It's time to go Vertical

[Frances]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

Hey Lake, cool pic!

(...I wonder, should I copy/paste my face onto that picture, too?)

[RCLake]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

Nice pic RC. Quite the bucking bronco, huh? Hope you didn't get thrown.


George

I thought if I used the pizza peel to fan the mortar, it would dry faster

[RCLake]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

It's been no fun watching the mortar dry the last couple of days, it's like watching paint dry.

I'm going to try the new fire cure schedule but I'm reluctant in having a fire going during the night. We're in a burn ban and with the winds we have I'd be nervous doing that.
Therefore I thought I'd put a door on after the fires died at the end of the day. I thought for a temporary door I'd glue a piece of hardibacker behind an oak door to keep it from burning. The specs for it are below but it says it is non-combustible (basically it is portland cement) but I'm sure it would absorb a lot of heat and may not be a good thing against the oak.
What do our experts think about this???


James Hardie: HardieBacker 1/2'' backerboard

[gjbingham]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

Probably not good for the oak, but better oak than pine or other soft wood. How much did you spend on it? Insulation between the backer board and the oak door would probably spare the door from an early demise.

[RCLake]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

Probably not good for the oak, but better oak than pine or other soft wood. How much did you spend on it? Insulation between the backer board and the oak door would probably spare the door from an early demise.

This will be temporary only, I'm going to order 2 sf of the insulation board I used under the floor and see how that stands up.

[Les]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

RC,

I have some scrap pieces - 4 inches thick I could send to you. You just need enough to cover the opening, right? Approximately 19 inches x 12 inches?

Les...

[RCLake]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

RC,

I have some scrap pieces - 4 inches thick I could send to you. You just need enough to cover the opening, right? Approximately 19 inches x 12 inches?

Les...

Les that is such a thoughtful suggestion, however after this mornings post I ordered 4 sf of ins. board, enough for two doors. I wasn't sure how it would hold up if it was the only thing attached to the oak door. Including shipping it was only $21, so maybe I can become creative later with a different door.

Again thanks for your generous offer, members here provide much more than tremendous insight and support.

[RCLake]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

Well today was the day I could start my curing fires. Sadly to say, the forecasters are predicting a major storm coming thru today and tomorrow, so I'm putting it off till Tuesday. Also I wasn't to excited about starting the fires with 30+ mph winds Hope the system brings us some major rain.

Robert we will be overlapping on our curing fires.

[RCLake]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

FIRST FIRE

Finally the day has arrived to have a fire. So far using wood scraps from my workshop, but will move to oak later. As I monitor the temp and see how large a fire I need to get to 300F, I'll install the cerwool blanket. That's stuff is interesting, I though it would be more like fibreglass insulation. It's like a wool blanket. Oh where did the name come from.

I really like the view from our patio, hope to enjoy that view for many decades.

[RCLake]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

Well the fires been going for two hours and oven thermeter reads around 150F, the infrared guns shows the floor by the fire about 160, floor away from fire 100F, the back wall 200F and the dome 275+. It seems to me that I've got a decent size fire going, a heckof alot more than the original curing plan of one stick.
I've put 2" of blanket over the dome and it looks like a snowball.
For today I think I'll shoot for the dome temp being 300F

[RCLake]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

I've been keeping fairly constant today at the levels of the previous post, however when a new logs starts burning the dome jumps into 350-400 level for a while. The inside is covered with soot.

So far the chimney seems to be ok, I'm not sure if you can see the smoke leaving in the pictures below or not.

The outside of the blanket is cool to the touch and the flue is only warm to the touch so far. I lifted up the blanket and the firebricks are hot.

[gjbingham]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

Cool! Looks like the chimney is drawing like a champ for such a cool fire. Hopefully, you won't need to change anything.

[RCLake]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

Cool! Looks like the chimney is drawing like a champ for such a cool fire. Hopefully, you won't need to change anything.

Ya, and I've been mesmorized by the fire all day

[dusty]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

Congrads RC on this monumentous day! Looks great. I sure hope the curing process remains uneventful. Except for the mezmorizing flames, that is.

Say..., last week you were talking about ordering some insulation board from forno bravo. Was it the fb board? 'Cause I want to get some too. The one I saw was $27 for a 1'x3'x2" piece. Is that the right stuff?

dusty

[Frances]

Re: It's time to go Vertical

Lake, keep the pics coming - sounds as if its coming along really well! Pyromania rules!

One thing I remember about Texas, the sky seems to go on forever...