40" homemade cast dome

[purplehaze]

The stone veneer is New England blend of three different cuts.

[purplehaze]

Countertops are stained, sealed and look like brown leather. The photos were added to photo bucket library in post #29

[Gulf]

That's a bummer! I am going to have to repair my entire build thread, as I get time, thanks to Phototbucket .

[purplehaze]

I had to create a public gallery for the photos on photo bucket for the old and new photos.

http://s94.photobucket.com/user/purple11haze/library/



Since my last post I have been busy with other projects so the oven took a back seat to everything else. I have made progress. I built a dog house around the oven using metal studs, covered it with cement board and put on a roof. I also added 2" concrete countertops. One side is a prep table and the other surrounds an Argentine charcoal grill I built with a buddy. The countertops have been polished and I'm waiting for the stain and sealer to arrive.

[david s]

I have got the dome up to 700F last night and cooked our first pizzas. I had to cook them on pans because I don't have a peel or an ash broom yet.

Skip the ash broom. Natural bristles burn at pizza temps and brass bristles are dangerous if ingested. I've found a blow pipe is the best for clearing the ash, but make sure you blow not suck.You can also use it to encourage the fire and use it as a poker.
Pizzas look good.

[purplehaze]

Thanks for the info Gulf but I use photobucket for my pics and vids. I just don't want to sign up for yet another site so I will just stick with pics.

I have been curing the oven over the past week and the homemade refractory likes an extremely low and slow curing schedule. I got some hairline cracks in the dome but I was prepared to get them. The cracks disappear when the oven cools down. I have yet to get any in the vent area which is good due to it being a thinner casting.

I have got the dome up to 700F last night and cooked our first pizzas. I had to cook them on pans because I don't have a peel or an ash broom yet.

[Gulf]

You may have saw it if you clicked on the Insert Video icon under Advanced Editor but, the supported videos are Hulu, You Tube, Vimeo, Daily Motion, Metacafe, Google, and Face Book.( I hope that I have them all correct.) I've linked You Tube videos before. So, I think that you will have to upload the video to one of those sites and use the Insert Video Icon to embed it in to your post.

[purplehaze]

I had to expand the perlite insulating area, it was too narrow. I also started my curing fires yesterday and added a thermal break using the ceramic fiber rope between the dome and vent and the floor.


I also took a quick video of the draft on this windy day but I am not sure how to post it.

[UtahBeehiver]

Looks like you got it figured out.

[purplehaze]

The galvanized stub was strictly for the chimney pipe placement in the mold. I am currently looking for some insulated SS pipe on CL.

[UtahBeehiver]

I notice your chimney interface is galvanized, doubt very much you will see temps where zinc vapors will be an issue but the gauge of the metal seems light for a wood fired chimney. Just something to think about.

[purplehaze]

Thanks, I struggled with the design of the flue gallery. I thought 12" deep was too much but I needed it 2" thick on both sides of the 8" chimney pipe. I settled on cutting is down and having the 2" overhang the front of the oven.

[david s]

I noticed you have made the flue gallery much shallower than your original mould. I didn't want to criticize as you are doing such a good job, but you'll be glad you made it shallow it will be much easier to work the oven.
With the Homebrew castable, holding the moisture in for a week after casting is a good idea.

[purplehaze]

Thanks, UtahBeehiver.

It's going to rain for the next few days which is good because it will keep me from starting the curing process too early. Hopefully the ss needles and the polypropylene fiber additions will reduce any cracking. Now I have to think of how I am going to add the thermal break in the entryway floor.

[UtahBeehiver]

Your cast is coming along very nicely.