Another UK oven project

[BrritSki]

Re: Another UK oven project

> Does everyone else worry like mad about every little bit of the project?

Of course ! Looking good though, and it's great to think things through...

Ciao Rog

[egalecki]

Re: Another UK oven project

> Does everyone else worry like mad about every little bit of the project?

Of course ! Looking good though, and it's great to think things through...

Ciao Rog

I had a lot of dreams, myself. Ones in which I would come out in the morning to work on it and it had fallen down overnight, or had somehow changed shape on me... And I'd wake myself up, too, figuring out how to accomplish something, like tying in to the arch or working out the stand design...

obsess much?

[aureole]

Re: Another UK oven project

I was telling my wife she should set up a pizza oven widow's forum - it sounds like the builders here are all quite similar, and most are lucky to have other halves that are good at talking them down and telling them not to fiddle with things.

Fifth course done this morning - got one third through, and it all fell in! Cleaned the bricks and made more mortar and fixed up the forms properly. Not sure why, but my 19" forms have come up completely short of the bricks. So I've shimmed them up to where the bricks are, and it looks like I'll have a 21" tall dome instead now! I'm also being a lot more careful with dome angles now - when I hit the last three courses it should be all or mostly formwork, so I get to worry about it falling down afterwards, but have less stress about it falling down during construction!

And, despite my best efforts, loads of matching seams have appeared in the oven. I think I took my eye off the ball this morning and didn't check for that.

[adman2u]

Re: Another UK oven project

My big worry was that I would end up with a 3000 pound piece of junk in my yard! My patio fireplace is 7 feet tall 6 feet wide and weighs close to 6000 pounds. Not the sort of projects you want to fail on! Masonary is for real men...

[aureole]

Re: Another UK oven project

Done up to the 8th course now - tomorrow the final course and the keystone. Even with 1/4 bricks, there will be more gap than brick so I'd better cut or chisel the shapes more or less okay. Rain tonight, too, so the cover is going on.

[aureole]

Re: Another UK oven project

I had a lot of dreams, myself. Ones in which I would come out in the morning to work on it and it had fallen down overnight, or had somehow changed shape on me...

Last night I couldn't sleep as I'd convinced myself I'd forgotten the fireclay in one of my batches of mortar yesterday. Not that there's anything I can do about it now (or even any way of telling if I'm right!).

[aureole]

Re: Another UK oven project

Aaaand: the keystone is in. Less worried about the fireclay thing now - as my wife pointed out, if it goes, there are a bunch of other bricks to hold it in, and the sand alone will probably be enough combined with the dome forces. And I probably imagining it anyway .

Feels great to tap in that keystone though.

[aureole]

Re: Another UK oven project

And next: the vent was cast last night. Now I'm actually a bit dubious whether the formwork is going to come out (without a fight!), but it's looking bloody solid.

In the end, I couldn't source any stainless needles and making a chickenwire reinforcing cage didn't really work at all well (kept catching on everything) so I've chanced it that 2" of concrete will be sufficient to hold everything together.

In all, it was 50kg of castable (so I've got enough to make 2 more vents should the need arise!). The castable is weird stuff - the best guide I could find for hydration is the "ball in hand" test: make a snowball out of it, and chuck it a foot in the air- if it breaks up when you catch it, it's too dry; if it slips through your fingers it's too wet. What they don't tell you is that this sweet spot is on a knife-edge - a cupful of water will change a bag from too dry to too wet!

It's looking pretty bloody solid anyway - I'll take a few pictures when I'm sweating and straining to get the forms off. Fingers crossed for no cracks!

[adman2u]

Re: Another UK oven project

I was looking at another UK project and noticed form boards for table. The easiest way to attach them (and the cheapest) is to drill a hole just bigger than a 16 penny nail. Insert a piece of wire used to attach rebar and then drive the nail in. The wire acts like a wedge. It is fast and easy to remove later with a claw hammer. Tapcons are blue concrete screws and they work really well too but cost more.

[aureole]

Re: Another UK oven project

Here's some more pictures of the vent in place. I also insulated - 2" of blanket plus another 2" or so of vermiculite. The vent actually came 3" short of the front arch, so I had to hastily improvise another row of firebricks above to make the gap. The front arch comes a good 3" below the vent, so I've got high hopes that it won't be smoking out the front at any rate.

Aside from the chicken wire having a complete mind of its own, it wasn't too bad. Making the vermicrete was easy once I tried the tip of mixing the cement/water first and tipping the stuff in. I ended up mixing it all (literally) by hand, which should be good practice for making dough! Unfortunately there seems to be a few lumps in the wire and the blanket so I've a hunchback oven at the moment, but I figure it'll all be sorted once it's rendered.

[aureole]

Re: Another UK oven project

Pro builder friend helped the final render: next weekend the final coat and a chimney!

[ross]

Re: Another UK oven project

Hi

Looking good

I put the coats of render on with rubber gloves and got it really smooth
found it impossible with a trowel.

Thanks for the advice on the render mix it worked a treat

[aureole]

Re: Another UK oven project

One of the key things with the rendering is patience and confidence - not something I have in spades and something that comes with experience. Knowing how long to leave the render to go off before trying to smooth it is pretty tough.

Oh, the other tip I found was to use a soft brush on the coat after it's gone off - you get a really smooth straight finish!

[aureole]

Re: Another UK oven project

Final render coat and chimney done! All over bar the curing now, great stuff. Pulled the forms and it's a bit messy inside. The inner mortar was quite soft and wet still, I guess that's the effect of the condensation that's been forming. I'm hoping it'll look a bit better after a few fires.

[ross]

Re: Another UK oven project

well played

looking really really good - Its massive itl take a forest to heat it..lol

Had mine at 850f last weekend out came the first pizza ....Frickin lovely

see -http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/photoplog/index.php?u=2084

Tell me how the curing etc goes....Im going to try the top down fire next
Although I didnt smoke the neighbours out to much