Hortonville WI - Homebrew cast WFO over sand form

[arnesr]

Insulation application. I went with rockwool to save money. 3" around the side and 6" on top of the dome.


Chicken wire in place

[arnesr]

Forming my concrete countertop


Wanting a rounded edge, I used 2 1/2" PVC as a form. I screwed the pipe to a 2x4 and ran it down the middle with a table saw to create my form pieces


I mitered two of the corners to give me a more subtle edge.


Countertop mix: 1 part Portland cement, 2 parts sand, 1 part gravel chips with an ounce or so of fiberglass fibers. I was going to use pea gravel, but my local quarry did not stock pea gravel. Since I wasn't doing exposed aggregate I figured the chips would work just as well, and perhaps add strength with the jagged edges. For the color, I just tried to be consistent with each batch and used about a cup and a half for each batch. I used a 2 gallon pail to measure the other ingredients.

[arnesr]

Counter poured


Forms removed


My edges are not perfect and I have some bug holes to fill, but overall I am pleased with how it turned out. I will need to polish a bit yet and seal at some point.

[arnesr]

Smoke hole, removed insulation to prepare for sand mound.


The chute coming up through the hollow cores below was dammed up and filled with sand to create a mound around the smoke door opening. Here you can see a small part of the sand mound before I added a few more clumps of homebrew mix before I covered it up and smoothed it out.

[arnesr]

Adding a layer of vermiculte concrete mix. I made a rather crude curved trowel tool to help with the initial layup at the base.




Render done for this season. I will add a sand layer in the spring to smooth it out before painting to seal it up.

[arnesr]

The plan is to leave the chimney removable at least over this winter so the whole oven can be covered with a tarp.


Oven wrapped and covered with an electric blanket to cure. Cold weather is on the way.


Whew, that was close. 10/29 first accumulated snowfall of the season. That is about 3-4 weeks early from normal. Glad I have my oven this far and hopefully usable in week or so.

[Xene]

Hello! I have been reading about your build and find the information very helpful! I have built a traditional WFO using the Forno Bravo plans and documented the build here (I am sure it can be found under my name, but I can't figure out how) but my husband got the house and the WFO in the divorce. So now I'm needing to build another one on a tight budget and researching the castable WFO, yours in Wisconsin intrigues me because our weather is similar (Iowa) and was curious about how well yours is holding up so far this season?

Anyone else with similar extremes in weather that can offer suggestions or opinions, please feel free to message me, so as not to fill up this post with my needs, as I am looking to build an oven to fulfill my pizza cravings in a quick and efficient nature. I really don't have the means to do a full build again and need suggestions (links are terrific!) to the best methods out there. Thanks!

[wolfmoonex]

Hey arnesr

I am planning on using loose fill pumice for my floor insulation as well. Since you placed thermocouples in the oven. Can you please share how the pumice turned out as insulation material?