Pizza History in the Hammer Continues

[Baza]

Ope-dog Hey! Thanks for the kind words - yes! Seems a great signature piece/opportunity for the plug to be something more! It really is a great feeling!
Not seeing any structural issues yet - and hope not too!!
There is more rain this fall (but not like NW USA! Eeesh!). I'm not worried about the dome as I can tarp that - I'm just worried given my CaSi board is exposed and I don't think I'll get the housing completed in time for the cold and snow!

We'll see - the next few weeks will determine if I wait or complete, though, in two weeks I'm spending the weekend at a neighbour's church felling 4 ash trees and getting the wood!! Won't be a build weekend but a resource build weekend - so may not get to where I want on the oven in favour of stocking up on the wood for it! Either way - ALL GOOD!

This fellow is ensuring pizza for life!

[Ope-dog]

Hey Baza, what a great looking dome!!!! It seems no matter how many pics people post.. every dome is always fun to look at and the brick patterns just become mesmerizing. It never gets old looking at the inside pics of a well-built dome!

You mentioned having to put things on hold before the winter weather sets in. I'm a bit worried as I am getting ready to start my build and the wet weather is now arriving. Have you seen any issues with your build in the last few weeks as the fall weather has arrived?

Great build and can't wait to see how you progress with the outer arch. I like your plug idea.. seems quite fitting to your build! I'm definitely on-board with a "unique" plug feature as so many have started doing.

[Baza]

Thanks everyone - you have all been so kind and supportive to get to this point!

Leaning on the group again here for the Arch.
I'm about to build my template and it will serve a flared opening from the dome entrance to the vent entrance - 20" wide entrance (22" with the reveal of 1" each side) to about 25" at vent mouth.
I noted most builds don't also flare the height of the vent outwards but keep the same height from oven opening to vent mouth - I assume that is to keep smoke from running out?

My question involves - mostly - the opening for the chimney in the vent assembly.
I have ordered an 8" round, double insulated Duravent 48" chimney assembly (the go to pre-made solution on this forum) - EESH! The Price!
Anyway ...

The flange bottom is apparently 12" square.
I like Mongo's solution with the 6 bricks and will consider that - but my real question lies in the SIZE OF THE OPENING In the vent assembly
What is yours (sounds like a personal question!?)

How big of an opening did you leave (both ways L & W) for such a route to the chimney diameter of 8"?

Thanks
Barry

[CapePizza]

Looks really great, Barry! A good feeling to get that plug installed! That interior shot is great. Congratulations!

[UtahBeehiver]

congrats on the plug

[mongota]

Fabulous!

There are things you want for your build from the start. Some of those wants carry through, some are forgotten, sometimes they get displaced and new ideas get implemented.

Your oven looks terrific! So much intention and attention went in to each step of the build. And it does seem that with every couple of courses of brick, there's something new to learn as you go higher towards the plug.

Congrats on the plug!

[Neil.B]

Fantastic news Barry, it's been exciting being on the journey with you.
Wait until you have your first fire and how proud you will feel. The soot covered bricks will give a different look and you will feel amazed again.

Well done mate, look forward to seeing you completely finish.

[Baza]

With the Dome done - I'm very excited - I know there are some running bond issues (noted above) but I think it closed better than I could have hoped - particularly with the last brick
I can't believe I did this - I really can't!! This is so awesome!
I know I still have a way to go - scrubbing, pointing and such - and with the weather impending - it looks like this thread will go into hibernation with the oven and the finish of the build will restart in Spring.

We'll see - but for now - I'm blown away with the experience.
Hope to finish the vent structure before packing it up ... but very happy to share here - my happiness with the build so far is a result of the collective support and guidance from all here!
And I'm so GRATEFUL!
Barry

[Baza]

CLOSED THE DOME TODAY!!!!
WOOOOOOOO!!!!

SO HAPPY!
The process was fascinating. After transferring the shape of the opening left from the last course, spent a few hours getting the shape just right - fit snug and back-filled with another brick and some left-over shims mortared and cut smooth for the top.
UtahBeehiver gave a terrific idea to carve something in the final brick ... I used a Dremel to carve out VV MCMLVII. As this has been a revival in honour of Pizza History in my town of Hamilton - I carved the initials of my partner's father - Valerio Visca (VV) who built the first Pizzeria in this town in 1957 (MCMLVII) - Valerio always uses Roman numerals so it seemed appropriate. This way, he will always be overseeing our cooking - a good talisman. History complete.

[Baza]

Hey Forno Friends!

Well the last few weeks have been very distracting - have to say though - the higher up (again) the slower the going ... After the last course - the next one I wasn't going to try with stilts and just used the raised table to the finish. I fiddled SO MUCH with the taper and angles and they just didn't work ... I needed a new plan. The longer lie posed some problems with the already-cut brick that didn't fit - so I puzzed and puzzed until my puzzler was sore - then I thought of something I hadn't before ...!

I laid them length wise, spread them into a star shape and cut joiners/small fillers to close the gaps. They wound up quite tight. I cut another round of them to beef up the brick content of the top and mortared it all in - very happy. I was not expecting this to work at first - but once I started putting the bricks in different orientations - it really helped see other possibilities! Phew.

[Baza]

Neil.B Thanks for the ideas around "the tap"! I tried and it helped a bit - however, still found the fumbling around at the vertical slope of these courses too much and reverted to the table and jack - as you know I wasn't happy with the first round of using it - but the next few rounds wound up going really well (except, again, for the lined up bonds in a couple of places - but I'm going to go with
SableSprings confidence that I may get some cracks - but not hurt structure) - what follows is what I feel was a success!

[Neil.B]

Try just gently tapping a couple of times, it causes suction. Do the same sideways too. It's much quicker than trying to prop them up.
If you watch bricklayers they tap or bounce their trowel that is full of mortar, this causes suction and stops the mortar sliding off, the same for bedding down the bricks.
For the next batch of mortar try scoping some up and turning your trowel sideways, the mortar might slide off. Do the same and tap the trowel on the mixing bowl or bounce a couple of times, then turn sideways, you should find it doesn't slide off because of suction.

[Baza]

Do you tap the bricks with a hammer when laying (down and side)?

Hey Neil - no, I haven't tapped anything in to place - my last brick I try to cut tight and mortar it such.
So far things are good - I think a combo of too-wet mortar and a slightly-off table top make the most of the slippage in the last row.
I'm dithering between Mike's sandbag approach and Mongo and Utah's stilts - slow but sure.
This weekend (Canadian Thanksgiving - hey we had to change the date to take the theft of your idea and make it seem like ours!) should solve the issue once and for all.

Then to the vent ...

[Neil.B]

Do you tap the bricks with a hammer when laying (down and side)?
I think I had one or two bricks slip for the whole build, as soon as it happened i started cutting grooves in the top and bottom for most bricks. Even the last row around the keystone wasn't supported.

[UtahBeehiver]

Gravity has a way of slowing the courses down. I started with the jack/plywood concept but ended up using sticks (slow) to hold bricks. It could not see what was happening inside the dome with the ply in the way or could not clean as went, or see internal joint alignment.. But if it works for you that is great. You are on the home stretch.