39 inch Corner Build

[JRPizza]

JR,

BTW, nice little brick accents on the side of you chimney, looks like you are golden on the brick cap.

Thanks - getting the chimney to transition from the curved opening I built to the adapter was kind of a head scratcher for me but I finally figured it out. Since I am going to be covered and out of the elements, I was hoping to leave the firebrick arch exposed and not cover with anything. Need to go after the mortar haze with some vinegar and see if I can get the bricks cleaned up.

[Larry P]

Nice looking bread JR!

BTW I have active Ischia and Camaldoli sourdough cultures, I'm happy to pass along to anybody who wants them.

[UtahBeehiver]

I am a novice at bread making, all these fancy names of cultures are very interesting. I take you up on the starters when I start my serious bread baking adventures.

[JRPizza]

You might want to pick up a copy of Wing and Scott's "The Bread Builders". The first half of the book talks about sourdough microbiology and how to get a starter healthy and maintain it that way. Until I learned how to manage my starter, it wasn't good for much but making pancakes. I think the different starters can have some subtle differences in taste and properties, but if you aren't using the starter to the maximum of it's abilities you aren't going to get good results. I also found Chad Roberts "Tartine Bread" to be a good read, at least the first part (the recipes did not do much for me), as he does most of his baking with natural leavens and he is a big proponent of dutch oven cooking if all you have is an electric oven.

[JRPizza]

I'm getting ready to wrap my insulation, and had a question especially for Russell, but others please feel free to chime in. I have 1" blanket, in 2' wide 25' long rolls. I'd like to get the blanket wrapped with as little overlap at the edges as possible, so I don't have to do as much compensation with the v-crete to make the dome round. I'm planning on doing at least 3 layers. Russell's wrap job looks exceptionally done, so I was wondering if he did any special technique with either sequence or how he cut it to conform. I watched the fornobravo insulating video, but was hoping to not end up with a bunch of small triangles left over, unless that is unavoidable. I have an idea to cut pieces like the picture shown below - I think I can do it with very little waste.

[UtahBeehiver]

JR,

Did just like you are thinking, orange peel segments but I did use the full 2 foot width so I ended up with some triangles but most get used in other places, It is really nasty stuff so gloves, long sleeves and Niosh 95 dust mask are in order.

[JRPizza]

Thanks for the quick reply! I figured if I cut them using the 2' width at the bottom and to a point at the top of the oven, I can take the two pieces from each side and make another triangle, if my geometry is correct. I'll have to use some bits around the chimney I know, but the orange segments should minimize my waste.

[JRPizza]

JR,

BTW, nice little brick accents on the side of you chimney, looks like you are golden on the brick cap.

Russell, I"m glad you like my cap, and glad you don't mind being copied. I liked the look of your chimney from the first time I saw it. Mine is no where near as nice as yours, but it should look kinda familiar to you

[JRPizza]

I finished my insulation today. Planned on cutting the insulation into orange peel segments as discussed above, bit abandoned that after I put two of them up and saw my hopes of having everything "just fit" weren't happening. I ended up cutting strips (6" to 8") of various lengths and tried to replicate what the FB guys do on their insulation video.
I have never used tapcon type fasteners, and have a question for the forum. I am guessing I need to fasten down the steel netting/lath (like shown below) so I can pull it tight over my dome. How deep do I need to sink the tapcons into the hearth to get them to hold. The load will be low, but I don't know how much bite they need to dig in.

[UtahBeehiver]

JR,

I used 1" tapcons into the hearth and 1/2" is plenty of bite for what you need.

[UtahBeehiver]

[JRPizza]

Thanks Russell. After I posted I saw that the local hardware store has 1.25" long 3/16 as the shortest tapcons they sell, so that is probably what I will end up going with. Their FAQ says to drill 1/2 inch deeper than you want to drive the screws.
I wrapped my insulation using .03 welding wire, cause that is what I had on hand. It's a little stiff, but did the job. I ran a loop through the bottom of my heat break and around the base of the oven, and ran the rest of the wire off of that. The tapcons will be for attaching my mesh, as I think I will have to pull on that a little bit harder to get my shape.

[Larry P]

JR, I'd say use the shortest tapcons you can find. BTW I used only 2 tapcons to hold my chicken wire in place, this one and one on the opposite side. It pretty much stayed where I placed it. The tapcons were just to allow me to tension it around the base.

[david s]

Too late for you now, but it's much easier to set a few thin tie wire loops into the mortar course, thus eliminating the need for any drilling.

[david s]

Thanks for the quick reply! I figured if I cut them using the 2' width at the bottom and to a point at the top of the oven, I can take the two pieces from each side and make another triangle, if my geometry is correct. I'll have to use some bits around the chimney I know, but the orange segments should minimize my waste.

For the triangles to fit you need to make the sides curved. I do a similar thing marking out the blanket with a template and spray paint. Cutting the blanket with a slight bevel then results in a perfect fit. [ATTACH=CONFIG]n387850[/ATTACH]