42" Corner Pompeii in Coastal Virginia

[cbailey]

Good solution to your problem. I actually like the way the bricks line up. As you said, live and learn. Your oven looks great, and will give you a lot of joy.

Cory

[UtahBeehiver]

The spreadsheet gets you in the ball park, like JR said, do a few bricks and see how they fit, then cut a few more, always checking to see if the angles are still working. One last tip, as you move up just before you quit, lay one more brick on at the back of the next course, it becomes the anchor for that course. Joints look relatively tight and staggered. Remember to do your best work on the back half of the dome and adjustments or oops on toward the front, The back half is the only area that can be seen once the oven is complete

[Denamontini]

Thanks for all of the encouragement and tips! My next WFO will be such a masterpiece!

[terratree]

Hi Dena,

I reckon your oven will be fine.

I've also pre-cut the first 1.5 courses and only dry fitted.

Do you think mortar creep took your measurements out ? How did your IT go ?

I wont taper any more until I start mixing mortar, just to be safe.

Thanks for the help

Jay

[Denamontini]

Jay,

My bevel was too steep— it was about 5 degrees. I think a 2-3 degree bevel would have been better. I also think the angle was too sharp. I was trying for a 4.5 bottom back with a 3.75 bottom front. Many of the bricks were smaller than 3.75 in the front. I made some adjustments yesterday (beveled at 3 degrees) and I was precise about every brick. I might be able to get them set today. I’ll let you know how it goes!

Question for the group... if the bricks fit tightly, does the side mortar really matter? My first 4 courses have practically no mortar on the sides— just a generous amount under each brick.

[Denamontini]

Made a little more progress yesterday. We don't have the arch bricks tapered yet, so we've been working around it. We plan on cutting them today.

[terratree]

Hi Dena,

Thanks for sharing a "lessons learnt" . Were certainly all learning here, and like you I've never laid a brick in my life - so luckily this forum exists.

I recently cut my inner arch taper (I'm following Russell's/JR's plus other CNR builds where I can) - pics attached, but i'm not 100 % sure they'll tie in ok as I kinda have 2 x TDC's and my course bricks (bought tapered for a huge kiln) are no where near a standard size ( 15" x 5.91" x 2.6"/2.95").

I did make a jig tho, copied from numerous others on this forum for the Angle (taper) cuts (no welding involved ), but is pretty rough. I did find that using a straight edge against the blade (last pic) prior to any cuts, was a positive reassurance. Happy to send some pics, if it helps

Unable to help with your mortar question...yet. Sorry.

Regards

Jay

[SableSprings]

Question for the group... if the bricks fit tightly, does the side mortar really matter? My first 4 courses have practically no mortar on the sides— just a generous amount under each brick.

Dena, if your joints are tight, it is not necessary to have a mortar seam "showing" between bricks on the inside of the oven. Usually when you fit the bricks into place, you have buttered the side and bottom with mortar and then tap them lightly into place (as you already know )...so you get at least a little mortar that squeezes out. If your gap/joints between bricks are that tight on the inside edge, then just having mortar to fill in any gap that exists as you move to the outside of the dome is all that's needed. In fact, if I remember correctly, we've had at least one build on the forum that was done without using any mortar at all. But as most of us realize, mortar is your friend (if you need it) during the build, if for nothing else than to hold the bricks in place until the keystone is dropped in...I certainly would not have the skill (or patience) to create a mortar free dome but it is possible.

In addition, if your inside joints are all (or mostly) brick to brick, the possibility of having a piece of mortar break loose and become a pizza topping it next to nil.

Your build is still looking great and I don't see any real concerns developing at all.

[Denamontini]

Jay,
Your arch looks great! I will use your advice on my outer arch. I will be using a bigger red fire brick on that part too.

Mike,
Thanks for the reassurance! Your messages are always kind and uplifting!

We’ve been battling cold rainy weather but have managed to make progress.

[Denamontini]

I’ll be honest, it is in my nature to be more precise and patient than I have been. There have been a lot of moments where I took short cuts, used ill-cut bricks and “slopped” mortar to save time. Originally, I wanted the oven to be perfect, but I am adopting my husband’s, “it’s only a pizza oven” philosophy. Well, kinda...

[UtahBeehiver]

Congrats on clearing the arch with no "Dreaded Droop".

[SableSprings]

Yes, Dena, perfection has a place in the world...it's just not as interesting a place as where we all live. I totally understand the drive to make things perfect, but I think older and wiser heads would lean towards "it's just a pizza oven...THAT WORKS!"

I've posted these pics before of an oven in Sorrento Italy that I got to use for a week. (I suspect it had been years since it was fired up and probably my fingerprints are the last ones on it...) Note the door in the second picture...rusted out along the outer rim. The oven was built into a hillside and I'm absolutely sure it had only dirt for insulation. When we arrived there was a large amount of dried grape (big, old trunk pieces) and olive wood. I had to clean out the oven area so I could work there and thought I'd need one or two fires to dry the oven...wrong! I struggled to get the oven up to pizza temps, sorta made it for short periods of time...but the heat sink of the hillside dirt really took away the bite of the fire from the bricks. I did manage to make several batches of bread, but at really low temps...barely seemed browned to me (but soak anything in olive oil or tomato sauce while you're in Italy and you can choke it down with a big smile ).

The only reason I'm yakking about this, is that whenever I see someone's oven that's better looking than mine and start thinking I should have done a better job, I simply recall my Sorrento experience where everyone there only focused on (and remembered) what came out of the oven--not the oven build quality. Soon you'll close, cure, put on a no doubt fabulous looking outer enclosure, and get on to the good part of using the beast. Don't beat yourself up over the things that make your oven uniquely yours.

[JRPizza]

As Russel has been known to say - "Mortar is your friend"

[Denamontini]

We did it!!!

[SableSprings]

As everybody says...we all need closure. And for those of us going through a WFO build...it's really a great rush to put the final keystone plug(s) into the dome! Next, on wards and upwards to the outer arch & chimney. Looks like you'll be doing the cure and starting to experiment with baking well before summer. Keep up the great work Dena (and company)!