42” Pompeii in San Felipe, MX

[modified9v]

Well, today was “Moving Day”. Soooo tired of the walk of shame. I have one hell of a mess to clean up and that brick dust stains everything. I think I have it set up pretty well. I can step up onto the table the saw is on and quickly be on top of the done. I think this will be a major time saver. Shade is good after about 10am and the mornings have been cool enough lately.

Pretty satisfied with the mortar. Trying to keep everything moist and out of the sun is a challenge. The bug spray unit converted to brick spray unit works great! All in all another great day on the Baja....

Mikie V... is headed to the golf course.

[UtahBeehiver]

Tip, when fitting into the tapered arch. leave a brick or two adjacent to the fitted brick unmortared. Then you can dry fit easier.by sliding towards the dome to make measurements. Then you can always straight trim the adjacent brick to fit. Also, at the end to the day, mortar in a brick on the next course at the back of the dome to set over night. It will give you an anchor to start from the following day, especially when you get highers up in the courses.

46 Course 8 Finished with Anchor Block for 9 7.17.12.JPG

[modified9v]

Looks like the light bulb went on.

I think I said the light bulb FINALLY went on... come on, you at least thought it .

Today’s progress is illustrated below. Things went pretty smooth. Funny how one brick kinda sticks out in the day. Third picture, the little brick left of the arch on the 3rd chain. I’ll bet that thing took me 30 minutes to get it to fit when I mocked it this morning... well, it was the last in the chain and it was still too big. I was glad I had put some power out there and and the angle grinder handy. I mortared it up and drove it in. It took a lot of tapping to get it home. I really like the tight mortar joints. I was worried I might knock something loose but NOPE. Even with all the little cracks in the joints on the outside of the dome, I think I have the mortar consistency and the brick soaking times down for THIS climate. She is glued together! However, in the future I will try to be more gentle. I have a new found respect for the builders that went soooo tight with the amazing brick work. That custom cutting and fitting takes forever!

I did spend some time trying to clean up the bricks facing inward. I’ve tried a sponge (changing the water frequently), using a wire brush (copper and plastic both) and also tried not to get any mortar on them... ahahahaha. Yeah, none of it is really helping to get the residue out of the tiny nooks and crannies. But hey, it looks good when it’s wet. Looking forward to seeing what it looks like at 950 degree.

One last thing... please treat that angle grinder, with the diamond blade, with complete respect. It’s still dangerous as it’s slowing down. Hell, it’s dangerous when it’s not spinning. Please be careful. I know I will be in the future. Didn’t get cut bad, but it was a good wake up call!

Thanks for following and the help, Mikie V.

[UtahBeehiver]

Looks like the light bulb went on.

[modified9v]

OK... I was at it from sun up to sun down. All the arch bricks are cut... good, bad or indifferent. I think it came out pretty good. After placing them on the template and mocking up the subsequent chains 2 things became obvious. One, I will have to mock up each chain as it intersects the arch and round the most inward point with the angle grinder before mortaring it in. In a way I kinda like that as it should smooth out the flow of the exhaust gasses. Reminds me of porting and polishing cylinder heads on the race cars. Two, having a tapered arch is going to make this soooooo much easier. I’m glad I took the advice of members and went this way. As I go up the adjustments to arch bricks will decrease... not sure why, but it is what it is. I’m OK with it as it is really minimal.

So, how did I get here... going from a babbling idiot to finally “Making the Cut(s)”? First, I had to just go for it. I’ve heard “Analysis Paralysis” is real... yep, it is. I Had to come to grips with the fact that if I screwed up 8 bricks (half the arch, did one side first) it wouldn’t be the end of the world. I went back and read everything that everyone posted again and again... and again. I knew I was missing something. Several things needed to stick. First was “Working from the keystone down and side to side” was a big HELLO. I think Russell must have mentioned it 5 times... and it finally hit home. “If I can get the keystone cut, the rest should be easy”... and it was, sort of. One of the other things that really helped was “Tracing” the previously cut brick to the face of the next brick... then, finding the intersects, mark it and cut it. By the time I was 3/4 done I was marking and cutting each arch brick pretty quickly. Also, I did the left side first and it shows... you do get better at it as you go. Here’s another little gem. It was easy to trace the previously cut brick to the one you are preparing to cut... but you can’t cut them straight across. That is, after all, the point. The higher you are in the arch, the further the reach... as you drop down the arch, the reach gets shorter. It just seemed weird to me. If you look at the 3rd picture posted you can see how each brick is a bit different from the previous brick.

The pictures below... I made some notes in the pictures... hope they came out. 1st picture shows the how I’m trying to get everything back in line with the arch bricks I had previously mortared in... I will get it sorted out. Probably won’t look ugly when it’s done, but it will take some grinder time to get things right. I see a lot of grinder time in my future. 2nd pic illustrates some grinder work to blend in the new work with the old work. More of the same to follow I’m sure. 3rd, most of the arch bricks cut and in a row. 4th pic is of the indexing tool I attached to the IT.

Whew... a mouth full. If there is interest I have a few more pictures with explaination on how I made the cuts on the arch bricks... if there is no interest I will skip it. I don’t know if other builders struggled with this like I did, but if so, I have a few more pics that explain it pretty clearly.

Thanks everyone for following along and helping... I think for awhile anyway, it should go smoother. I will post pics of progress. G’nite all.....
Mikie V.

P.S. be careful with the angle grinder... the son of a gun is mean and will cut to the bone. ;-)...

[modified9v]

JR & Russell... thanks for helping me through this... I really do thank you. I will do the best I can.

Yes, the brick with all the writing on it is my keystone /CL... I will follow as you say, working from the CL down... I’m sure I will struggle along the way but if it was easy....

We were feeling the need for some pizza and a local business owner wanted me to test his sauce with my sour dough crust (he wants to put me to work... ahahahahaha ) So, I revived the starter and the following pics are the outcome. Only natural yeast, flour, water & salt... I can’t wait to up the hydration and put some heat on this culture.

These are the first pizzas out of our new, Mexican, oven.... This think has some balls!!!

Oven temp measured at the stone was 575f. Hydration at 61%. Cook time 5 1/2 minutes.

Pizza was very good, very good. Thank you,
Mikie V.

[JRPizza]

I could not open the link to one of my posts that Russell attached, but here are a couple of words and pics that might help.
I built my arch as I built up my dome, and did not cut arch bricks till I was ready to tie them into the dome. I did do what you did in your second picture of post #102 above, and that is placing a brick @TDC to make sure the arch is in the right location and subsequently that the arch form is set at the front of the arch to help with brick placement. The first attached pic shows the arch being built/cut as the dome rises. The second pic shows the TDC brick in it's uncut state - after I took the pic I pulled it out and cut the curve representing the inner surface and the upper slope for the corresponding dome brick to sit, then mortared it into place. I did not do any custom flow inducing shape on the inner curvature of my arch bricks and my oven seems to draw/burn/vent very well. I think what you have already mortared in will work fine as long as you can tie into them with your arch. I did quite a bit of custom cutting at my tie in and that is what the saw and mortar are for

[UtahBeehiver]

I am assuming this is the TDC. There is no problem cutting along the dotted line. Remember, each brick is different right and left of the TDC. So once the TDC is cut. Using the front view of the picture of the TDC, moving left down the arch. The front view of the TDC will now become the back side template of the next left arch brick. Then you mark the front side of the next left brick with the IT and brick like you did with the TDC. Just the opposite proceess with the arch bricks right of TDC. Bricks each side of TDC will not have right angle curs but rather skewed.

[modified9v]

First, my apologies for dragging this out and I’d like to voice my appreciation for your patience.

OK... attached is a photo of my keystone, obviously before cutting. The arc of the inside of the dome is drawn from the IT center point and the line on top of the keystone is the outside edge of where a “proposed” chain brick would lay. The angle cut is simply the length of the dome brick (4.5”)... I clamped an chain brick in the IT and swung it over to the keystone and I used that brick as a template to draw the line. The dotted line is where I’d like to make the cut instead of the actual inside dome arc. That is if no one sees a problem with that. My reason is that I believe it might make the exiting gasses flow out and into the vent more smoothly.

Is this it? If so, just continue with each brick first finding the inner arc of the dome and the subsequent topside cut where the proposed outside chain brick would intersect?

And, if the above is all good, can I simply cut them all and mortar the whole dang arc into place? If all this is true then I’m gonna have a heck of a time making it look good at the point I already have arch bricks mortared in.

Thank you for you time and again, my apologies!!!
Mikie V.

[modified9v]

Thanks Russell... So, it’s not to late to straighten this mess out?

[UtahBeehiver]

Attached is link from JR Pizza that may help you visualize. As I mentioned before, start at TDC and work down.

[modified9v]

Thanks SLS for the search tip... it works way better than the one on this forum. There is so much information to sift through and I’m just missing it.

I did make some progress this morning. The next arch bricks are in... they ain’t pretty and I’m sure I’m already off target (see pictures attached) but at least I have the mortar gaps still in line.

As you can see in the 1st pic I removed the arch form to clean up the inside of the arch. I just had to. I was very, very careful and it came out easy enough. This is probably the last time I will be able to remove it.

The 2nd & 4th picture illustrate my struggle with the taper. I’m still not getting it. I’ve gone back over everything that has been sent to me and I’m still scratching my head. I do not have it. At this point I ready to just cut each one to fit... hasn’t worked out too well yet, but maybe I’ll get there. In the end I’m sure it will stand and function. It’s just messin’ with me. Maybe I should make a short video explaining and showing why I don’t get it???? Thoughts on that???

Oh, and it looks like it’s time to move my cutting & work table out to the build... I’m wearing out my shoes walking back and forth now. Maybe later today. I think it’s time for a cocktail. I may be noon here, but it is 5 o’clock somewhere.

Anyway, thanks for lookin’ and the help,
Mikie V.

[slschoming]

It’s been a bit of a down afternoon here with the winds. I still have power (solar) and infrequent internet. Was, and still am, stressing about the cuts for the inner arch. I’ve had so much help, via email, private message and here but am still just struggling with it. My apologies. I’ve worn out the search button and yet I know the answer is right here.

I found that it's easier to search the forum by typing "site:community.fornobravo.com" followed by what you're searching for into Google instead of the forum search bar. For example, to search for "inner arch," type "site:community.fornobravo.com inner arch" into Google. The only results that come back will be from the forum, but I find that Google does a better job of searching by keyword.

[modified9v]

It’s been a bit of a down afternoon here with the winds. I still have power (solar) and infrequent internet. Was, and still am, stressing about the cuts for the inner arch. I’ve had so much help, via email, private message and here but am still just struggling with it. My apologies. I’ve worn out the search button and yet I know the answer is right here.These guys hangin’ around helping out... sheesh, this is gold.

In the meantime, as we near the Day of the Dead... and thinking about life here in San Felipe, I decided to give in for a minute and look at SKULLS... you know, those day of the dead skulls you see everywhere in Mexico? I want to incorporate one, like in the photo, into my outer arch keystone.... I know, we are a long way from there.

Anyway, been a great day and I’m happy that the mortar looks pretty good. I’m confident that it will hold (until I whack it).

[slschoming]

Most CaSi board will readily absorb water. This is one of the reasons elevating the boards off the hearth, ie foamglas, ceramic tiles, pavers, and placing weep holes in the hearth is suggested. Wet board will dry out eventually. Wet CaSi or AlSi (FB) is one of the most common issues with poor heat retention in ovens.

I am guessing that my CalSil board would absorb from the sides where I cut it and maybe the top is just coated with a waterproof membrane of some type.