Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

[exceloven]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Dino,
1990 Opus! How long have been holding that bottle. Sooo jealous.

Mark

[larrya1049]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Wow great job Dino! I hope my oven turns out half as good as yours.
Larry

[Calabrese]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Hi Dino,
It looks like your a natural with that pizza peel The pizza looks great and the oven looks awsome. CONGRATULATIONS

Regards Joe

[bbell]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

I have that same 2X4 for shifting the fire to the side.

[mfiore]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

I've figured out my roof pitch and eave lengths so I'm ready to cut the vertical steel studs this weekend.

Dino, I'm trying to work out the dimensions of my enclosure so it looks proportional. What did you plan for the roof pitch? How high is your framing on the sides? When I work out a structure that looks proportinal to me, this oven ends up huge! Especially when I consider the chimney on top.

BTW - I'm pretty jealous of the 1990 Opus One. I'm sure it was drinking well.

[Modthyrth]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Gorgeous work, congratulations!

We just use a long (charred, slowly getting shorter) 2x4 to push the fire over to the side. I'd like to get or make an appropriate tool at some point, but the wood works quite well well for now.

[bbell]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

First pizza! That is cause to celebrate. I think i have Opus envy....

[Cypress]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

the oven looks good. what are you going to finish it in?

[egalecki]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Oh my. If my palate ever came near a wine like that it would go into shock.

I'm glad your first pizzas came out well. Incidentally, if you push your fire to the side instead of the back, you'll keep the floor hotter. I think pushing the fire to the back interferes with the heat recharge. You get used to doing it after a few times. I have a small fireplace shovel my husband bolted to a piece of metal conduit that I use to shove the fire over and scoop the little pieces with.

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

You aint kiddin Elizabeth, the dry lemon wood did burn hot but very clean. Who knew a pizza oven teaches you all these kinds of things.
Thanks for the pointers Drake, I ran out and got some fireplace sealant too, (the non-intumescent kind of course) filled the larger gaps while warm and open, skipped a firing to set it and was impressed that it kept the large gap sealed. The smaller hairlines I applied it to just split open because they were not big enough. I'm really happy to see my large crack stay sealed and "closed". I guess if the cracks big enough, you get enough of the fire sealant in there, it stays.

Had 1st pizza a few hours ago: Pizza Margarita with fresh heirloom tomatoes & fresh mozzarella, the 2nd pizza added meatballs we made a few months ago. Pizza crust was awesome! Caputo 00 flour rocks. Pizza's done in under 2 minutes. I new about the dome turning white at 800 deg but still was surprised. We celebrated our 1st pizzas with a 1990 Opus One. We deserved it. Dino

[egalecki]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Avocado and lemon wood sound fabulous! I use locust, which burns really hot, black walnut, which is sort of medium, and red oak. But then, it's free (if you don't count my husband's labor cutting it up on his dad's place).

I think the citrus wood will burn extremely hot, so be careful. I seem to remember a story RTFlorida told about thinking he was going to burn down the neighborhood once. I remember laughing so hard about it that I nearly disgraced myself...

[DrakeRemoray]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Looking Great Dino! I filled my cracks with some furnace cement:
Ace - Ace Tree: Heating & Cooling: Fireplaces & Stoves: Fireplace & Stove Repair: Gasket Cement: Rutland Hi-Temp Stove & Gasket Cement
as it has a little flex to it. I heated up the oven and applied while the cracks were open...

$100 for a cord of wood is a great deal.

You are ready for some fun now!

Drake

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Les, I did have a thin streak of soot (whispy) on the blanket after a 4 hour, 600 deg fire. I'm fine with that, I've got 3 boxes of FB Blanket, bailing wire and water-heater strap that will hold my blanket on. I'll wrap it this weekend.

BTW: My vent works like a champ. Never any smoke out the front. Cool, little, twin vortexes of ash on the oven landing spiraling up into the flue.

I was amazed this morning when I lifted the swath of blanket & the heat I felt, took a reading and it was still 140-160 deg in the oven after 12 hours. Can't wait to get the 3 blankets on it.

My partner's on his way to the Avocado fields in Moorpark this morning to buy a cord of mixed avocado & lemon wood, seasoned 2 years (supposedly) for $100.

I've figured out my roof pitch and eave lengths so I'm ready to cut the vertical steel studs this weekend. Lots to do. Thanks everyone, Dino

[Les]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

I don't have any pix of my cracks

I'd have Wilson work on that.

Dino, If you do see soot on the blanket, I still think you are good. The blanket is rated way higher then your fire is going to get to. I think the consensus is that if there is a crack, and you cover it with more mortar, it will just crack again. Mine were fairly small - didn't even check it for smoke. Threw the blanket on it and called it good.

Les...

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Dino's 42" Pizza Oven Starts

Thanks Elizabeth (and Les), that makes me feel better. You are right, my mortar joints are very tight in that area. So a crack shouldn't have a big effect. And those bricks still have 3 sides that are well attached and then there is the whole dome and soldier course surrounding the crack. Structurally, I'm not worried about it. It still seems really strong.

HERE'S THE PLAN: Today, 700 deg fire day, I'll put a 2' swath of FB Blanket over the crack on the outside, light my fire, go heavy on the smokey kindling to start and check the blanket after a couple of hours to see if there is any black smoke streak on it. If there is, (hope it's very, slight), I'll add a 1/2" of mortar cladding along that crack only, throw a wet towel on if for 2 days to make sure it dries slow and hard and be done with it.

It does seem that because of round shape of the dome and outward expansion, the outside cracks are always bigger than the inside, usually not even appearing on the inside. So my inside crack, though you see it, is probably not an issue for me. The brick corners it took with it, well, what can you do, I think it's still quite strong in that area.

That's it, done with crack, like Harry Potters scar, it just adds character.