42” Pompeii in San Felipe, MX

[modified9v]

Thanks for commenting Yokosuka dweller. I like the tape idea. As far as perlite or vermiculite, I have been unsuccessful finding It locally. Not too worried about that part as my hope is that the area under the vent I hope to be as cool as possible.

Best of luck on your project... I checked it out and it’s coming right along. You will pass me up in no time at the pace you are on.

Thank You, Mikie V.

[Yokosuka dweller]

The heatbreak looks nice and matches well the overall clean work of the oven dome. I like it and am thinking of something similar (although not as wide) for my own heatbreak.

Probably it would be okay to pour normal concrete in the area which is missing the fiber board. But it will react differently than the area that's above the ceramic board, since it's not insulated. Alternatively, maybe get a few litres of perlite or vermiculite and pour a 5:1 mix of perlcrete (mixing 5 parts of perlite/vermiculite with 1 part of normal portland) to maintain an insulating layer in the vent area. I'm not sure about the red-guard option, but if the fiber board should stay away from water, then something like that or some tape might do if the cuts are even-ish. One other thing - keep in mind that the footer bricks of your flue (outer) arch should sit on concrete for maximum stability - flue and chimney are heavy.

I'm rather a noob in the oven building craft, so take my inputs as opinions and not advice.

[modified9v]

OK... back at it for the moment. I’m on the tail end of the flu bug and just couldn’t wait to cut my stainless threshold. The piece in the picture, if I decide to use it will be removable. I also have another piece that I can cut to fit if this one gets too ugly. Also, I’ll be able to make any repairs to the floor and it should make for a nice heat break. Thoughts? Do it, don’t do it. I kinda like it. It would look clean and give my door a nice place to sit. I plan to make the door out of stainless as well and it will be filled with excess ceramic fiber board left over. Speaking of the fiber board...

I don’t have enough leftover fiberboard to lay the outer arch/vent or to place the vent area floor on, so do you think it would be ok to form up and pour concrete up to the level of the existing ceramic fiber board? If so, I could either treat the fiberboard with Red Guard where the concrete would come in contact with the board that absolutely hates getting wet, as I’ve found out or use a removable barrier such as a super thin formable plywood.

Thoughts or ideas totally appreciated.
Mikie V.

[Yokosuka dweller]

I'm reading your posts with interest, as I am in the same process. So it is very helpful for me to see what others (s.a yourself) are doing to overcome certain challenges - including how to mortar in the top arch bricks, avoiding the 'dreaded droop' etc. Which btw, I wasn't able to avoid, so I guess in course 7 I'll have some interesting tailored cuts to do. Cheers!

[Chach]

Hey guy, just because people are not commenting doesn't mean Nobody is reading your posts. I for one have read almost all your posts and seen your progress. You also had over 2000 views of your thread. People are reading so I'm glad your going to continue.

Ricky

[modified9v]

Yeah, I think I will continue, thanks. I think it will be cool years from now to look back on it. I’m back in the States for Christmas and will be headed home this Sunday. I was able to pick up the Class B flue pipe, anchor plate and the top at a wood stove store. Dang, that stuff is expensive.

Hope to have the oven functional by the end of February.
Mikie V.

[slschoming]

I really don’t see any point on continuing this thread. There has been little interest from what I’ve seen. Anything anyone needs to know has been documented time and time again here... all you really have to do is SEARCH for it. No need to continue documenting. I’m pretty sure I can figure out the rest from those that came before me...

Again, thanks for the help... Mikie V.

I for one would still enjoy seeing some updates as you progress but I understand if you are too busy to continue your thread. Keep up the good work!

[modified9v]

Well, the keystone was set today. Whew... that was an event. My wife wanted to go Facebook live for the moment and man, was that ever a bust. The mortar was too thick and the winds were blowing 30 knots. We had to knock the keystone back out and clean up everything... remixed the mortar and did another index... bam. Took more force than I would have liked to get it in... but it’s in. It’s tight. Am I happy? No... but it is what it is. It is rock solid.

During the entire build I tried soooo hard not to line up the mortar joints but it happened. Really was a bummer. BUT, even though we will more than likely see cracking at the joints I’m very confident that the structure will not fall in on itself. All in all I can live with it. Man, this last little bit went quick... almost too quick to enjoy.

That said, I will cover it all up nice and tight until we start up again with the vent landing/outer arch in February.

Thanks to all the forum members before me that have helped along the way. My ignorance was surely a challenge to those that answered my lame questions. Anyone that this thread has helped... that’s cool. There is so much great info on the Forno Brave forum. Thanks to our hosts!!!

I really don’t see any point on continuing this thread. There has been little interest from what I’ve seen. Anything anyone needs to know has been documented time and time again here... all you really have to do is SEARCH for it. No need to continue documenting. I’m pretty sure I can figure out the rest from those that came before me...

Again, thanks for the help... Mikie V.

[modified9v]

Progress today: Finished chain #10 and set one for #11... i have #11 pre-cut.

I really like the first picture. The joins on #10 are nice and tight and it’s pretty round. Most of the bricks were 2” at the base.

Wanted to take the selfie while I still had some light coming in from above... that light will disappear real soon. I went back the 3rd bricks for #11 where I can. Not too bad on the horizontal gap and it should make it a little easier to do the course. Pretty fun stuff.

Still hoping to get an answer on whether or not to mortar the outer arch to the base.

Thanks for following along.
Mikie V.

[modified9v]

Skinny bricks! Bunch of work for sure.

[UtahBeehiver]

My last course before the plug the inner brick width was less than an 1" wide. See attached pic.

[modified9v]

Wow, I can’t believe it’s been over a month since my last post. It’s been almost that long since I’ve done any work on the oven. But, I’m back at it. 9th chain is complete and I got 2 bricks down on the 10th to work off of.

The 2nd picture is of a piece of stainless I was able to get that I will use for my heat break. The door will actually sit on it. I will put ceramic board or brick under it to place it at the correct height... the door should be flush with it when it is all said and done. The 1st picture is of the progress today.

In my previous post just before this one I asked about mortaring the outer arch to the oven base. The ceramic board will be cut out in the vent landing area and where the arch will be place. If you can, please check my previous post... I’d really appreciate the input.

As far as the 10th chain, my bricks are down to 2” wide and I’ve been really good about not lining up the vertical joints... I’m ok with this for now, but I really don’t want to make them any skinnier if you know what I mean... maybe I can go back to 3” after this and just live with the horizontal gaps between chains... Thoughts on that???

I have to say that the month off was good for me but it was hard to get going again. So much going on this time of year as we all know. I do have to take another break for travel at Christmas but I hope to have the dome closed in before that.

As always, thanks for checkin’ in and the input in of great value to me,
Mikie V.

[modified9v]

Thanks... I really appreciate you guys convincing me to do the tapered arch. As much of a pain in the butt it was I’m sure in the end it saved time vs not doing it... and a lot cleaner too. It should draft very well. I think it looks pretty cool and was satisfying to complete. Like you say, it should get easier from here. Just a bunch of cutting and mortaring until the dome is finished... not a lot of head scratching for a bit.

I am thinking about the vent area, outer arch and chimney thing. The plan has always been to have heat breaks between the floor (cooking surface) and dome and the inner arch to outer arch. Pictured is the square ceramic fiber braid I plan to use as a gasket material between the “L” cut section of brick and the inner arch. I want to tuck one rope in from the top of the “L” and two ropes in from the underside of the “L”. I will also use some of the rope between the oven floor and the landing. There will be a stainless steel “U” channel on top of the ceramic rope as part of the heat break. I wasn’t planning on insulating the landing floor or the outer arch. The plan has been to cut out the ceramic fiber board flush with the outer edge of the inner arch... that would be the termination of the oven floor area and the beginning of vent floor area (no insulation under the vent floor. Also wanted to mention that I’m planning for a 2” reveal so I will have a nice sized vent floor area and plenty of space to work a door.

My question here is, well, does this sound okay... and if so when I start this outer arch should I mortar it directly to the oven stand (slab) or leave it to float (unmortared). Also, I will need to build up the vent floor area to a point where my tile for the vent floor will be level with the oven floor. I guess I could form up and pour it with concrete to the desired height pre-tile? Thoughts?

Going to be taking a little break for a bit as the busy season is here for us. We have friends visiting from the States and then we travel north to visit our daughter in Arizona. Going to spend the day cleaning up the build site.

Thanks again for all the help and for those that have followed along so far. Without the help there is no way this thing would be coming along this nicely.

Mikie V.

[UtahBeehiver]

Nice job clearing the arch. Looks good, it gets easier now.

[modified9v]

Well, I made it over. This really feels like a major accomplishment but I know there is a lot of work ahead.

It’s not the cleanest and it is a little lumpy... ehhhh, we can clean it up.. but you get the idea,

Mikie V.