Lid for castable in place

[Wiley]

Re: Lid for castable in place

Neighbour let me buck up a 100 year old arbutus tree that toppled over in our last wind storm. This wood is suposed to be very hot burning so happy about my good fortune this morning. Is it true to season wood after it is split it is ok to sit out even in rain and you only have to put in under cover for a week or so before you will use it. I have been told spliting it lets most of the moisture out of the wood and the rain etc doesnt really soak in. Sounds a bit weird to me but I will pose the question...thanks

Good score!

We use wood as our principle source of heat in our home. Also we use alot of arbutus (madrone to us south of the border) as well as maple, alder, wild cherry and of course fir. Once we cut and split our wood we always endeavor to get it under cover ASAP unless it is spring or early summer when we allow the wood to dry in loose piles in the sun before moving to a covered area. Madrone is an excellent heating wood for the home and I have high hopes for it in our WFO (once completed :-)

The advice given to you sounds alot dependent upon your local geographical area as well as to when it was cut. Spring heading into summer and hopefully drier weather it would most likely be fine but personally I would have it under cover by onset of wet weather in the fall. If one followed this advice with wood dropped in the fall I cannot see much drying occuring over a winter if is left exposed in an area with alot of rainfall. Sawmills (without ponds) have sprinklers on the logs so they don't dry out. Dry wood is much harder to cut.

Madrone is not prone to rotting like cherry so leaving it piled in contact with the ground won't be a problem. We try to dry/age our wood so that wood gets a full summer to dry. Wood cut in the spring can be burned in the late fall; wood cut in the fall isn't burned until the following fall, a year later. Also madrone seems easier to split when wet as opposed to being left in rounds.


Wiley

[waynebergman]

Re: Lid for castable in place

Hi Biondoli. See my album from the link below and you will see how it was all done. The mortar I used for the bulk of the dome was a canadian product called devels putty also labeled as molditX this product is good for big gap joints. I also used a castable product with stainless needles for the cap on the dome (it was called riecast). Hopes this helps...wayne

[biondoli]

Re: Lid for castable in place

Picture attached is from yesterdays pour. I think it was a good idea to do this in 2 pours like this. The picture attached show how when this one inch thick pour sets up it will lock itself into the side walls of oven. The balance of the pour I did today took about 45lbs of dry castable mortar so with water added into the equation maybee 55lbs and that might have been too much weight for my plastic lid and suports underneath had I done it all in one pour

Wayne I was looking at your posts and curious ....what kind of concrete did you use the HEAT-stop or regular mortar? How does the mortar hold on? did you add some wiring....I can't figure out how the casting concrete can hold like that without any support....thanks Carlo

[sarah h]

Re: Lid for castable in place

Looking good Wayne! You'll be cooking before you know it!

[waynebergman]

Re: Lid for castable in place

Picture attached is from yesterdays pour. I think it was a good idea to do this in 2 pours like this. The picture attached show how when this one inch thick pour sets up it will lock itself into the side walls of oven. The balance of the pour I did today took about 45lbs of dry castable mortar so with water added into the equation maybee 55lbs and that might have been too much weight for my plastic lid and suports underneath had I done it all in one pour. I will take a photo on Tuesday of the inside of oven and the outside before I do the mortar clading over everthing so far. ....wayne

[sarah h]

Re: Lid for castable in place

Congratulations on nearing completion of your dome! It looks like that lid should work out well - good luck , and I'll look forward to seeing the result.

Sarah

[wlively]

Re: Lid for castable in place

I think it's a pretty cool idea to use the cast the top. I'm interested to see how it turns out.
George

I cast my dome plug and it worked out great. It is holding up very well.

[gjbingham]

Re: Lid for castable in place

I think it's a pretty cool idea to use the cast the top. I'm interested to see how it turns out.
George

[waynebergman]

Garbage can lid is all greased up with olive oil now so castable mortar will not stick to it. I have a few more pictures and explainations on my photo album if any one is interested of what I am hoping to accomplish here....wayne

Neighbour let me buck up a 100 year old arbutus tree that toppled over in our last wind storm. This wood is suposed to be very hot burning so happy about my good fortune this morning. Is it true to season wood after it is split it is ok to sit out even in rain and you only have to put in under cover for a week or so before you will use it. I have been told spliting it lets most of the moisture out of the wood and the rain etc doesnt really soak in. Sounds a bit weird to me but I will pose the question...thanks