James' deck, fireplace and 36inch oven

[bimbo]

Re: James' deck, fireplace and 36inch oven

I finished the brickwork for the vent area on tuesday and am on holidays for a week so at the moment the oven is curing. I get back from holidays on sunday and that will be a week of curing so I will start the curing fires as soon as I get back. To say I am looking forward to getting a flame in there is an understatment - I will just have to keep my inner pyromaniac under control until it is fully cured.

Cheers
James

[bimbo]

Re: James' deck, fireplace and 36inch oven

I got home from holidays and went straight to the oven and pulled out the forms for the vent arches.

Monty my cat decided he would check it out - gonna have to check the oven each time before I fire it up.



I have been lighting fires everyday this week. I started on sunday with a 200-300F ish fire which I kept going for a few hours then let cool back to ambient temps overnight.
Was a bit exciting to see some fires in the oven after all this planning and building - even if it was tiny



Then Monday morning I fired it up again to about 300-350F then cool during the day and back up to 400-450F on monday afternoon.
Got home from work this afternoon and put one layer of 1inch ceramic blanket on the dome and then fired it up to about 500-550F.



I have had a crack in the arches since i first fired it up and it spreads slightly more each time the fire gets hotter and closes back to a hairline crack when cool. It opened up to about 2-3mm wide when I fired the oven to 500-550F.

The crack is in all 3 arches I think but only seems to open wide on the front one. When it started to open up a bit I gave the arch a bit of a shake and it ain't going anywhere - I was surprised how solid it actually felt.



Will the cracks eventually settle to a set size? or will it continue to open and close up with heat?

I am planning on leaving it for a few weeks until the oven is fully cured and then try to fill them with mortar to close the gap

[bimbo]

Re: James' deck, fireplace and 36inch oven

Just thought I would throw up some photos of the bits and pieces i got yesterday arvo. the inner and outer flue, decktight (seal) for the chimney to go through the roof and stainless steel cowl



Had to cut a 250mm (10inch) square hole in my brand new colourbond roof which was a bit unnerving - hope i got it in the right spot.



Also here is the wood holder what my wife bought me for our wedding aniversiry, also has some fire tools which hang on the side which will be great when i get the fireplace built



and a cool flame shot for good measure

[Rodneyf]

Re: James' deck, fireplace and 36inch oven

Looking good mate, now all you knead is some dough and some fillings and you are home. I am going to wait 3 weeks before I put smoe fire in mine it has been pretty wet in Sydney and the bricks are still holding a lot of water.
What sort of mortar did you use? I got mine from Field Furnace Refractories and the bags do not show where the mix came from as they use there own bags but the guy there said that it is good for joints up to 60mm. Lets see the pics of your first pizza soon.

[bimbo]

Re: James' deck, fireplace and 36inch oven

I used the homemade mortar mix. I am fortunate that the oven is being built under an existing roof which has ment that I can keep it dry when I need to.

I am planning on dong a roast on friday night for my birthday and have a few people coming round on saturday who are keen for pizzas so I will see how I go.
I still need to finish off the chimeny which will involve a bit of stainless sheet fabrication and also getting home from work with enough light to get up on the roof and fix the chimney in place and seal it well.

I am also picking up some stainless steel sheet and tube tomorrow to make a placing peel, turning peel, coal mover and a coal shovel.

Cheers
James

[Rodneyf]

Re: James' deck, fireplace and 36inch oven

Good luck and don't forget to take lots of pics. What type of thermometer are you using?

[humidorbanker]

Re: James' deck, fireplace and 36inch oven

James, I am also building a fireplace oven combination attached to my deck. I do not need the wood storage area, so I will replace it with a fireplace and a 42" oven. I am pouring the foundation this week. I enlarged the depth of the slab to 96" to assure I had room for the chimney at the back. Any suggestions or comments will gladly entertained. I worked as a banker for 34 years and have limited knowledge of masonry work. I retired March 31, 2009 and now have lots of time. Please respond with any and all suggestions or tips. Thanks

[bimbo]

Re: James' deck, fireplace and 36inch oven

Righto. I continued my curing fires and last Thursday I fired the oven up to a few hundred degrees C - can't remember exactly now. I had been up on the roof in the dark fixing the outer flue section in place and sealing around it so water doesn't leak through the roof. Was about 8:30pm when i realised I needed some dinner and thought I may as well use the oven seem as though it was hot. Grabbed a steak I had in the fridge which was about an inch thick and threw it on a tray with a bit of olive oil and some cracked pepper.
In the oven for a beer and a half (probably 15mins). came out fantastic.

On friday night I fired the oven up again for birthday roast and cleared the dome slightly where the flames where licking the top of the dome. Let it die down abit and then threw in a beef topside roast which had been marinating in garlic and rosmary. Was in there for about 1.5 hours and tasted amazing. It was a little less cooked in the centre than many people would eat but I was a bit scared of cooking too hot rather than too cool. I did take a bit of an each way bet and cooked the rest of the vegies in the gas oven just incase it all went horribly wrong we would still have something to eat for dinner .

Then the big birthday pizza party on saturday night. My goodnes it was a hit to say the least. I made the dough and dough balls on saturday morning and set them in the fridge all day. Finished making my pizza tools (placing peel, turing peel and a coal mover) by lunch time and after a bit of a tidy up we were ready to go. Also picked up a load of firewood - all ironbark and yellow box for $90 a cubic meter. Not sure how that compares to a cord of timber though.

started the fire at about 5pm and noticed that after about an hour the dome had cleared about 3/4 the way down the sides of the dome.
First pizza to come out of the oven was a garlic and parmasen and even I was surpried at how good it tasted. We had about 15 people round and made 12 pizzas all up. 3 each of garlic, neapolatana, grilled eggplant capsicum feta, and sweet chilly chicken rocket.

All went off without a hitch and eveyone is asking me when we are doing it again.

I know i'm not finished but i just wanted to thank everyone here on FB for all the help along the way.

anyway here are a few pics of the night.

[bimbo]

Re: James' deck, fireplace and 36inch oven

Here are a few more of the pizza party

[Mitchamus]

Re: James' deck, fireplace and 36inch oven

well done james!

those pizza's look great..
especially the one that looks like it has sweet potato/pumpkin on it!!

[Rodneyf]

Re: James' deck, fireplace and 36inch oven

Looking good mate, did you use the dough recipe from the ebook? You are just ahead of me with your build, I am hoping for a 18/8 pizza night. Keep the pics coming.

[bimbo]

Re: James' deck, fireplace and 36inch oven

I have been cooking pizza on pizza stones in the oven for a few years now. Actually thinking about it that it probably what got me started on pizza ovens. anyway in the search for a better pizza dough and better pizza I must have stumbled accross this site and have been using the dough recipe in the Pizza Stone e-book which i assume is the same for WFO but will have to download the other ebooks now.

I decided I would treat my wife to dinner last night and fired the oven up for some roast vegies. I was a bit worried about having the oven too hot to cook in but it was awsome. Chat potatos, pumpkin, sweet potato, beetroot from the vege pathc, and some sweet corn cooked with the skin on.

I am hoping to get the stainless steel vent and door done or at least started this weekend.

Cheers
James

[KraemerBAC]

Re: James' deck, fireplace and 36inch oven

James,

you are making me hungry...

Peter

[bimbo]

Re: James' deck, fireplace and 36inch oven

Me too, The wife asked me if I could fire it up again tonight to cook some baked vege's for her. She told me last night that even though I had told her, she never realised how versitile the oven would be. She thought that it would be great for pizzas but OK of other stuff. Now she realises that it is GREAT for alot of things and more importantly money well spent
I am planning on doing a few breads tomorrow night which I am about to go and start now. Doing a few Ciabatta and something in a loaf tin.

Cheers
James

[Rodneyf]

Re: James' deck, fireplace and 36inch oven

Slow down a little I need to catch up. I did a dry run of the chimney set up and took a pic with my phone so the quality is not so good but I am getting close. I need to learn from you about cooking bread so keep the info coming because I know squat about bread making and my wife has already decided that the WFO will be great for bread.