minor items that give it character but it doesn't seem to affect the food at all.
Educational value - priceless



Bruce

[Frances]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

Cooool!!!! Great report Bruce!

I want to go visit other ovens, too!!!!

I tell you, all you guys who live in visiting distance of each other, go for it!! And when you do, think of all us poor people stuck in the middle of pizzaoven deserts...

[Les]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

Frances - you are only 343 km from Milan Italy - that must be a meca for these ovens. I drove that far yesterday to get free wood.

Les...

[james]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

Way to go everyone. I am constantly amazed at how a great bunch of people, a cool hobby and the Internet can bring us all together. Excellent, just great.

One more thing. We need organizers for regional charters!

James

[gjbingham]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

Bruce/Broken Cookie - Geeze, I'm all flushed. What a nice report. We had a great time with you and your family. Glad you enjoyed yourself.

I agree, I wish now that I had taken the time to visit other local builders to see their ovens in action and learn first hand, before starting. I'm glad you feel a bit more educated.

Bruce bartered some outstanding Napa Valley wines for my construction leftovers. He also left some of his outstanding fruit preserves that he makes as a sideline to his normal work. Absolutely great and professionally packaged. He may take on Smuckers someday.

[gjbingham]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

It's cold and rainy here. I''m making no progress on anything right now. My neighbor, Walt - retired fireman and woodworker took a liking to my idea about making doors for the wood storage area in the oven stand. He snuck over a few days ago and made a template of the arc, then went to work.

Using KD fir, he's made some awesome doors that we will install tomorrow. After planing the wood, he cut 3 degrees off each side of 2 X 4s and glued it all together, creating a nice arc that follows the shape of the stand's opening exactlly.

He's been staining them for the past couple of days - we're going to put them in tomorrow. Everyone should have a retired woodworker in their neighborhood. You can do all kinds of great work without even lifting a finger! I saw the final product this afternoon. I'll post final pics as soon as they are installed. I think it will look great!

[Les]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

Very cool George! It's looking great.

I was stacking wood into my storage area yesterday, and just about like everything else with this oven, it's a young man's sport

Les...

[Acoma]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

Les, are you saying that building is to pick up again?

[Inishta]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

Great looking doors GJ............you just can't beat good neighbours...........

[Frances]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

Cool! Nice doors!

...Can you send him over here when he's finished on your oven? (Not that I need any doors, but I'm sure I can come up with something )

[gjbingham]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

Frances,
He said he'd love to come and work for you - just send tickets!

Walt and I went out in the pouring rain today and put the new doors in. We set them outside the base walls by an inch to leave room for a finish on the walls - whenever that day arrives.

He finished them off with copper strips, kind of giving them a wine barrel effect. I love the look. They should oxidize pretty cool over time too.

Wouldn't you know it, as soon as we were done, the rain stopped. A half hour later it was sunny. Poor timing for the working side of the morning. Great for pics though.

Have a great day!
George

[Frances]

Re: George's Pompeii progress

Ooooh nice!
Fits in very well with the colour of the dome and the climbing frame!

In Switzerland we have a saying: "rain makes you beautiful" - and it sounds as if you got your full dose for today. ...well, it worked on the oven anyway, very beautiful