42” Corner Build in the Shadow of Mount Nittany

[RandyJ]

Nice job. I am very excited to start cooking different things in the oven. And yes it cool down works great for seasoning cast iron pots and pans. On the firing side it also works great for removing all seasoning too. Ask me how I know...

Randy

[Giovanni Rossi]

A little follow up:
Did the first full firing of 2024 for Father's Day and made 10 pizze. Baked 4 loaves of Italian and 4 NY Deli Rye the next afternoon.

My thermometer reads the dome temp on the opposite side of the oven from where I keep my fire so the temp initially increases early in the timeline as the heat distributes through the dome.

I'm going to collect data for each firing and see how my changes impact the temp curve. Pizza then breads that need 500^oF are easy to manage. I'm interested developing a schedule to have other breads ready to bake as the temp drops without recharging the oven.

This was the first time using the insert after a full firing and I know I pushed the limit regarding combustion, but I wanted to see the impact of the insert on heat retention I'll need to replace the inside face and will probably hold off using it until the temp drops below 450 ^oF the next time. The boards were already charred and shrunk from the low firing I did to wake the oven up from its winter slumber. After 5 hours at over 500 ^oF the wood was quite toasty. It continued to snap crackle and pop for a few hours after it was pulled. You can see the progressive damage in photos 5 & 6.
The reason I'm working with wood is to keep things a little "old world". However, I do have CaSil and FOAMGLAS on the inside .

I am intrigued by rsandler 's use of Nomex for his door covering and may investigate that. Though my steel door has a gasket, the felt would allow me to close the small gap between the wood and arch around the insert that I need for expansion.

For those of you who have followed this build, the cost per pizza/loaf is now down to $92.15

Date	Time	Oven temp oF	Oven temp oC	Outside temp oF / oC	Activity
06-16-24	1700	650 (Floor)	343 (Floor)	80 / 27	Pizza
	2100	485	252	75 / 24	Placed steel door
06-17-24	0900	520	271	68 / 20	Added door insert
	1400	500	260	89 / 32	Removed insert
	1700	480	248	91 / 33	Baked bread
	1900	460	238	89 / 32	Baked bread
06-18-24	0800	380	193	73 / 23	Baked breakfast casserole
	1300	360	182	88 / 31
	2100	320	160	80 / 27
06-19-24	0900	275	135	78 / 26
	1600	250	121	88 / 31
	2200	235	113	80 / 27
06-20-24	0900	205	96	73 / 23
	1600	195	91	91 / 33

[RandyJ]

Giovanni Rossi congratulations on getting to under 100$ per pizza. That means you are using the oven a bunch. I have been kind of lax on keeping track of just how much I have been spending. I have been pulling money from my vacation holiday account from work. This way the finance committee doesn't see the true cost and isn't as worried about it. Plus this way it is all paid in cash and is not financed. My rough guess is that I will be around 8-9K maybe 10k with patio for the whole thing. Not to badmy guess is I would be looking at 40K plus to have this built for me. The last oven I stopped keeping track at 6k and just said that is what it cost. I would guess it was actually closer to 7k and that was 9 years ago and I didn't have to build a patio. So this time I am doing pretty good at keeping costs in line.

Randy

[UtahBeehiver]

Good looking breads. I have tried, without success, doing bread. I want to be like Sable Springs

[Giovanni Rossi]

Another indicator of the benefit of firing the oven during a heat wave... still 120^oF 7 days out!

Should be pretty easy to recharge it for pizza. It usually takes about an hour to get the dome bricks at the thermometer location to that temp from a cold start.