Building The Dixie Darling

[WarEagle90]

Sharkey, you would be correct about the fancy cuts and I hope that is the last one like that. Wishful thinking on my part probably . My plan is to stop a couple bricks short of the arch on each successive course and work out the tie in with the arch before I cut the last few bricks.We'll see how that works out. Wish me luck

[Sharkey]

Hi WarEagle.
I think you may have worked it out but your arch bricks need to be cut so that the normal dome bricks just butt up against them without any fancy cuts. The red line I have added to your picture gives you the shape required.

[UtahBeehiver]

Coming along nicely. All said a done, when people look inside the oven while it is firing they focus on the pizza and the flames. Only you will know where the signature brick is.

[WarEagle90]

One other comment/question. Take a look at the first photo above. Can anyone see the first screw up? You'll probably have to zoom in to see it, but its there. For now, I'm calling it my signature, lol. I'll post a close up next time I have the tarp off so I can take a better picture of it. Ok, that's all for tonight.

[WarEagle90]

Weekend Update ...

I think I have been referencing the courses of the oven wrong. Last week I said I had placed the first course, but in reality I had actually placed the soldier course. Yesterday, I cut and laid the real 1st course to within a couple bricks of the arch. Yes, there is a gap in the brick at about 3 O'clock. I was starting to drift off bond so I moved to the next brick to get back on track. I will cut and lay the missing brick before I start mortaring the 2nd course. I had hoped to get more done, but we had a crawfish boil for my son's birthday Friday evening so I spent most of Saturday morning cleaning up and putting away pots and cookers. Today I started cutting the 2nd course after completing a few honey do's around the house. I built a jig for the wet saw very similar to the one Russell built. Well, it's actually not similar, its identical save for the tilt adjustment that I added to mine. I failed to take a picture of it before I put the saw away. I'll get one the next time I have it out. I think I've said this before, watching you guys cut and lay brick looks very easy but when its time for me to do it, somehow it gets complicated. With the 2nd course I started cutting compound miters and it took quite a few minutes for me to wrap my head around it. Now, I do quite a bit of woodworking and make these types of cuts a lot, but for some reason with the brick, I just couldn't see it. The ol' brain finally got going and figured it out though. I only cut one brick wrong . I think what was throwing me off was the very shallow angle of the tilt. It was hard to see and visualize. Now just hope I remember how to do it next weekend. Dry stacked a few just to verify that the cuts were correct. More to come. Thanks for following along.

[WarEagle90]

Thanks for the feedback Plokuta and Russell. My plan was to work from the back around to the dome and stay a course or two ahead of tying the dome into the arch. That is, I will lay the second course this weekend and stop a couple bricks from the arch and give that course time to set and then come back and tie it into the dome and then start the next course and do the same. I want to give those bricks near the arch time to cure so when I go to working with the odd bricks at the arch I don't accidentally knock them loose. Been getting ready for my son's 18th birthday this weekend so not much progress in the evenings. Will hit it hard Saturday and Sunday.

[UtahBeehiver]

Agree, clean as you go but don't over saturate sponge. Remember to do your best work on the back half of the dome, the front half will not be seen once the dome is complete. Make adjustments on the front half, IE cut narrower or wider bricks to ensure staggered joint bonds,.

[plokuta]

Use a damp sponge to clean the face of the bricks as you go. Its much easier to clean when the mortar is wet.

[WarEagle90]

The easy part is done . First course is in. Today was the first time I have ever actually laid brick. Not the best looking job, but its a start. Hopefully I'll get better as the build progresses. Plan to give the mortar a day or two to set and then I will clean up the floor and install some cardboard to protect it for the rest of the build. Question: What's a good procedure to keep the interior face of the brick clean as I go? I cleaned them the best I could with the trowel, but they still need a little work as will future courses. Gonna be a tired puppy before this is over. Climbing up and down the ladder, walking to the saw and bending over laying brick is all hard on the back and feet. But, that's OK. The food that will come out of it when completed is well worth the effort. Later ...

[WarEagle90]

Thanks, Russell. That’s what I thought but I wanted to get some confirmation. I’m going to cut those two horizontal bricks on either side of the arch and get them mortared in since I got the first course mortared in this morning. I’ll post photos later this evening. Back to work Dan .....

[UtahBeehiver]

You may have to fudge a little here if you want a smooth transition. The IT is a baseline but not all or none. It you do not match to the inside of the form you will have a ledge at the vertical number two brick or you will have to have the arch bricks extend deeper past the back of the form to mate.This is a trial and error process. When you start cutting the arch bricks start at top dead center and work down each way. PS, no one will see this area of the inner dome once finished but for me, it was a challenge for myself to make it look as good as possible.

[WarEagle90]

Today I was able to finally get the inner arch dry fit and I think it turned out good. Cut the first dome course and dry fit it also. I am building a tapered inner arch and have received some good guidance from JR and Russell. I marked the ID and OD on the arch and think I have a good understanding of how to cut the more vertical arch brick but as I started looking at the lower bricks I started questioning myself. For example, I designed the arch with two flat bricks on each side before the curve of the arch begins and I know how to cut the first one, but the I'm somewhat confused on the second. If you go by the mark indicated by the IT set at the ID, the brick will extend into the dome beyond the arch form. So do you cut according to the IT or cut to match the form? See photo below. My guess would be to make it match the form. BTW: I did rebuild the form so that the interior edge correctly intersects the dome ID. Installed a couple LED lights under the top so that I could work longer in the evenings during the week. Calling for rain sometime tomorrow so not sure how much I will get done tomorrow. Plan to mortar the 1st dome course,cut the second and maybe mortar it in and get the first couple arch bricks mortared in place. More to come ....

[WarEagle90]

You know, I never make as much progress as I plan. This weekend was no exception. I had hoped to get the inner arch form adjusted to the proper thickness and reset, cut the inner arch brick and see how they looked dry fitted, but nope, didn't get there. I knew the weather was going to be questionable this weekend but I felt I had a good full day Saturday to get what I needed done outside and then I could spend Sunday in the shop, out of the rain. Well, I ended up going on a last minute hunting trip on Saturday so that cut out my only dry day. Rain started about dark-thirty Saturday evening and continued until almost noon on Sunday. When it finally let up, I got to work. I had purchased a 12" diamond blade to go on my miter saw, so I installed it and set up a water nozzle that I could adjust to help keep the blade cool and the dust down. As is usually the case, I needed some additional brass fittings to hook it up to a water source and since I am 30 minutes out of town, I decided to forgo the water and attempt to cut one of the arch bricks dry. Now, did I mention it had been raining for almost 18 hours? Well, that turned out to be a blessing. All the brick are out in the open so they were quite water logged and even though I wasn't using water, there was enough moisture in the brick to really not need it. I ended up cutting all but one of the 19 arch bricks in this manner. Blade never got hot and never seem to slow down. I intentionally failed to cut the last brick. I want to mock up the arch and measure the TDC brick to fit snugly. Maybe I can get the arch dry fit one afternoon this week now that the time has changed. Until next time .....

[UtahBeehiver]

IMHO, 13.25" will work just fine and within the range for "government" work. But remember, mortar joint thickness will play a factor in the first two flat course which the CAD picture does not show.

[WarEagle90]

Thanks for the spreadsheet JR. I'll play with the numbers tonight. Now that I go back and look at the FB plans, they do show a 12.5" height for the opening, but I also remember hearing several quotes on other builds, including the beginning of this one, that the recommended height is 63-65% of the oven height which in this case the oven height will be 21". 63% of 21 is 13.25 so that is where I got the number. I do like having that keystone at the TDC so currently I am using 19 bricks in the arch. The arch I posted above is actually elliptical in shape. I really like the way it looks. I have a question re: the opening height. Is the height based on the area of the opening or is there some formula that gives heat loss based on height of opening regardless of cross section (within reason of course)? I ask because you can have a constant opening height and opening width and vary the geometry of the opening, rectangle, constant radius arch, elliptical arch, triangle (not reasonable, but you get my point), etc. and get quite different areas. I'm not looking for a specific answer, just really thinking out loud. Thanks a bunch for you comments and suggestions, I greatly appreciate the help. I'm going to rebuild the arch form one afternoon this week and get it reset before the weekend. My goal for this week is to get the arch brick cut and mocked up and get the first course of the dome set, weather permitting. Calling for rain on Saturday so that might dampen my progress.