Another Minneapolis WFO

[david s]

The flue gallery’s purpose is simply to get the smoke out of the way. The oven would work perfectly without one, it is not used for cooking as your sketch suggests. If you build it that deep, working the oven will be really difficult. Have a good look through other builds to see how to make it far shallower.

[Sixto]

Thank you both, your concerns make sense, but I may have already "cemented" my fate about the depth when I placed the dome-arch about 30" back from the front edge of the slab. If I made the gallery the typical 14" deep in front of the dome-arch, I would still have about 16" of concrete slab in front of the gallery arch. I could remove the brickwork done so far and relocate it closer to the edge of slab, but I guess I'll see how it works as it is.

In retrospect it's weird how I dismissed all the prior thread discussions about a shallow gallery dimension as being related to space constraints that I could avoid by making a deeper base slab.... my original reason for making a deeper slab was to have a generous landing area in front of the gallery. I figured i could make it all work by getting tools with longer handles.

if a deep-reach to the dome-arch is a given, then making the gallery wider and taller makes even more sense to have as much maneuverability placing wood and moving pizzas around. I was originally, thinking about the look of the whole thing, but now I'm thinking the gallery needs to be wider and taller than typical just to get back some functionality lost due to the extra depth. I'll be stretching almost 6' to reach the back of the dome from the front edge of the slab. Oh well, maybe this will be a tough lesson learned...

Sixto - Minneapolis.

[Sixto]

Photo Update: As you can see from the first photo and the level, I've got bricks drooping all over the place. Especially where the dome meets the arch. I must have not noticed that the dome bricks were tilting down where they meet the arch, the lack of level all around will need to be addressed with mortar... I have been using the IT, but I think bricks are shifting slightly as I work around the dome... Maybe trying to move too fast?

Photo #2 - My workaround for the arch droop was to cut 4 brick wedges to get the dome up to the right height of the arch... at least most of the dome seems to have timed-out nicely with the top of the arch.

Photo #3 View of wedges from the back. I think I'm wearing out my saw blade... It's much slower cutting, though it still has about 1/2" of abrasive on the edge.


Now to mortar these and the first course above the arch! - I think I'm averaging about 2 or 3 courses per week, but I'm out there either cutting or mortaring every day! - It is slow-going indeed.

Sixto - Minneapolis.

[UtahBeehiver]

Yep the old dreaded droop can sneak up on you but you did a good job correcting the droop. Seeing a few joints lining up in pic 2, watch out for this.

[Sixto]

I noticed that too, hoping it ends up being primarily a visual oops and not so mich of a structural oops. I ended up with a couple of aligned vertical joints, even though I had carefully planned the brick sequence to avoid that... I neglected to account for a little bit of cumulative creep in the vertical mortar joints. Now it will be a permanent reminder of what happens when you think you have it figured-out and stop paying attention to each brick and each joint. Even when i strive for planned perfection, I continue to learn humbling lessons from these materials.

Ha! I just realized today is a year to the day from my first posting... and upon reading many of the early posts, I also realized how different its turning out from what I had originally planned. We all know the saying:about "the best laid plans...". This is definitely a learning process.

Sixto - Minneapolis.

[Sixto]

Progress Photos: today Nick and I mortared-in the first ring above the arch... feels good to have a complete circle... The droop is mostly fixed, and I'm not too far off the IT radius.all around!

[MarkJerling]

Looking good Sixto. Don't worry about the droop: No one will notice and it will work just fine.

[Gulf]

I'm wrestling with that question as I finish the dome. My oven may well be an example of how "thinking outside the box" can get me in trouble... I wish I had done it like you did with counter space on the side... The plan currently is to have the widest and tallest gallery I've seen (5" reveal) to give me room to lean into the gallery as I work the fire and pizzas... so the flue-gallery may be a brick vault with these interior dimensions: 27" wide, 16" tall (or taller) and 19" deep plus the slab below is another 8" deep. (27" from edge of slab to dome-arch, better than I thought previously) Quite a reach to the action in any case. I'm 6'-1", but not sure at all I will be happy with the contortions required to make this work... I may have to learn to cook with the fire at the back so I can reach and turn two pizzas closer to me, instead of my original plan of having the fire on the side.
oh well, live, learn, make mistakes, and maybe deal with that? Sounds like a motto I should adopt.
Sixto - Minneapolis

Hi Sixto,

I quoted you from Kvanbael 's thread (post #57) so as not to hijack. Your pretty close to the Queen's entry/gallery dimensions. Some over, some under.

Reveal 5" vs 3.5"
width 27" vs 27"
Height 16" vs 16.75
Depth 19" vs 21"
Shelf 8" vs 5"
Reach 27 vs 26"

I'm not harping for large entries. They are not for everybody. However, they are doable. I've been working one for about 12 years. It is great to have a large entry where dragging the live coals out can be used for grilling etc. But, pizza is only something that I do when I am heating the oven up to cook real food

[Sixto]

Hi Sixto..... I've been working one for about 12 years. It is great to have a large entry where dragging the live coals out can be used for grilling etc. But, pizza is only something that I do when I am heating the oven up to cook real food

Thanks for the link Gulf!, I had seen photos of your build before but was focused on the perlcrete and decorative concrete work, now that I see your entry, I feel better about what I'm doing, and it gives me a better sense of how the oven entrance can be large enough to work-in, and still look good!

By the way, do you have any photos of how you use the gallery space to grill?

Sixto - Minneapolis.

[Mr. Slowhand]

I'm not harping for large entries. They are not for everybody. However, they are doable. I've been working one for about 12 years. It is great to have a large entry where dragging the live coals out can be used for grilling etc. But, pizza is only something that I do when I am heating the oven up to cook real food

Great idea, I am just planning my entry, this will be a variable in my decision making, thanks!!!

[Mr. Slowhand]

Progress Photos: today Nick and I mortared-in the first ring above the arch... feels good to have a complete circle... The droop is mostly fixed, and I'm not too far off the IT radius.all around!

Looks good Sixto, with the finishing of my 42'', I see it is huge. I think a smaller one is much more usable. very good idea.
It is coming up nicely!

[Gulf]

If you search the forum for "tuscan grill" you will find many ideas of what most folks are doing. The large entry just allows for a larger grill (in my case, a DIY) that can be brought out into the entry.

My favorite for using live coals for grilling in the entry is explained here. Below is a pic that many long time members may be getting tired of seeing.

[Sixto]

If you search the forum for "tuscan grill" you will find many ideas of what most folks are doing...

Thanks, will do! Also love the photo of the coals pulled up to the front. I am currently building cardboard mock-ups of various flue gallery configurations... I'm realizing that my height is the cause of my problems.... my wife is 5'-6" tall and perfectly fine with the bottom of the outer arch located 20" above the floor. For me, anything below 26" will hit my forehead making me bend at the waist when I reach into the oven. (But the extra height makes the gallery look out-of-scale, so I am searching for the right compromise).
Photos below:
Sixto - Minneapolis

Arched gallery (16" above oven floor, approx 30" wide) up close and view from living room window...



Rectangular "Box" gallery (24" tall, 30" wide, 19 deep - 3 straight walls with a stainless hood above)



The sweat stain at the top of the cardboard arch is a mark left by my forehead. (it's been hot) The 24" height of the rectangular design clears my head since I'm leaning forward about 8" from the concrete edge. I like the vertical side walls, because I could eventually add an Argentinian style parrilla in the gallery to adjust the height of the items on the grill...

Of course my wife thinks the rectangle is too big, so I will try something in between next.

[Sixto]

30 BRICKS TO GO TO FINISH THE DOME!!! omg, if feels like this has taken For-e-ver!!! (Well, just a little over one month for the dome and arch.... but I still don't have a final design for the flue gallery)

Lucky find: my wife has a plaster mold for making platter shapes that is a shallow dome of just the right size (and radius!) to fit inside the top of the dome and support the last 30 bricks... I laid out a pattern, covered it in plastic wrap, and now to cut and make them all fit together! (the 4 shown have to be recut, since the bevels were for the previous course, plus I'll want to avoid stacking joints in the next course)

Sixto - Minneapolis.

[UtahBeehiver]

I tried laying the final courses being supported from the bottom but abandoned this method because you cannot clean the inside until the everything was mortared in place so I would of ended with too much mortart oozing through or not enough making mortar gaps. I just took my time and used notch sticks from the inside of the dome to set the last two courses so I could see what was happening,