42” Pompeii in San Felipe, MX

[MarkJerling]

Been awhile since I’ve posted. I’ve attached 3 pictures from our party last night. We hosted a cornhole/pizza party and had 30 people over. What a blast. One picture is of the new door fresh from a friend of mine that is a shop foreman at a fabrication shop in California. I sent him via snail mail a template and he brought this down to Mexico for me.

The oven was actually a little too hot last night and pizzas were coming out in about 60 seconds... too fast to work multiple pies at one time. The done was 1200f and the floor was 825f... I tried to let it cool a bit and found myself mopping the deck between pies but it was a struggle. They tasted amazing. This was the first time I used only mesquite wood from start up to finish... man, that stuff burns hot, hot, hot.

The one picture of the finished pizza is what we call the Quattro. It’s a simple 4 cheese pizza. Mozzarella, Provolone, Asiago and Gorgonzola... EVO base, garlic and freshly ground pepper corns. I made 5 of them.

This morning the oven temp is 600f... floor is 575f and the dome is 680f. Thinking I’ll make a few dough balls and make a few clam pies for me and the Mrs. for lunch.

I still have plans to cover the oven with a structure of some sort... haven’t worked out the details yet. Too busy using the oven.

Today I will start proofing dough for bread that I will bake tomorrow and then the next day we will slow cook a roast... I will use the oven to dry some of the herbs from the garden this coming weekend.

Life is good.

Looking lovely. Good heat retention!

[JRPizza]

Yes, a good tight fitting door makes all the difference when it comes to retaining moisture. We usually cook up a chicken or two every time we fire the oven, along with whatever other meat we roast. Food for a week!

[modified9v]

OHHHHH Nooooooo.... The door was stuck. Seems I don’t have enough clearance for my door. This was yesterday afternoon. Finally this morning it came loose. Oven temp is exactly 400f on the deck and dome.

I can see two spots on the door that are hitting on mortar joints... do you think it’s ok to take a grinder to the areas that are hitting the door or should I have a new door made a little smaller? I can’t grind on the door as it is thin gauge stainless.

[JRPizza]

If the mortar joint is projecting out beyond the edges of the bricks it should not hurt to hit those spots with a grinder. If your door is binding on brick you'll have to decide whether to grind on the bricks a little or scrap your door. I had my door stick after I removed my landing bricks to clean them in the oven. Had to vacuum out the area close and hand select bricks that were a little lower. Along those lines, if your door sits on your stainless channel is might be possible to lower it ever so slightly to relieve the pressure, depending on how it is attached and if it is removable.

[modified9v]

Thanks Jr. Yes, the stainless “C” channel is removable. It actually sits on 2 specially cut bricks that I’ve already trimmed once. I took them down so that the stainless was more or less flush with the landing and floor... I can shave them a little bit more and see what happens next time. Also there is a little bit of mortar protruding that I can carefully shave off with the angle grinder if needed. I’d rather not hit them with the grinder for fear of causing yet another crack.

Speaking of cracks, man... I’ve got a monster. I’m gonna take a picture of it and see what kinda of feedback on whether or not anything should be done about it. It’s getting bigger!!!

One last thing, I had some over-proofed dough balls left from the party. I took them out of the fridge and formed them into loaves... came out amazing. My wife wants me to make a batch just for bread... I will do that but tweak the recipe as I felt it was too salty for bread. Perfect crust and crumb... IMHO it’s better than my hearth bread. I doubled my sour dough starter ingredient amount and it’s got that perfect aroma.

[modified9v]

OK... here is the crack. It is getting bigger after every firing. This crack is wide enough that a quarter would fit in it. This crack runs the length of the joint between outer arch and the landing. It’s as if the weight of the arch is compressing the ceramic fiber board under it which, in turn, sheared the joint. The weight of the arch is so much greater than the weight of the landing. When I inspect all the joints of the outer arch I find no cracks at all... so it’s kinda like the leaning tower of Pisa (no pun intended).

Way back in my build the corner of the fiber board got wet because the tarp tore in the spot during a major storm.

I’m curious what what other builder would do, if anything with this crack. I was wanting to put a decorative tile on the face of the bricks of the landing... I wanted to extend that line of tile all the way to the bottom arch brick, but if I do I know that the grout line will crack over time as this crack gets bigger.

Thanks for your attention.

[deejayoh]

I had a crack in my arch after firing - it was in the top, not bottom - but it was pretty easy to just knock out the offending brick and remortar. Looks like you could easily do that here.

[JRPizza]

I did not mortar my landing bricks to my vent arch, but also built the vent upon my insulation board. I have sort of resigned myself to the fact I might have to repair the arch and hopefully it won't develop a structural crack. At least your crack does not look like it is any load path and is just a result of selective settling of the heavier arch relative to the lighter "floating" floor.

[modified9v]

I did not mortar my landing bricks to my vent arch, but also built the vent upon my insulation board. I have sort of resigned myself to the fact I might have to repair the arch and hopefully it won't develop a structural crack. At least your crack does not look like it is any load path and is just a result of selective settling of the heavier arch relative to the lighter "floating" floor.

I’m with you on this. I’m almost thinking that I could cut away the mortar on both side and clean up the mess... maybe stick some left over rope insulation between the arch and landing. Even with the large heat break between the floor and landing, that landing get really hot (probably from the heat in the arch. I suspect having the landing all mortared together that it wouldn’t go anywhere because of the mass. It is not mortared down, nor is the outer arch. Mainly thinking this because it’s ugly and people go “ew, look at that crack”. LOL

I could do like DeeJay suggests and re-mortar it, but I think this thing will continue to settle and crack again.

There are a few cracks inside the arch itself but they seem to seal up at full temp. Not worried about them... and the soot kinda hides them. It’s all good.

[deejayoh]

I might worry a bit based on where it is that the weight of the arch is pushing the side out and that's what causing the crack. Did you buttress the arch?

[modified9v]

I might worry a bit based on where it is that the weight of the arch is pushing the side out and that's what causing the crack. Did you buttress the arch?

No, I did not buttress the arch. When looking at it closely it appears that it is a vertical shear. Just to be sure I will take an accurate measurement of the diameter of the arch and compare it down the road as the crack worsens. I will say that there is no cracking in the flu arch at all that I can see. Man, what a mess it would be if it came crashing down. I’d be very sad.

[david s]

OHHHHH Nooooooo.... The door was stuck. Seems I don’t have enough clearance for my door. This was yesterday afternoon. Finally this morning it came loose. Oven temp is exactly 400f on the deck and dome.

I can see two spots on the door that are hitting on mortar joints... do you think it’s ok to take a grinder to the areas that are hitting the door or should I have a new door made a little smaller? I can’t grind on the door as it is thin gauge stainless.

You haven't made the door rebate big enough. I made a similar mistake with my first oven. Thinking it would be clever to make the timber door conical and then casting around it. It fitted perfectly but, when the oven cooled the door would be jammed tight. The shrinkage on cooling can be more than you'd think. Attack it with a grinder to make the rebate bigger or trim the door to make it smaller.

[modified9v]

david s I’d like to think the guy made my door too big vs.I made the rebate too small. :-)... none the less I took a grinder to the mortar joints where it was obviously hitting. When I pulled the door I was able to see the scratches left and it was from mortar that didn’t get cleaned off really well. Also, the opening has a slight taper that didn’t help. I was also able to get the stainless steel “U” channel to drop a bit and that will help too. Taking the grinder to the arch was nerve racking and putting that damn breathing filter on my face was a bummer.

We hare having probably ourl largest party yet this coming Thursday. The dough balls are fermenting nicely in the refrigerator. 5 day cold ferment. One thing I’m wanting to do differently this time is I’d like to move the fire to the left side of the oven instead of pushing it to the back... then working pizzas on the opposite side. Hoping it will be easier to manage the fire as the coals seem to get Packed Tight against the back of the dome... I think this way I will be able to keep the coals loose and able to get good air. We will see. Worst case is I will have to push it all the way back again.

Let’s hope the door slides out nicely the next day. I will post pics after the party.

[JRPizza]

Only once did I cook a pizza with the fire at the rear... After the first few minutes I wondered how the side I could not see was doing - it was nicely burnt black! My Wife is not a fan of burnt crust so that side was mine I learned not only can you not see what is happening on the far side, to add wood you have to reach over the cooking pie and hopefully not drop a log on it! I'm right handed so typically push the fire to the left and can keep an eye on the pie as I rotate it to keep it from burning.

[MarkJerling]

I always go left first with my fire, and cook to the right. Then, later, of course, I respread the coals and then I swap sides, pushing the fire to the right and cook to the left. On our largest pizza night to date with 40 pizzas that worked so well that I wondered how long one can keep going by swapping sides. But, no-one was hungry anymore so I did not get to test that! LOL