Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Thanks Mark, I've been reading others post on the homebrew mortar mix and I don't know which way to go yet. Did you use the Portland Cement home mix or did you have access to Calcium Aluminate?

And thanks John for the Heat Stop source list. Litterally NONE of them within a 3 hours of me carries it. But they did show me how to directly get it from the manufacturer however it's twice what I will need yet is comprabable in price to Refmix.

The nice folks at the Forno Bravo Store are working on a solution for me so I think I'll cut my next row as tight as possible to reduce joints even more and see how much Refmix is left. Maybe completely cut and dry-fit my chimney anchor plate and then I'll work on the not-so-sexy stuff like fill the little vertical gaps in my block stand with cement where I interspersed the 8" cmu's.

We've had 3, very dry just under 100 degree days so the dome is drying out nicely . Thanks everyone, Dino

[mfiore]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Dino,
I offer no advice here. I've been silently following your build throughout and am excited to see it closing up. Looks great!

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Thanks Mike, hey you guys in MI are finally thawing out! 80 deg weather sounds like a pizza oven party weekend to me!
I ran out of the Refmix 3 bricks short of 9th row completion. Backorded for 2-3 weeks and I called 30 stores re: Heat stop to no avail. So, I bought the home brew mix last night, did a small test batch and mortared a few pieces to see what happens this morning. It is very strong, bonded well but still has moisture in it and you can rub a glob with your fingers and rough it up. Unlike Refmix, were a glob dries to hard glassy rock in a few hours. I guess the cement in it sand hold moisture and it has to "cure" a bit.
My plan is to hopefully do rows 10 and 11 and see if a plug will finish it or still another row. Wow, I'm so stoked!

The pics below show how a 2nd pair of eyes is good to find things you might have missed in the dome yourself. What a pain she was on this row!

[Modthyrth]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

How kind, you built a giant fishbowl just for her, clearly!

I, too, ended up using homebrew for the last few courses. I had to be a little more careful, but it definitely worked for me. If only I'd known I was going to run out and decide to be too cheap to buy another bag at the very end, I could have started with some homrebrew.

I used Thermal Ceramics brand refractory mortar. I don't know how widely available it is, but it was the only refractory mortar the local brickyard here could readily get for me. They could special order heatstop or refmix, but the cost would have been about twice the Thermal Ceramics. Just one more option for you.

[geisen]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Dino
It's really takes a special person to put all this time into building a house for your cat....

looks great, I am jealous. I am also backordered on the refmix, but still have a bag left. FB said i might see it mid may. Seems like a good time to switch to putting up the archs. More thinking required and less mortar should slow me down for a few weeks.

I can see your new thumbnails, but all you old photos, like mine, are gone. Checked from three different computers all with different firewalls and browsers. Houston (Les) we have a problem........

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Ya Nikki, I forgot to check on Thermal Ceramics. It doesn't matter now. I've used the home brew on row 10 and so far, I love it! Different from Refmix in many ways. It sticks really well but is harder to clean from the brick face. Yet it spreads great. Can't complain, actually just the opposite. I may have more to say on this subject after I've fired my dome a few times and can compare (if there is anything to compare about).

Greg: I know what you mean, it's sometimes good to slow down and do something else besides cutting brick wedges and mortaring a dome ring every spare minute. We're taking a break tomorrow and hitting wine country. I will however be mentally figuring out the vent transition and whipping out my camera to show perfect strangers my dome pictures.

Below is my row 10 with all home brew mortar. I thought I might as well get in there and see the dome from the inside. Touched up some holes, saw something to grind, got claustrophobic etc... all in all, a great day although wish I got rows 11-12 done & a keystone. Something to look forward to.

Thanks all, Dino

[mfiore]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Dino, are you a contortionist in your day job? You should get an award for spending the most time in the oven! I'm not a big guy, but I couldn't really do that more than once.

[christo]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Looking good Dino! Enjoy the wine country. I need to try one of those weekend goof off days!!!

I welded up a gate last week and hung it yesterday and rented a skid steer to level out/grade the area after the patio and oven were installed. Skid steers are fun- but I'm oh so sore today!

Today is drip irrigation for the Tomato and Basil plants.

Loved the pic with the cats head in the oven dome!

Christo

[exceloven]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Dino,
I'm glad the home brew is working well for you. I had no problem with it. Let us know about your trip to Napa. As we all know wine is a very important part of a pizza oven.
I think Les was ther last weekend. I might have missed his posts.
Have a great time!

Mark

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Mark, actually wine country for me has been Santa Barbara and Paso Robles lately. It's closer, a bit more $ reasonable and I get the Pinos and Rhone varietals I love within a 2-3 hour coastal drive. But after last weekends wine bill, I'm driving up to Russian River 'cuz it couldn't be that much more. Oh, you had a pic of your wine cellar on your thread once...it looks great! Mine is smaller but still has got 700 bottles or so. I've narrowed it down to about 6 bottles I want to drink to celebrate the pizza oven completion. Man it seems so far away.
Today I cut row 11 after work. Hardest row I've cut yet. It's almost vertical and a really tight diameter. I've learned a lot cutting the last 10 but this was challenging. After this it's a small diameter ring and a keystone then on to the vent. The best thing about being soooo slow is learing from everyone else on the forum as the move their way along in progress or competion.
Thanks, Dino

[Les]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

It's closer, a bit more $ reasonable and I get the Pinos and Rhone varietals I love within a 2-3 hour coastal drive. But after last weekends wine bill, I'm driving up to Russian River 'cuz it couldn't be that much more.

I wouldn't bet on that Dino - just came from there. Some of the small ones, they put up less than 100 cases of a particular wine. Its their passion, and they CHARGE for it. It's still a good time and one of the most beautiful places on this planet. We followed the Russian river for miles just to see it flow into the ocean (did that more times then I can count) Just to drive back again to more wineries. Enjoy your trip.

Les...

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Les, I'm so jealous. I love the drive to Bodega Bay. When the Oven is done, as God is my witness, there will be wine weekends in my future.

For now, there is only row 12 and a keystone. I finished row 11 today, short 1 last brick in that row that will need fancy cutting because there is a 1/3" difference in height around half of the diameter of the 11th row. My keystone will either have to be tilted or there will be a step in my next row on half of the diameter. Oh well, that's what I get for using the TLAR method ("That Looks About Right" method -thanks Roadkyng!) I promise to post the pics, warts-and-all of the interior of the dome.

I'm loving the "home brew" mortar (sticks really well on the vertical bricks) but I'm totally missing the Refmix which cleans up soooo much easier. With Refmix, I could probably just reach inside and clean it nicely but with home brew, I have to crawl in to brush it clean.

[egalecki]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

I used the TLAR method as well after I got above the entry arch. It was easy enough to see what the slope needed to be by that time.

Remember, this is not necessarily a "perfect work". This is an oven. Probably one of the coolest things I've ever done on my own... and not perfect by any stretch, but it cooks really well!

I don't remember the homebrew cleaning any different than the Heatstop, maybe I'll try the refmix on my next oven. I did have to crawl in on my back with a brass bristle brush for my final cleanup, though. Not the most fun thing ever. Wear goggles and a mask. It rains nasty stuff down on you and you can't get away from it!

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Elizabeth: Mike (mfiore) said it right: I spend more time in the oven than outside it. I don't know why the homemade mix is so nicely tacky for me. It also throws lots of white powdery dust that I'll try white vineager on when I plug up the dome (??? this weekend !!!). If that don't work, I'll reach in to sponge it off with a week acid mix through the opening. It worked for me on the arch walls. I learned the hard way about goggles in the oven.

Christo: how's the drip system on the basil and tomatoes? I need to MAKE time to work in the vegi garden. What good is pizza without fresh basil. I also let the old Basil plants die in the winter garden and pull the whole twiggy thing out and save it for summer smoking. Basil makes the absolute sweetest smoke in your smoker. The bottom half has thick enough stock for using as chips.

Cheers, Dino

[mluttropp]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

I have been wanting to build a WFO for a while now and your build and accompanying doucmentation has me thinking that I need to give it a go this summer.

I am not sure I will be able to construct one as beautiful as the one you have been working on, but I will give it a shot. Keep up the good work and the doucumentation it has already helped me.

matt