42" build in McPherson KS

[slschoming]

The arc of the IT should intersect the inside of the inner arch brick at the edge of the arch form and dome wall or it will be harder to mate the inner arch and dome walls together and keep circular.

UtahBeehiver Gotcha, thanks for catching that.. I was planning the opposite.. to have the IT arc intersect the OUTside of my inner arch... I will do some more measuring and try to get that all worked out as I decrease the width of my opening / landing.

I hope I left myself enough room at the front edge of my hearth for my vent, etc.. it looks like I will only have about 10.5 inches between the outside of my inner arch and the edge of the hearth

Thanks!

[slschoming]

I have a short landing too...I was following another builder on this site who did this as well and his point was that it's easier to work the oven with a shorter landing so I think you'll be all good IMO...keep up the good work! Zoo

Hey zoolander , check out fxpose's cast vent:

https://community.fornobravo.com/forum/good-background-information/brick-oven-photos/10322-my-3-legged-dome/page5?t=12677

I might explore something like that for my short landing.

Happy building!

[slschoming]

In the photo below I have ROUGHLY marked out my new plan. The blue arc is roughly the curve of the IT and the red lines are to show how much landing width I will be reducing to get down to about 22 inches wide. Where the red and blue intersect is where the inside of my inner arch should begin and I have drawn the portion of the landing that will be covered by the inner arch in green. This leaves me more area for a proper vent than I was thinking yesterday.

The diagonal of a 4.5 inch square (marked in yellow) is 6.364 inches and I have another 4 inches between what I have laid out in this picture and the edge of my hearth. I am estimating about 14 - 15 inches left between the outer edge of my inner arch and the edge of my hearth.

UtahBeehiver Does this seem like I have a better understanding than I did yesterday? Does anything stand out to you as incorrect?

Thanks!

[slschoming]

It looks like I will have 13.75 inches for my vent/landing area.

[UtahBeehiver]

The inner arch alignment looks good now. I suggest that you make your IT adjustable and the key is that the centerline of the pivot point at the floor hits the centerline of the brick, ie if your brick is 2.5" thick then the centerline of the IT from the pivot point will should hit the brick at the 1.25" mark. There was a recent non-weld wood IT that was done recently that was adjustable. You do not say how high your arch is but it should be abt 63-65% of the dome height, width is not as critical. If you are doing a tapered inner arch (recommended), then you will be using full length bricks on arch not halves, the full length give you material to work with. The top dead center of the arch will be the longest brick, tapered inner arch make the dome to arch transition much easier.

[JRPizza]

Seth, If you have not built your inner arch form yet now would be a good time. You can set the form in the location you have chosen for your arch, set a brick on the top of the form, and use your IT to make sure the dome and arch will mate properly.

[JRPizza]

[slschoming]

Seth, If you have not built your inner arch form yet now would be a good time. You can set the form in the location you have chosen for your arch, set a brick on the top of the form, and use your IT to make sure the dome and arch will mate properly.

I have not built it yet. I am thinking it will be 3 bricks of straight wall with a partial arch on top.

The inner arch alignment looks good now. I suggest that you make your IT adjustable and the key is that the centerline of the pivot point at the floor hits the centerline of the brick, ie if your brick is 2.5" thick then the centerline of the IT from the pivot point will should hit the brick at the 1.25" mark. There was a recent non-weld wood IT that was done recently that was adjustable. You do not say how high your arch is but it should be abt 63-65% of the dome height, width is not as critical. If you are doing a tapered inner arch (recommended), then you will be using full length bricks on arch not halves, the full length give you material to work with. The top dead center of the arch will be the longest brick, tapered inner arch make the dome to arch transition much easier.

I think my center / pivot point is at floor level, and I did make sure the bracket is centering my bricks to the dowel. I grabbed some stuff at the hardware store on the way home yesterday and will work on making an adjustable version.

My opening is going to be 13.5" and my dome height is 21" (64.3%). I would like a little wider opening like I had originally planned (25-26"), but I saw that apagios warned about losing too much heat with a wide opening. He uses loose cut fire bricks on the sides of his inner arch to slow down the outflow of heat when doing pizza, which I think is a great solution, I just think I would be constantly knocking those over with my peel and having to get gloves on to put them back up. So I am currently planning to narrow it down to about 22 inches wide.

Apagios, have you had any luck with a turkey?

[UtahBeehiver]

You're stressing over the width too much. I have a 42" oven with an inner arch width of 20" and have no issues with getting a large turkey in the oven. Here is a pic of how the IT is used to do a taper arch like the style you are talking about. It came from Mr.Chipster.

[slschoming]

I have a 42" oven with an inner arch width of 20" and have no issues with getting a large turkey in the oven.

Good to know! Thanks Russell!

[slschoming]

I started mortaring today. I'm bevelling every other brick on course 4 to try to prevent the inverted V. I'm also tapering my arch wall bricks as I go up. I haven't made my arch template yet but plan to do that before I go any higher.

[UtahBeehiver]

Here are a couple tips,

Make corrections on brick width (to maintain staggered joints) on the front half of the dome and the best work and best faced bricks on the back half of the dome. Once the oven is complete and fired up, you really only see the back half and your guest are non the wiser. Also, you do not need to do a full side bevel to remove the inverted V, just the front quarter or so of the brick. Use mortar to fill the larger gap on the backside. I was one who wanted to have perfect side joints and did full side bevels but it is not worth the time resource. Last, at the end of the day, place and mortar one or two bricks on the next course (back middle) and let them sit overnight, this gives you an anchor to start the next days work.

[slschoming]

UtahBeehiver Yes, I noticed that your bricks were tapered in all dimensions. Your work is very impressive and even if your mortar would burn up your dome would still be standing! However, I agree that time is a valuable resource..and I'm already slow enough as it is!

To maintain the stagger I have been starting each new course in the middle back and making sure I am centered over a joint. Then only my bricks that meet the arch will have to be cut to a different width. That's basically what you are saying, right? I hadn't thought about leaving an anchor, but I did it each day unintentionally and it has worked well.

Also,good time saving point about the side bevel.. I had been beveling the whole side, but since the backs are about an inch apart I suppose they don't need any beveling back there!

zoolander Thanks! Did I see you're making pizzas now?

Thanks for the feedback!

[slschoming]

I just got home after being gone for 5 days and checked on my oven.. It might be a little difficult to see in this picture, but there seems to be a gray haze left from portland that I must not have fully wiped away from the face of my bricks. Would a little sanding take care of this?

[Chach]

I would leave it alone as it does not affect the operation of the oven whatsoever. It may just go away on its own when you fire the oven up.