A few questions from Austin TX

[UtahBeehiver]

IMHO, I would mortar up the arch then build the dome to the arch. If you do not want to do this then have the arch brick a least on course ahead of the dome course. It is much easier to tie into the arch. This is the purpose of the tapered arch you did. BTW, you did a good job. This concept is difficult to wrap one's head around.

[Lagniappe]

Thanks again for the continued advice.

I am making progress. I got my arch form built 20" wide x 13" tall. Question - do I go ahead and mortar in the arch? Or do I build the arch as I complete each level?

Any significant alarm bells from what you can see?

[UtahBeehiver]

There is no disadvantage, you could reduce the side mortar joints by a taper or angle cut, which I did on my build, IMHO, it is not worth the effort, save your time resources for other activities. However, you will need to start doing a bevel cut fairly soon in order to minimize the Inverted V joint. You do not have to bevel the whole side just enough so the Inverted V does not take place. Use a rubber mallet to help set the bricks in place, you still should strive for tight joints on the inside of the oven.

[Lagniappe]

Thanks - is there a big disadvantage (structurally, cooking, heat retention, etc..) to these big joints? I guess the way to reduce them is to taper or bevel the bricks?

[UtahBeehiver]

Mortar is you friend and "cheap", You use a lot since the back side of the dome has quite large mortar joints. I see you are doing all your pretty work on the back half of the dome, good, no one sees the front inside half once you are done. As you mentioned you need to watch your joint bonds, especially the front 4 bricks joints are lining up too close, so cut one or two bricks smaller in width to help stagger bond.

[Lagniappe]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I made some of the suggested improvements to the IT. It is now adjustable using a turnbuckle.

I also got started with the first few courses of bricks. Nowhere near as pretty as the tight joints I have seen on many posts, but hopefully good enough. I do need to make sure the bricks don't line up at the seams, will watch for that as I go. Sure seems like I am using a ton of homebrew

Any alarm bells jump out?

As soon as i am done with the form for the entry arch, I'll include pics of that as well.

[SableSprings]

Take a look at Atak's post #205 ( https://community.fornobravo.com/for...b-theme/page14 ) for his IT variation. You could lower your attachment point for the IT as Russell noted above and by using Atak's clamp version of IT, your adjustments will be much easier. Just some food for thought...

[UtahBeehiver]

Just remember that the dome height will be the floor radius plus the thickness of the OSB and the height offset of the caster. This may affect how you tie into a tapered inner arch (if you go this direction - IMHO I recommend). It be hard to make radius adjustment with this IT since it is a solid piece of lumber. Couple things on the IT. first, the centerline of the IT must intersect the centerline of the brick face so you need the place the "L" bracket accordingly. Second, if possible, reconfigure the IT to be adjustable especially due to the vertical height offset from the floor.

[Lagniappe]

Thanks everyone.
I feel I made some progress.
Ceramic fiberboards are cut (used a respirator), OSB is cut to protect the floor bricks during install, wrapped some cardboard around the edge as an expansion joint.
Mocked up the start of my indispensable tool. Need to cut to fit, secure it to center point, and add the bracket to hold the brick. I know it is sitting on top of the OSB plywood and not at exact floor height and since using a caster, the pivot point isn’t perfect. Hope this is good enough, but all suggestions welcome.
Sand, lime, Portland and fireclay purchased for homebrew.
Any alarm bells from those of you with experience? If not, I plan to mortar in my first course next weekend.

[RandyJ]

I cut mine with a hack saw blade just open in hand. I went fairly slow but it was as nice clean cut and not as much dust. But no matter what make sure you wear a respirator, and not a dust mask. It is some pretty nasty stuff.

Randy

[JRPizza]

I used my sawzall and a workmate type table that I could clamp the board down on. My board was 2.5 inches thick so I needed a longer blade. Make sure you note the wind direction and stand upwind when you are cutting and make sure nothing sensitive is down wind. I thought that was some of the nastiest stuff I ever cut, until I started working with the ceramic blanket for the dome

[UtahBeehiver]

You can cut cut with a jig saw, be sure to use a Niosh 95 mask. Since you are enclosing no need do to an exact fit. Just make sure it is wide enough for the dome walls and floor bricks. 50/50 sand fire clay mix.

[Lagniappe]

So, I took most of the summer off from the build. Between summer travel, lots of work commitments, kids activities and almost every day in July over 100. just didn't have the time or energy. But I am back. I got 3.5 inches of vermicrete poured (used 5:1 ratio per all the posts i read) and bought four sheets of 2" ceramic fiber board from FB. Prior to my break, i had already cut the floor bricks. So looks like next step is to cut the fiberboard, level, and get started on my first course. Here is where I could use some help:

What is the best way to cut this ceramic fiberboard? Seems like i can just break off a corner, i cant imagine how it cuts cleanly.
I see lots of pictures of it being cut in a circle to match the outer diameter. I plan on doing an enclosure, can i just leave it square or is there an advantage to cutting it into a circle?
For leveling - sand? Fireclay? Mix?

Thanks a lot & look forward to making some real progress.

[UtahBeehiver]

Right on, Then the bottom angle is the arch of the ID of the dome.

[patjer1]

Just cut on the line. You do not know at this point if these bricks will be in line with the joints on the dome. Each brick is slightly different. You start with the top dead center brick of the tapered inner arch the work your way down left and right of TDC and using the previous brick as a baseline for the next one in conjunction with the IT. You need to use start with whole bricks on a tapered arch not half bricks. If you want even joint lines, then you will need to taper the bricks first, place, then do your cutting for the tapered "inner" arch.

Think I got it now. You draw the lines with the IT on one side of the brick and on the other side of the brick you take the lines from the brick next to it? So the cuts are also in an angle,and not 90°?