Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

[lwood]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

I built a pond at my house in Santa Cruz, Ca. Great project with a biofalls, liner and lots of stones. Can't give you any resources in So Ca, but, once a year, they had a pond tour every year in Santa Cruz where you could see a lot of different ponds all at one time. We had a lot of fun building and landscaping ours. The one piece of advice would be... to get a good liner supplier who can show you how to handle the liner installation. There is no , masonry work with a liner, just dry stack Have fun!!

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Bill (bbell) I forgot how much my ovens turning out like yours (Mike's too). I just checked your pics out again and your oven is beautiful.

I like your door alot. I'm going to make a similar design and screw wood on it too (that matches my eaves). Is that high-heat cloth around the door? Is it there for cushioning as well as sealing? Is it glued on? Hey, thanks again

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Sorry Elizabeth, I'm the king of slow around here. I probably wont get to the SBC for 2 weeks so I'll be counting on your experience for my success .

Thanks for the nice comments everybody.

It's funny how many of my friends thought the oven was "done" when I had the cement board screwed on. They'll be really impressed when it's totally finished.

You guys make a good point: what to do after the wo-fo. I'll leave the surfing to you Eric. I've got a 40 sq ft koi/lilly pond I want rip out this summer and dig a bigger one, 3-4 times the size. I think with my new found experience of mortaring in stones into impossible places, I could maybe even build a decent waterfall feature. Someone else is doing a pond-liner water feature now...have to look up my subscribed threads. He's doing (same time as oven building) what I'd like to do. I could also sit around and eat pizza all weekend hmmm....

Thanks, Dino

[egalecki]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Wow, Dino, it's too pretty to use!

As soon as this weekend is over (humongous grad party for my oldest) I'm using the SBC to cover my oven and the places I had to repair. Let me know how it is to use....

[DaveW]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Looks Great Dino,
I can't imagine being "Finished" with the oven. I have done some fairly large scale indoor projects and not one of them is "Finished." But, I have confidence that you will actually finish it. Then what?
dave

[bbell]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Looking great! I do remember the jigsaw puzzle aspect of trying many different stones to see what fits best. You start naming them after awhile... And yes, all the remaining stones were relegated to the unseen rear of the oven.

Great work Dino and way to persevere.

Bill

[eprante]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Excellent work Dino, now your going to need to take up surfing or something to fill up your spare time. Great job!!!
Eric

[dbhansen]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Very nice, Dino!!

[mfiore]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Well done, Dino. I really like the stone, slate, and copper combination! (of course i'm partial!)

[SCChris]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Beautifully done and a real asset for the whole community!!

Congratulations

Sincerely

Chris

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

"Stonehaus" is nearly finished. I didn't have enough stones to do the entire back side so I did the sides and bottom and will us Surface Bonding Cement to fill it in. No one will go back there but me. I still need to grout bag all the joints which will "soften" the whole look of it. I grouted the few stones directly under the counter in this pic below so you can see what it will eventually look like.


2nd pic is the back. I only stoned the bottom half.


And the over all look from the front. Man...this stone work was tougher than the oven itself. Maybe I spent too much time trying a dozen pieces in every direction to find the right one for that spot. Anyway, it's almost done.


-Dino

[dsgreco]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Thanks for the info Dino. Your pics and advice are such a huge help.

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Thanks Elizabeth, I've taped put a piece of foil on the counter to protect it. here is a picture of it with a shrimp-pesto pizza and the rear one is a chicken tomato sauce pizza made with the left over smokey "beer can chix" we made 3 days ago. Man, when the oven is used 3 days in a row, it REALLY holds the temps well! Also, having the larger landing is great for keeping the pizza's warm while we ate them.

Doug, thanks for the compliment. Here is a pic of me with 1"-2" thick stone in 1 hand and the trowel in the other. I'm using a Type S mortar called "SpecMix" that is readily available in S. California for $6.50 a 95lb bag and it's great. You mix it to the right consistency with water, smear it on the back of the stones, place it, hold it for 30 seconds to 1 minute on the heavier stones and remove your hand. If it slips, it's too wet so you add more mix. They tell you to work from top to bottom so any mortar oozing out doesn't fall on your work below which you'd have to clean and possibly remove stone coloring before it's sealed.

PS, it was warm (and beautiful!) and I get almost as much mortar on me as the stones. Funny, it's the same way with pizza and flour , maybe it's my technique?

[egalecki]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Dino, it's looking spectacular.

Don't worry about abandoning your child to go fun places- this is one child that won't change as soon as you turn around. As long as it's protected, it's fine. We only go around once, you know, and they'll remember what came out of the oven a lot more than how long it took to finish.... (says the woman who's still at it... but I swear I'm almost done now!)

As far as the grease stain goes, well, that's a wfo badge of honor, isn't it?

[dsgreco]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Dino- That thing looks awesome. What do you use to attach the stone to the concrete block and what goes in between the stones, is the answer nothing?

Doug