Building The Dixie Darling

[WarEagle90]

Last Set. Thanks for following along.

[WarEagle90]

Inner Arch Outside & Top

May have caught a minor case of the droop even though I thought I took the proper precautions. I'll straighten that out on the next course.

[WarEagle90]

Inner Arch Inside Photos#3

[WarEagle90]

Inner Arch Inside Photos #2

[WarEagle90]

Inner Arch Inside Photos #1

[WarEagle90]

Made some good progress this weekend in spite of the constant drizzle and rain all day Saturday. Not only was I physically tired when I called it quits Saturday night, I was tired of being wet too. The oven is covered, but the saw is located just inside the corner of the oven tent and with the winds coming out of the NW, I still got wet. But hey, the oven is worth it ...... isn't it. Most of the inner arch is up, course 2 & 3 complete and tied into the arch and course 4 mostly finished and tied in on the left side. It took much longer to cut the tapers on the arch than I thought but it got easier as I went. The inside of the arch doesn't look all that great but I'll clean it up with a grinder once the arch is complete. I know no one will see it once the oven is built but I want to make it look better for my personal satisfaction. The last thing I did before tidying up yesterday was to set the anchor for the 5th course so it will be ready this weekend. Ok, enough of me talking. Pictures tell a better story and I've got a bunch this week so it will take several posts to get them all in. Here is the first set.

[JRPizza]

I knew what droop was but not what caused it, which is why I didn't see it coming until it was too late. Once you understand why something happens it is much easier to avoid it.

[WarEagle90]

Ingenious, indeed. And I'm sure the Romans used a similar level to the one Colin used . Thanks, Joe, that will make it much easier to avoid catching the droop .

[Gulf]

oasiscdm found the way to do this "off the grid" so to speak. Look closely at the pics in this post. He has a spacer bar clamped to the IT. The spacer bar is gauged from the floor of the oven. The spacer bar keeps the course level into the arch while the IT maintains the angle of the brick in relation to the anchor point. It is an ingenues technique. It could have been what the Romans did 2000 years ago .

[WarEagle90]

JR, thanks for that reminder. I've told myself over and over to keep an eye on the droop issue, but it has not crossed my mind while laying bricks until you mentioned it. I saw where Joe (Gulf) used a laser level to help with the droop so I assume that the challenge is to keep the top, interior edge of the brick against the arch in the same plane as the adjoining brick's. Looking at the pictures, it looks simple to prevent but I know it doesn't quite work that way in practice. Now let's hope I don't forget between now and the weekend. That's a long time for my feeble mind .

[JRPizza]

Dan, don't forget to kick the bricks up a little that intersect your arch, or you will end up with the dreaded droop. As the dome gets smaller towards the top, the bricks are at an increasing angle to horizontal, which is where the inverted vee comes from. If you keep the vee the same size as you approach the arch you won't get a droop but lots of folks (I'm one) make that last brick too horizontal and by the time you get to the top of the arch you are too low. I tried to make a sketch of what I am talking about but I'm not sure it helps or not, but you can see from my build pic that I failed to kick up the last brick and ended up with having to do some custom cuts. I used a level across my bricks (side to side) and was fooled as everything was level, but they were level too low. If I would have placed the level from the arch adjacent brick pointing back to the rear of the oven I might have detected the drooping.

[WarEagle90]

I promised last week to provide photos of the "Russell" Jig I built for the saw. I call it the Russell jig because I saw it in his build log. I did add a vertical angle adjustment knob. If anyone has any questions or wants more information about how I went about building it, let me know. Anyway, photos are below.

[WarEagle90]

Its starting to look like an oven and I'm tired. Finished up the 3rd course today.... well kind of .... I stopped short of the arch. Now I know why someone said on another build to be sure to keep the arch at least on brick above the dome. I started out planning to lay a course up to the arch, place the arch brick and then complete the course. BUT, that won't (didn't) work. Because of the way the arch bricks sit, they intersect more than one course. Once I saw it, I was like, darn Dan, you should have realized that before now . Have I mentioned that when I build my NEXT WFO that will make 2 I've built? Anyway, I worked myself out of that little issue. That's why when you see the photos, I stopped a couple bricks short of the arch until I get the tapers cut and catch up with the dome. Before I finished up for the day today, I laid 3 "anchor bricks" for course #4. That's one piece of advice that I have taken to heart and thankful for it. Much, much easier to lay the bricks when you have something to push against that won't move . Question for the day: How do you clean the interior joints of the arch up against the form? I just used my finger by reaching through the form. That was really the only thing I could get in that space. Thanks for following along on this journey.

[WarEagle90]

...... The inner edge of the arch brick is just another piece of the inside of your dome. .......

Thanks Sharkey. Your statement above may have turned the light on. Although it now appears obvious, I just never thought of it that way. Finished up the 1st course last night including tying into the arch and cut most of the bricks for the 2nd course. Getting ready to go lay those and then cut #3. More this evening.

[Sharkey]

Just remember - on every one of your arch bricks that red line is the projection of your IT and the width of that cut is a half brick width for the dome bricks to be placed against. The inner edge of the arch brick is just another piece of the inside of your dome. If you remember those two things you will manage the tapered arch.