Acoma 42" Tuscan

[asudavew]

Re: Acoma 42" Tuscan

Dave, the only reason now for the thickness is for support. Do me a favor, and the rest of you as well. I see the concern for the gap, but once the flags were raised I went on a man hunt, sorry, oven hunt to see if any respected builders have had ovens with large spacing in back. Not to say I know more, but I want to move foreward with caution and stability.

Peter Moore did his 2006 oven gathering and had numerous spacings throughout. Not he is highly respected, as were some of the peers at the gathering. Please see the link and chime in. This is very, very important to me to here the feedback.

MHA News - 2006 Meeting - Backyard Oven with Peter Moore

Robert,
Are you refering to larger mortar joints on the outside of the dome?
Am I reading this right?
( I read back through part of the thread, so now I know)
Yes...

Have you been trying to build straight sides and then a quick curve in to close the dome?

Dave

[asudavew]

Re: Acoma 42" Tuscan

Dave, without digging through all the post this late - how does your oven hold temps for the next day? Are you able to bake something the next day without a re-fire? I started this endeavor looking to build an Alan Scott, found this site and saw the rational of something less massive. There must be an advantage in between the two (for some). Just my thought.

Les...

Last weekend 24 hours after firing for pizza.
My oven was about 290f
I threw a brisket in, (it was 8pm sunday night.)
At 730 am the next morning, it was done perfect and the oven was still about 235f.
So it holds heat well, but heat up times are around 2 hours....

So give and take.
It's just what you prefer.
I would like faster heat up times....
And I probably have about a 1/2 inch of mortar cladding over most of the oven..

But then again, if I didnt have that cladding.... maybe I would be wishing my oven retained heat better.

Who knows!


If the main goal is pizza, i think no cladding. If pizza will be an ocassional thing, and bread and baking is the goal.
Then I suppose it would be better to clad!

My 3 cents.
cuz this is slightly more than 2

dwat

[Acoma]

Re: Acoma 42" Tuscan

Jim, that and the possibility of James providing his email. Maybe James get get him to look at this as well and provide some feedback. James?

[jcg31]

Re: Acoma 42" Tuscan

Robert,

How bout a call to Peter, the head mason at Forno Bravo. If he can't advise you he probably will be able to send you to someone who can.

Jim

[Frances]

Re: Acoma 42" Tuscan

...isn't the oven in the pompeii oven plans originally built like this? Its built with simple half bricks, all these individually shaped bricks are not mentioned there at all, so the joints must be as big as necessary on the outside. I thought the inside joints were the issue, they need to be small. No?

My oven has big joints (and no cracks) but as the mortar I used is different, I'm afraid that is nothing to go by. But I figured when the mortar dries it turns into like little inbetween bricks, filling all the gaps. Its not as if the mortar isn't strong in its own right, it takes a certain amount of weight, too.

Thats what I think anyway... hope someone else chimes in who can help more.

[RTflorida]

Re: Acoma 42" Tuscan

I watched that build and had the same questions then as now - how will the thick joints hold up??? Maybe in a day or two some of the guys and gals that have gone down this path can offer some guidance. I know there were a couple of ovens going up around the same time as mine, they made several comments abour my tight joints and how they wished they had done the same. I know they are out , just don't remember who.

[Acoma]

Re: Acoma 42" Tuscan

Dave, the only reason now for the thickness is for support. Do me a favor, and the rest of you as well. I see the concern for the gap, but once the flags were raised I went on a man hunt, sorry, oven hunt to see if any respected builders have had ovens with large spacing in back. Not to say I know more, but I want to move foreward with caution and stability.

Peter Moore did his 2006 oven gathering and had numerous spacings throughout. Not he is highly respected, as were some of the peers at the gathering. Please see the link and chime in. This is very, very important to me to here the feedback.

MHA News - 2006 Meeting - Backyard Oven with Peter Moore

[Les]

Re: Acoma 42" Tuscan

Dave, without digging through all the post this late - how does your oven hold temps for the next day? Are you able to bake something the next day without a re-fire? I started this endeavor looking to build an Alan Scott, found this site and saw the rational of something less massive. There must be an advantage in between the two (for some). Just my thought.

Les...

[asudavew]

Re: Acoma 42" Tuscan

Wouldn't more reasonable spacing to finish be ok with 1" cladding as a shell to secure the shape? Throwing ideas, and yes, it would be nice to the the engineering slider rulers out....

Don't add the 1 inch cladding.
I wouldn't add a mm if I had a do over on mine.

[Acoma]

Re: Acoma 42" Tuscan

Wouldn't more reasonable spacing to finish be ok with 1" cladding as a shell to secure the shape? Throwing ideas, and yes, it would be nice to the the engineering slider rulers out....

[RTflorida]

Re: Acoma 42" Tuscan

Taking the mortar cracking issue out of the equation, maybe one of our resident engineers with a good understanding of thrust angles can comment; Jim's point on how the weight and downward force will be distributed is the more important issue. Come on guys, break out those slide rules and help the man out.

[Acoma]

Re: Acoma 42" Tuscan

Here is the photo I mentioned, where you can see the spacing of the back side and a view of the angles being built up. And if I went by your scetch Jim, that would make me nervouse too. I just doesn't look that way. I will definately get a top view photo of the dome too.

[Acoma]

Re: Acoma 42" Tuscan

Jim and RT, look at this photo which shows the gap of the most recent bricks and also shows the arch. If mortar is not an issue, but rather the angles continuing, I would think a solution to the gaps in the back for remaining courses would be greatly appreciated for angles and final internal height.

Please look them over and tell me the true picture of this tale. I do not wish to redo courses, nor do I want a future nightmare. I felt and still believe (now hope from these comments) that those courses with proper future adjustments will provide the proper weight balance, distribution.

[RTflorida]

Re: Acoma 42" Tuscan

Robert, sent you a message about the wood, hope it helps

[RTflorida]

Re: Acoma 42" Tuscan

I can't speak from experience, I kept my gaps at 1/4" or less (nearly all were 1/4") based on concerns others had posted about mortar cracking. Even the best - Refmix and Heatstop 50 don't recommend gaps any larger than that. I just don't know, wish I could help. Hopefully someone who has gone with 1" plus gaps can chime in, maybe all this worry is for nothing. It does have me very curious.

RT