42” Pompeii in San Felipe, MX

[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.

[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]

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.

[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

[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!

[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]

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]

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.

[david s]

Try agricultural suppliers, nursery suppliers or hydroponic suppliers.

[modified9v]

Thanks David S... where I’m at I’d have to travel 6 hours round trip to get it and answer a bunch of questions when I brought it across the border. Luckily I found enough scraps of the fiber board to make it happen... migh come up short when I go to make my door but I’ll cross that bridge down the road.

Mikie V.

[modified9v]

Sorry it’s taken me so long to get back to it. My flu turned into pneumonia and really put me down. Also had close friends here from Nicaragua for a month and of course they got the crud too. Everyone is better and our friends have left. Time to get back to it. I need to have this thing fully functional by mid March as we have a ton of company coming for the San Felipe 250 desert race at the end of March. We will have company from then all the way into May.

I do have a question that I may have asked before but haven’t gotten an answer to that I can find anyway. On the vent arch...

Should I mortar the base of the arch to the oven stand or should it “FLOAT” for expansion purposes? The reason I ask is that I was looking at my buddies arch, which is mortared directly to his stand, and several of his mortar joints are completely broken loose... it’s to the point that I would consider it hazardous. I was wondering if it was doing that because it wasn’t floating and the thermal expansion was just too much for the mortar.

Thanks for any help on this... Mikie V.

[modified9v]

OK... I decided to let the outer arch float on the ceramic board but I mortared the vent area floor to the bottom arch bricks. I put down a layer of aluminum foil to protect the ceramic fiberboard. I really like the way it looks. One of the reasons I mortared the floor bricks together was to give the arch some stability and it should make it easier to remove hot ashes after a fire.

The second picture is of the heat break “L” brick. The ceramic rope is 1/2” square and will be squeezed into the 3/8” opening. I will put two layers of the rope in slot and seal with high temp sealant. The distance is about an 1/8’ between the inner and outer arches. This will also get an injection of high temp sealant.

The third picture is of the stainless steel break between the two floors. I really like how this looks and think it should be pretty functional.

I have cut 4 identical arches to build the template and have also cut plywood to protect the vent floor area. The build is covered with a tarp as we are suppose to get some much needed rain here in the Baja Desert. Maybe I can get the forms built tomorrow as the afternoon looks good weather wise.

Thanks for following along,
Mikie V.

[Yokosuka dweller]

This is looking good - nice and clean work. I like the look of your heat break which acts as a transition into the dome chamber.

Incidentally I am at a similar stage as you, working on the flue area.

On mortaring bottom bricks of outer arch to floor vs. free-floating: I've seen people do it and others who didn't do it on this forum and I guess it's each-to-his own kinda choice at this stage. I am not decided yet whether I will mortar the outside arch arrangement to the floor or not. I will have a heat break in the floor and between inner arch/dome and second aft arch filled with gasket rope like yourself. If the arches outside are just floating will it be stable enough with all the top weight from upper flue and chimney - I guess that's my question..

[modified9v]

Yokosuka dweller, thank you for the kind words. I’ve been watching your build too and yes, we are right at the same points in our builds. I kind of lost interest in my oven build after I closed in the dome. Kinda got burnt out on the whole thing, but now we are (almost) cookin’.

Like you, I noticed every other build had a floating vent area so I was torn. I decided, in the end, to go the semi-floating strategy. My thinking is that if the vent structure is mortared to the floor it will give stability as I go up with the arch. If the mortar joint breaks at the vent floor during oven operation it won’t be a big deal and no one will see it. The goal was to keep the mortar joints in the arch itself intact. Also, I really don’t think the chimney will be that heavy.

Speaking of the chimney I am considering doing a casting up to the anchor plate. I know David S is big on that and I think it would be easier and actually less weight on the vent arch assembly. I have done very little research on the castable flue... looks like I have some searching to do.

Hopefully the rain will stop soon today so I can get back to it... Thanks!
Mikie V.

[modified9v]

Question: I’m seriously considering going with a cast vent area. Would it be better to cast this thing on the bench and then mortar it to the arches or cast it in place?

Thanks, Mikie V.