Idaho 36" Build

[AJH]

Working on the chimney buildup and may need to go get a shorter 1 or 2 foot section of chimney to make it easier on me. Should be starting the drying fires next week just in time for temps to get stupid here... Picture doesn't look clear, gonna be 101 on Sunday the 7th, then 104, 107, 110, and 108 on the following days......

I'll look into that carbon felt more and maybe make some adjustments.

[SableSprings]

On the bright side, air drying will be helping your curing process and when it's ready for cooking & baking, you won't need to use the oven inside. That was actually a selling point for my wife when I first pitched the idea of building a WFO.

Oven looks great and you're going to enjoy continuing to hear folks admire it & saying "Wow, you built this? It's awesome!" for a long time.

[UtahBeehiver]

FYI, Gulf and I have notice there is a certain smell (kinda ozoneish) when the carbon starts to burn off.

[rsandler]

On proofing boxes, I do individual dough balls in ZipLoc-brand disposible-ish Twist-N-Loc containers (the 2-cup size). Rubbermaid has a similar product, and there's now any number of knock-off's on Amazon; any of them will probably do, ZipLoc was just cheapest when I stocked up. Fits a 220-250g dough ball perfectly even when fully risen, easy to get balls in and out, takes up no more room in your fridge than necessary. You do want screw-top containers, not pop-top tupperware style, otherwise the expanding dough will constantly be popping the lids off in the fridge.

I use short handled wood peels for loading into the oven and cutting afterward, and like them a lot. I have several 12"x14" models from the Winco brand, plus a couple larger ones I made myself (though the smaller ones get the most use because they're way easier to use).

[AJH]

Finished the buildup for the chimney

[JRPizza]

Looks good. I like your stair steps over the arch - nice touch!

[AJH]

Well it was only 102 degrees yesterday, so what better way to spend the afternoon than cutting a hole in the metal roof, installing the chimney, and screwing/silicone the roof boot on top of the hot metal roof? I should have used my temp gun to see how hot the roof was before I climbed up there in shorts and tried to put my knees on it....
Next up is wrapping/wrestling the CF Blanket around it and starting the slow drying fires. Best thing to do is keep it at recommended temp for most of the day, right? Also, since the top of the dome will be hottest, is it better to keep that at the day's temp or better to let that get hotter and use the more middle of the dome wall as the temp reading spot?

Still debating if I want to add another 12" chimney section above the roof or not and how I should hide the ugly screws from the waterproof roof boot on the underside of the roof...

[UtahBeehiver]

Cat on a hot tin roof. I would start with a couple briquette fires before an open flame. This will get you around 200 F without any flame impingement and you can cook a dutch oven meal if you are so inclined. Remember, when you start with wood, that one extra log can easily spike the temp to high. If you see steam you are too hot and too fast. The turtle wins the race in curing. This is where we see builders get excited and over heat their ovens and leading to potential cracking.

[AJH]

Well, it was a balmy 108 yesterday and I decided that I might as well add to the heat with some fire. Started the first fire and kept it going for about 12 hours in the mid 200 degrees. It was smoking out the front pretty bad and just plain smokey in general. Thankfully it was 108 degrees out and everyone was inside with the windows shut I started without the insulation on since it was so hot out, I figured there wouldn't be a temperature gradient to worry about in the brick. Towards the evening when it was down into the low 90s, I put on a layer or two of CF blanket and bricked up the door for the night. It was at about 250 when I went to bed and when I woke up it was still 175 inside.

Today I bumped up the temp a bit and held in the mid 300s all day and the smoke was a little more manageable. I did notice some moisture on the plastic I wrapped over the CF blanket, so it's looking like it's working. The temperature stayed in the mid 300s without much effort, but when it started dropping I had to make a new fire since the bbq briquettes were pretty much spent. I had a few times where the bricks read over 400, but that was when the small chunks of wood were on fire. Dome blackened up pretty good with the fires today.

After keeping it in the 300s all day, I decided to try and cook some burgers and brats for dinner over the coals. Turned out great, but I made a greasy mess of my vent area Hopefully I can clean it off with one of the hotter fires later in the week.

Tomorrow will be a little higher yet and mostly wood fire. Need to figure out something good to cook for dinner at the 400-450 range... maybe lasagna

[UtahBeehiver]

Wet ovens are typically smoky while the water is being driven off. When you get the start using a full load of wood with lots of coals, pull them out over the grease spot and it self cleans the brick.

[AJH]

The last couple days of drying fires have been more difficult to maintain the temperature. I usually end up going 100-150 over with an active fire in the oven, but by the time it is down to embers I'm back within the range for the day and it holds for an hour or so before I have to light another fire. This morning I managed to clear half the dome by accident when I was supposed to be in the 600's for the day. With me holding the oven at temp for 12ish hours per day at each 100 degree step, I think most of the moisture has been driven out by now.

One thing that I did not account for is the bricks on the front of the vent area getting so hot. With a semi decent fire going, the bricks about a foot from my face were 175... I may need to wrap my brick work up with some insulation and tile to keep my face from getting heat-tanned while making pizza's...

[AJH]

Got the first round of pizzas cooked in the oven! It took a lot longer to heat up than I originally planned for, but it was probably because I would put some wood in and go putter around until it was down to embers then toss in a couple pieces of wood and forget about it for a while again... Pizza turned out ok. Floor was at about 700-750, dome was 850-ish. Dough was not ready and didn't stretch very well, first pizza got a little over done on the bottom. At the end of the night, I blocked up the doorway with some bricks to see how well it would hold heat. At the 36 hour mark it was at 350. With an insulating door, it should hold heat like a champ.

A couple problems that I'm seeing is on the chimney vent area. The opening above the door arch is about 10 inches wide by 4 inches deep. I tapered it to 7x7 over about a 12 inch rise before transitioning to the chimney pipe. The problem is how much heat is hitting me in the chest. I took a thermometer reading of my shirt after standing a couple feet away and my shirt was 200 degrees! Also, the bricks leading up to the chimney pipe were over 200 degrees on the outside, radiating heat into my face.

As much as it pains me to do it, I'm thinking that I'm going to have to take out the brickwork chimney and make the opening bigger to hopefully draw more heat up the chimney. I'm thinking that I'll tear it down, make the chimney vent opening like 15 inches wide by 8 or 9 inches deep, and then pour a cast chimney instead of reworking the bricks. Then I can insulate it with some blanket and perl-crete so that it doesn't radiate heat into my face.

Does your ovens let that much heat pass by the chimney? Should I just live with it? I don't want to do all the work to still have it blast me with heat and lose the pretty brickwork chimney...

[JRPizza]

If there isn't any smoke coming out the front of the oven I would think the chimney/vent size is fine. If it is venting properly, you are getting hit with radiant heat, which is proportional to the square of the distance between the oven and your body. Adding enough distance to your vent area to significantly lower the heat would likely make the oven hard to work with. Remember you are standing a few feet from an 800F heat source.
That is indeed a good looking chimney and it would be a shame to have to tear it down for a minimal gain.

[mongota]

The last couple days of drying fires have been more difficult to maintain the temperature.

Once you get the dome insulated it'll retain heat better.

[mongota]

Also, the bricks leading up to the chimney pipe were over 200 degrees on the outside, radiating heat into my face.

As much as it pains me to do it, I'm thinking that I'm going to have to take out the brickwork chimney and make the opening bigger...I'm thinking that I'll tear it down, make the chimney vent opening like 15 inches wide by 8 or 9 inches deep, and then pour a cast chimney instead of reworking the bricks. Then I can insulate it with some blanket and perl-crete so that it doesn't radiate heat into my face.

Does your ovens let that much heat pass by the chimney? Should I just live with it? I don't want to do all the work to still have it blast me with heat and lose the pretty brickwork chimney...

A more graduated flue opening with the larges square inch opening at the bottom and your flue pipe cross section being the smallest could help if you're having exhaust gas flow issues. It's logical to me that it would. But I'll let others with more experience chime in on that.

But flow might not be the problem, it may simply be that single thickness of chimney brick between the hot exhaust gasses and your face. Before demoing anything I'd even consider sliding a thick piece of rigid CF board insulation into the flue on the other side of those chimney bricks. Cut it slightly oversized and friction fit it in place. Shoot some temps on your next fire, then install it, shoot another set of temps, see if it changes things at all. Obviously that depends on your geometries and where the flue pipe lands.

Something like the photo below.

I'd hate to see you demo that work, it looks nice.

FYI, I can stand in front of my oven opening no problems. I can put my hand in the landing, it's warm/hot but bearable. If I put my hand past the dome opening, the delightful odor of burned arm hair is instantaneously released into the air.