My kinda Quebec build

[Patrick.S]

At long last I’ve begun construction on my oven. I wasn’t sure if I should post my build here or in other oven types because it is a bit off the norm. It is a brick oven however and it is in a way styled after some of the ovens I used in Italy and saw in Pompeii. In appearance it will be most akin to a Quebec oven though I think those are mostly cob. In essence I’m trying to simplify the oven to its bare bones, a brick dome oven with no chimney and a low roof. I’m sure I’ll get questions about why I am omitting the chimney. Mostly it has to do with cost and complexity. Also I have built and worked with cob ovens that don’t have chimneys and haven’t had any issue with performance. My dome bricks are free secondhand firebricks. I will also be using some insulative fire bricks below the hearth. The hearth itself will be new firebrick. So far I’ve begun on my stacked stone base.

[UtahBeehiver]

If you want to see a nice dry stack base, look at Stonecutters build. It is top notch. The oven you are describing is typically called a neopolitan style or low dome most common in the Naples/Pompeii area. You can economize your builds with repurpose materials but a critical component of a successful oven is insulation. IFBs under the floor is good, for your dome you can use a perlite or vermiculate/concrete mix 8-10 to 1 that will give you decent insulation and not the cost of high tech ceramic fiber insulation.

https://community.fornobravo.com/for...od-fired-redux

[Patrick.S]

Stonecutters build was a great inspiration to me. My dry stack skills pale in comparison. I know just enough to realize some of my joints are shyte.

For insulation thats precisely my plan. I’ll use some vermicrete to level out the ins. fire bricks then use probably 8-1 on the top.

[UtahBeehiver]

Vcrete does not have a lot of structural strength so are you talking using vcrete for you heath or are you talking a concrete hearth with vcrete as a leveling material? 8 to 1 is good on top of the dome but not under the floor. You can level you IFB with a slurry of sand and fire clay installed with a 1/2" notched trowel on top of a concrete hearth.

[Patrick.S]

Sorry. To clarify I’m talking about using 5-1 vcrete to level out the lumps and bumps of my eroded insulating fire brick. On top of that I will use the sand and fire clay slurry to set fire bricks for my hearth. Then over the brick dome I will use 8-1 to insulate. So I have it clear, what is the ratio of fire clay to sand when making that setting “mortar”?

[UtahBeehiver]

1 to 1 peanut butter consistency with a 1/2" notched trowel. Like setting ceramic tiles.

[Patrick.S]

Awesome, thanks!

[Patrick.S]

Well it ain’t going anywhere...

[Patrick.S]

Slab done and hearth down. Even got a bit done on the dome.

[UtahBeehiver]

You talked about insulating fire brick under the floor firebrick, I do not see them unless they are covered by the floor. The floor needs to be isolated or sitting on insulation so the floor and the dome heat do not transmit out the the concrete hearth acting as a heat sink.

[Patrick.S]

They’re down there and covered by the floor and also by a thin layer of perlecrete to level them out. I just didn’t take great photos of that phase.

[UtahBeehiver]

Sounds like you have it covered.

[Patrick.S]

I don’t know about that . Trying not to cut too many corners though.

[UtahBeehiver]

Good and efficient builds can be accomplish with budget or material restraints. Gulf and I are the master repurposers on the forum. Both of our builds utilized a fair amount of repurposed materials. Although we both did use high tech insulation but a v or pcrete dome insulation will do a job as well, just takes more thickness to insulate as well as ceramic blanket. Are you considering a tapered inner arch? This type of arch make the dome to tie-in much easier. But I see you are partially cutting the bricks the breaking them or using a brick chisel to cut. These methods will limit your ability to do a taper inner arch.

[Patrick.S]

Just to prove my ignorance, I’m not quite sure what you mean by tapered arch. I’m not planning on using a chimney so there won’t be an inner and outer arch. I have a tile saw that can cut most of the way through a brick which I then finish by breaking. Complicated cuts I’m trying to avoid though. Many of the choices I’ve made have been to mitigate my lack of masonry skills though omitting the chimney was largely financially motivated. That and the fact that the oven I made before didn’t have one and neither do many of the historic ovens I drew inspiration from.