FB Pompeii Oven Kit

[james]

Re: FB Pompeii Oven Kit

Hey pzachef,

Just trying to be funny. Cutting all those bricks does take a lot of time, but a number of builders have done it. There are some great ovens and some great threads on that topic.

I think doing all the research and planning is a lot of fun.
Enjoy!
James

[arriflex]

Re: FB Pompeii Oven Kit

Or for those of us who never get off our kiesters and actually make cuts, planning is ALL the fun!

What you need to find is a smaller brick company who would be willing to cast and fire the proper shape bricks. Forget all this cutting, just cast real firebrick in the correct shape. You could probably standardize on four or so shapes and leave some fun for the top courses.

Now that's a kit!

If I hadn't already acquired a pile of old 12x15 firebrick out of an old factory that used steam for their power source, I'd be looking real solid at this offering.

James, I'm going to be in your neck of the woods to do some abalone diving next month. I'd love to come see some of your goodies...

[dmun]

Re: FB Pompeii Oven Kit

What you need to find is a smaller brick company who would be willing to cast and fire the proper shape bricks.

Once, I think it was on this forum, we had a representative of a firebrick manufacturer stop by, and I asked if they could make just two custom parts, an arch for over the door, and a plug for the top, out of fired refractory clay. He claimed to have shown my sketches to their engineers who claimed that it couldn't be economically done.

Good luck with getting the dozen or so custom shapes you would need for your various rings made.

[mluttropp]

Re: FB Pompeii Oven Kit

I suspect a better solution to the brick problem would be to cast rings with the proper interior bevel. If you are going to cast a coustom part you might as well make is much easier to work with than individual bricks. You could even make them with a interlocking channel such as you find in precast concrete manhole rings. My guess is that this would still be cost prohibitive as the casting blank is likely to be rather expensive.

Just my two cents.

[Les]

Re: FB Pompeii Oven Kit

Back to the second post of this thread. I think the ticket is a water jet laser - they work 24/7. I looked into it when I needed some porcelain cut - I recall they were looking for around $150.00/hour. As soft as these bricks are, I would think you could cut an oven in a few hours - I need to google. I think the benefit would be dry stacking the oven saving time and a butt load of mortar.

Les...

[mluttropp]

Re: FB Pompeii Oven Kit

With the price of a good saw at $300 pluss it would seem to me that precut bricks that you know are correct at $400 or even $500 would be well worth the cost. Especialy if you factor in the savings in time and mortar.

[altamont]

Re: FB Pompeii Oven Kit

I had hoped to be building by now but lower-back issues have slowed things down.
WHEN I start to build I plan on incorporating Arch brick for my rings. Combinations of 9" Straights, #1 and #2 Arch brick are typically used for building arches - the brick are already tapered along one axis. I figure I would use a lot less mortar between rings and I would automatically get fairly uniform pitches, one ring to the next.
The one drawback is pricing for arch brick.
Perhaps if you could offer a choice of packages to users, a package of all straights, another with arch brick, to accomodate users. The advantage of using arch brick are not limited to simplifying the build - the brick being tapered would be "keyed" into place and not apt to slip over time...

[james]

Re: FB Pompeii Oven Kit

I think the tapered bricks are very cool -- and if you can find them locally at a reasonable price, they look great; particularly in the oven opening and vent opening arches. Nice and tight -- it reminds me of the term "factory edge in."

Our bricks for the Pompeii Oven Kit are high quality, high density, mass produced affairs. Think big quantity producer that we are piggy-backing on. We won't be able to do tapers -- but I do think our floor tiles are really cool. Fewer joints!
James

[Ken524]

Re: FB Pompeii Oven Kit

The really nice thing about the Pompeii kit is that it gives the builder the flexibility to build "quick and easy" with minimal cutting OR custom cut the bricks (might require a few extra bricks from a local brickyard).

[dmun]

Re: FB Pompeii Oven Kit

WHEN I start to build I plan on incorporating Arch brick for my rings. Combinations of 9" Straights, #1 and #2 Arch brick are typically used for building arches - the brick are already tapered along one axis. I figure I would use a lot less mortar between rings

Taper bricks are silly expensive compared to the low duty fireplace quality firebricks in the US. I wouldn't recommend them unless you got some bargain.
Interestingly, we've heard that they are not much more expensive in countries like the UK, where plain firebricks are really expensive.

[james]

Re: FB Pompeii Oven Kit

Here is the brochure for the Pompeii Oven Kit. I've made one change -- we have decided to include enough FB Blanket for 3" of dome insulation, and eliminate the need for any vermiculite or extra blankets. I also estimated the counts for the Pompeii90, the 36" oven. The FB mortar comes in 55lb bags, so it's a little tricky guessing how much we should provide.

Take a look and let me know what you think. We will be publishing it shortly, along with the final pricing.

See any typos? :-)
James

[dmun]

Re: FB Pompeii Oven Kit

Just a suggestion, instead of saying "almost everything you need" you should say "all the specialist materials that are difficult to source locally". The builder will still have to buy a mound of slab, base, and enclosure materials at the local home center.

[geisen]

Re: FB Pompeii Oven Kit

James
the only thing i can add is
WHERE WERE U SIX MONTHS AGO!!!!!!

If you price this right, no more running around for all those who follow us.

Great pkg.

regards
greg

[Ken524]

Re: FB Pompeii Oven Kit

I second what Dmun said. It's an awesome kit. If I had it to do over, there is NO QUESTION that I would order the kit.

[james]

Re: FB Pompeii Oven Kit

Thanks guys. Nice idea Dmun -- I will work that in. We're getting close to having the materials, so I will be placing a link on the main Pompeii Oven page on FB.com and put the two kits in the FB Store. That way more people will see it -- including people who haven't built their oven yet! :-)
James