Bill's Northwest Pizza Oven

[Les]

Re: Bill's Northwest Pizza Oven

Bricks and sticks - that's awesome Bill. There are a lot of damn clever people on this forum

Les...

[bbell]

Re: Bill's Northwest Pizza Oven

Thanks Les

Rhymes with hicks!

[berryst]

Re: Bill's Northwest Pizza Oven

what is Ixl or I-xl that you refer to?
berryst

[bbell]

Re: Bill's Northwest Pizza Oven

what is Ixl or I-xl that you refer to?
berryst

I-XL is a masonry supplier that sells brick, mortar, etc. Here's their website:
I-XL Masonry | Home
This is the store location:
I-XL Masonry | Showrooms - Redmond, WA

They've been very helpful.

[bbell]

Re: Bill's Northwest Pizza Oven

Long weekends came just in time.

Finally got to the keystone this morning and that fulfilling feeling of lightly tapping it in. It seems I just started getting comfortable with the process and now the dome is done! Crawled inside to clean up as much as I could. If neighbors had seen me it probably looked like oven eats man.

I'm hoping to finish the vent arch tomorrow. At some point I need to decide how it's all going to be walled in and which material to use.

Should I put the FB blanket on now or wait till after it cures for awhile?

[Les]

Re: Bill's Northwest Pizza Oven

Very cool Bill! You might have the record for the smallest plug. I would think that the blanket would help with the cure. Myself, I wouldn't secure it quite yet. After I few fires you might want to take a look for cracks - then again, maybe not.

Les...

[exceloven]

Re: Bill's Northwest Pizza Oven

Congratulations Bill, We all know how great it feels to put that plug in. The dome looks fabulous. Keep up the good work.

Mark

[jrparks]

Re: Bill's Northwest Pizza Oven

Great job Bill! Your dome looks fantastic.

[bbell]

Re: Bill's Northwest Pizza Oven

Another sunny weekend day. Spent most of the time trying to make irrational cuts for the transition from sloped arch to level flue support. I don't think I've yet spent more time and cuts on so few placed bricks! I'm glad that's behind me.

The floor came out today as well and the bricks below were very clean (relative to everything else in a 10" radius...

The dome itself was finished a week ago. So I'm thinking that I might get to start the first cureing fire. I did fill a couple of thin spaces inside the dome today just to be sure. Does that, or the flue base work also require I wait another week?

Thanks for the suggestion of curing before blanketing. Has anyone found the easiest way to secure the blanket in place?

[Les]

Re: Bill's Northwest Pizza Oven

Does that, or the flue base work also require I wait another week?

The thinner the mortar - the faster the cure. I would think if you start w/ little heat and go up from there, you'll be fine.

Thanks for the suggestion of curing before blanketing. Has anyone found the easiest way to secure the blanket in place?

I dropped in 4 or 5 tap conns and ran bailing wire over the dome. Pretty easy to do and held the blanket well. I think I posted a picture of it in the gallery - not pretty, but it worked.

Les...

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Bill's Northwest Pizza Oven

Wow Bill, those are nice looking pics of the dome ceiling! Congratulations. Can't wait to see your arch and vent transitions. It' seems so far away for me be I'll be following your cure process. Oh, I better order my FB Blanket too. How many rolls did you buy? Will you leave it just the blanket or add vermic-conc? I want to do blanket only but so many do both.
Again, great work Dino

[bbell]

Re: Bill's Northwest Pizza Oven

Dino, thanks.

I was planning on using the two boxes of blanket only, with loose vermiculite on top.

[bbell]

Re: Bill's Northwest Pizza Oven

Thanks Les. When you say tap conns do you mean something you drilled into the hearth pad to secure the bailing wire to?

[Les]

Re: Bill's Northwest Pizza Oven

Yes -you can buy them at any hardware store.

Les...

[bbell]

Re: Bill's Northwest Pizza Oven

Had the joy of live flame inside the dome today. Very satisfying!

Bought plywood and hardibacker for the lower walls. It was suggested that I use the top half of the space below for storage rather than the low half. I went along and put a shelf inside and will sheet three sides when time allows. I'm not sure what the front entrance will be but we'll see when we get there. How's that for planning.