Pizza History in the Hammer Continues

[Baza]

P3 Stoaker great to hear from you and THANK YOU for both the encouragement and offer to consider your build around the arch again - you've helped refocus my efforts again.
mongota you continue to offer support and encouragement - sometimes they are the very things that push you more than explanations about things you just might not understand!
Arch efforts begin tomorrow and I'm hoping they are successful!
I'll be sure to post whatever madness results from those exertions!

Take care everyone - I know some of you will be making PIZZA~~
Go RAPTORS!
Barry

[mongota]

Take care everyone - I know some of you will be making PIZZA~~
Go RAPTORS!
Barry

Ummm...go Celtics! I grew up in Massachusetts, lol
What a game.

[CapePizza]

Hello Barry. Thought I'd ask how your arch build went? I had remembered you saying you might tackle that this weekend. Went through your build posts. I admired your clean work space and clean build.

[Baza]

Hello Forno Friends!

Been a busy weekend and, despite the Raptor loss - it was a good run and a tight match!
mongota - hope you're happy with the result - Celtics are a tough team. Next round will be key!
CapePizza - thank you so much for the encouragement - the Arch is done!! (such as it is - but with a bit of doctoring it will look/function better - but don't we all!?)

The goal was to finish the arch and, if possible, tie in the 4 courses built so far on either side - so, the arch is built (sigh)
I fell into some challenges with angles and the like with the tapered inner arch - I don't have a jig (3 incarnations so far and with no ability to weld and not knowing where to get thick plastic/poly) - I need to prop up my brick with wedges and the like and it isn't as accurate as I'd like - so this ate up time!

Notwithstanding - the side of the arch brick cuts were done to follow both dome inner circumference both laterally and vertically - it was kinda cool to do!
For the most part, I'm happy with the arch and will likely go at it with my grinder to take out some of the mismatched cuts - it will be good
Despite some of the narly cuts, I think it will work out - MANY MANY thanks to all the wonderful builders here who helped with great support to at get it to this point

I found it really hard to use my IT for marking the outer bricks. Dry laying them and moving my IT to mark off was a totally confusing piece given I didn't know where to mark it - the IT is straight and the arch is curved - so where to mark on the outside side of the furthest brick AND how do you mark on top when the bottom of your IT is hitting the uncut brick and your pencil is extended almost 6" down from the outside diameter point on my IT to the brick!?!? Sigh - I tied a mason string, knotted it at the Inside and outside diameter and did my best (but even here the string bent around the outside of the furthest brick)

Ah well - seemed to work well enough to get around the arch and it is done as well as it will be - it was actually a FANTASTIC experience - it really feels like something special is happening!!
Barry

[Neil.B]

Well done Baz, looks great.

[Ope-dog]

Hey Baza... I echo Neil B's post.. it's looking great! I really appreciate you sharing your tapered arch trials with the group. I have been researching almost daily everyone's stories with the tapered arch. It's funny.. many people say one day it seems simple, then the next day it seems complicated. And I totally agree. But as I'm stuck on the road for another few weeks, I won't be able to get going on my build and see for myself. As I can't stop thinking about the issue, I went to the craft store and built a mock-oven in my hotel room. Obviously, cutting foam blocks is much easier than cutting fire brick (hehehe) but I was really curious to try and angles of the arch tie-in. (I built the arch on my mock-up with each course of dome "brick", placing in the TDC with the corresponding course. Seems most build the arch first and then marry the courses up to the corresponding brick..)

But what you described on your cuts makes perfect sense. My question in... now that your arch is complete, would you do it again the same way and tweak your cuts based off your learnings? I can't help but think that building the arch ahead of time takes away some of your "wiggle room" with your dome courses, as like you said, you're forced to make intricate cuts ahead of time.

I guess if all your math is correct, the cuts ahead of time are no issue. I don't know if I trust my math well enough for that. :-)

[mongota]

You did well!

Jigs? I found they helped for 95% of the cuts made in the project, but there are times you just have to use your Mach 3 Eyeball to mark a brick for a cut. I used my IT held next to the arch brick, then my eyeball, to locate the cut marks for my arch bricks. There are many different paths you can take to accomplish each task of the build, but just remember, all paths eventually lead to the plug brick being installed in the dome.

We try to build these to the nth degree of precision...because we all want beautiful builds. But in the end, the dome will cook. And in the end, the build WILL be beautiful.

That's what the mortar joints are for. Off by a degree here on a taper cut? Mortar will fill the gap.

I tried to do a "nice" build. And in the end I think I did. But I still had a few cosmetic yahoo moments pop up. I absorbed them and didn't let them discourage me from moving on. A structural yahoo? I'll fix that. But cosmetic?

Congrats on your progress.

[Baza]

Ope-dog - Ok - your model is AWESOME!! Is that wafer and chocolate?? Looks like the only oven on this forum EVER to be edible instead of providing edibles!! Very cool way to visualize your thinking. First, thank you for the kindness and support - truly means a great deal. Your question - would I do it again to build in a one-r ... I don't know yet. Honestly, I don't know if my efforts to tie in the courses already set and soon to be set into the existing arch will be tough or not - I think one can wiggle their arch brick to fit the course brick as much as one can wiggle the course brick to fit the existing arch. My logic was that the course brick cut to fit the existing arch will never be seen and can be cut from a 1/2 brick square - the arch bricks are very particular and I prefer creating a Frankenstein brick that won't be seen than an equally monstrous one that could be (or at least be part of an important structure in the build!).

mongota again - so grateful for the kind words of encouragement from such a master builder - you arch instructions with the coloured dots was open on my laptop as I went through the day! SO helpful (as you always are!). Kinda of a cool thought to think of all the cuts leading to that one plug brick - a good destination! Your philosophy of building and rolling with things and the "what the hell just happened there!?" is very welcome!!

Again - I think, if someone was to build again (do I hear groaning or chin rubbing thoughts?) a video of using the IT (or string) to do the Arch of one of these things then the tie in to the dome would be a true epiphany for builders trying to visualize the process! My son just finished film school - we just need a willing builder!

Take care friends - course tying to arch this weekend!
I'm excited!
Barry

[CapePizza]

Hello Barry. I wanted to tell you your arch looks great and that you must be so pleased to have that part of the project completed! I also wanted to echo your thought about there being an instructive video of sorts or a well illustrated tutorial on arch building and dome transitioning. From what I gather from other's experiences (including my own) this seems to be the most hair raising event when building a WFO.
Looking forward to seeing your progress!! Thanks for sharing your pics, and your experience.

[Ope-dog]

Hey Baza, I appreciate your words on my mock-up. It's actually little styrofoam blocks I found at the craft store. (Was thinking of just fiddling with sugar cubes..but this proved much easier and effective.) My mock-up was fun to play with while watching football over the weekend, and it actually failed in a few spots.. or.. succeeded.. in showing me where I went wrong, if that's how you choose to look at it. (I'd rather find out my mistakes now, for sure!) My model actually ended up with a tear drop dome as I built. Afterwards, I saw some great threads on this site about the teardrop effect and what causes it. I suspect this won't be an issue on your build as your arch seems to be in the right spot. (My mock-up arch was located a bit too far forward, I'm guessing..)

Instructive videos would be great. It's funny how everyone says the same thing.. the tapered inner-arch is daunting until you do it. And like you, I have also studied Mongota's colored dot pic multiple times. lol. I look forward to watching your build progress.. thanks again for sharing your learnings!

[danhem]

Ah well - seemed to work well enough to get around the arch and it is done as well as it will be - it was actually a FANTASTIC experience - it really feels like something special is happening!!
Barry

seemed to work well enough indeed. Great job on a really difficult concept to grasp. Defo the hardest part of the build I’d say, things should be plain sailing now until you get to the second most difficult concept....the flue gallery (as always some great examples on the forum).

neat job Baza, looking like a really clean build.

[Baza]

Hello Forno Friends!!

Looking at other builds and they are coming along great!! Well done everyone!

I'm feeling a bit under-pressure to complete this before it all gets too cold here in Hamilton! That said - it hasn't diminished my enjoyment at ALL and I'm feeling like things will move well to closure next weekend!
As a Principal of a High School - I'm now stuck to weekend building and evenings are shot with all the busyness and chaos of re-opening - so stalled quite a bit - but moving as best I can.

This weekend - solidified the unfinished courses into the arch (messy but tied in now)
Continued another course and tied that in to the taper - I see what folks mean about the taper helping the tie-in --- it works really good (I bet it works great for those who do it better than me!)
Things are getting steeper - needing the stakes to hold bricks in place - and seems to be working.

QUESTION: pulled arch template out and happy with result - some mortar bled through the joints and I need to smooth it - how do I do that? Course sandpaper comes to mind. Advice most welcome friends!
Barry

[RandyJ]

Looks like things are coming along nicely. What part of the country are you in? The cold arrives earlier in some places than others. Around my part of MN you are safe till mid October but all bets are off after that. I remember a Thanksgiving a few years back that was -7 F and we had like 28" of snow on Halloween in the early 90's.

[P3 Stoaker]

G'day Barry,
The build looks great, and progressing well. You may recall, I'm totally out for another 6 or so weeks, and certainly looking forward to getting into it again.
I haven't removed my inner arch form but when I do I expect it to be a little untidy. I expect area's to need re-pointing with mortar, and without seeing it, I hope to grind out a little of what's there so as to put a substantial amount of mortar in and hope it holds, without cracking etc. As for cleaning mortar off the bricks, your sand paper idea sounds worth a try, please let me know how it goes? And are you re-pointing the mortar?
I'd be interested in any comments/advice from any members regarding these 2 issues.
Kind Regards
Greg

[Neil.B]

Have a look for a flexible grinder disk for your angle grinder. I have one for my 4" grinder.
It does take of the shiny surface of the brick, but great for shaping and getting rid of mortar.
I know it's no use to you where you are but this is what I use with a rubber backing pad https://www.toolstation.com/semi-fle...kaAkq5EALw_wcB

Great progress well done.