SC Chris's 42" WFO build

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: SC Chris's 42" WFO build

Chris, your dome interior looks awesome. As Lars says, you get to see your great work every time you fire up to pizza temps. Looking at all your brick work, it looks so good, I don't remember if you've done this kind of stuff before but I guess there's not a lot of construction that mimics building a Pompeii dome oven.

So, you've got the outer arch and vent transition to tackle now. It looks like you have a great opportunity to tie the front arch-shoulder bricks somehow into the vent-transition-angle bricks. Are you going smear on any "cladding" or wait to see what you have left over in mortar? I had plenty when I switched to home brew but the 1/4" I put on has worked fine for me and my firings (although I have nothing to compare it to).

Again, great job and congratulations on plugging up the dome! Nice keystone. -Dino

[Lars]

Re: SC Chris's 42" WFO build

Oh, gee. I wish I had been more careful and made that beautiful dome top like you did!

Imagine, every time I rationalized "who's going to look inside at the top of my oven???", had I only realized, that I, every time I fire it, and ANYONE I AM HAVING PIZZA WITH, will look up at that sloppy brickwork...EVERY TIME THE TOP GOES WHITE...

... but, it cooks, and the outside of my dome is usually cooler than the ambient air temp, so I know the heat is just jamming into those bricks.

Your dome looks fine, though. Good job.

[mfiore]

Re: SC Chris's 42" WFO build

Be proud of her, she looks great!

[SCChris]

Re: SC Chris's 42" WFO build

I do Mike, but I wanted to give her a full scrub and inspect for voids that need some quick attention. Oh what the heck..

Chris

[mfiore]

Re: SC Chris's 42" WFO build

Very cool keystone(s)! Do you have a shot from the inside?

[SCChris]

Re: SC Chris's 42" WFO build

It turned out to be one more course of 11 bricks and 3 in the cork!! Now for the front arch and chimney.. Oh yeh and clean and inspect the inside one more time..

Chris

[SCChris]

Re: SC Chris's 42" WFO build

Thanks 3G! I think there are better ones out there, or at a minimum builds that articulate the process better. I'm so looking forward to closing the dome. I referenced JCG31's slope and bevel chart, and my dome courses match almost exactly. Where I differ is that my floor is 43" so, in the end, I'll have one more course. At this point I have a 9" diameter on the inside and 10.25" on the top of the dome. I'm at 82 degrees or so right now. If my courses run as expected, they'll close the diameter from 9 to 5.5 to a 1.5 inch keystone.

I have 13 bricks in the last ring, I'm not sure if I'll run 8 in the next ring or 12. I'd like to keep the joints staggered and I'd rather end up with an odd number of bricks cradling the keystone. Somehow it seems like the load would be more distributed with an odd number. I'll be removing the indispensable tool after this next ring.. Thanks Hendo!

Chris

PS Thanks JCG31!

[3G_]

Re: SC Chris's 42" WFO build

Great looking dome, gives me something to aim towards.

[SCChris]

Re: SC Chris's 42" WFO build

One more course and the cork! Yahoo!!

Thanks for the complement Bandrasco. There have been courses where I felt that the rim looked a bit like a LP record that got a bit to much sun, but things like that seem to just clear up with a bit of fussing on the next course. As for the clean outside, I must have wiped each brick 10 or more times. As you get up a couple courses I'd see a hairline crack between bricks that the mortar in my hand was just right for and Id end up cleaning up again. The funny thing is that I know that it'll all be covered up in insulation soon, but what the heck I makes for a pretty picture..

Chris

[Bandrasco]

Re: SC Chris's 42" WFO build

Wow Chris, great job!

Nice workmanship, clean bricks, very nice. Man I miss the build process. I'm trying to convince friends of mine to build one just so I can help.

Keep up the good work and be sure to take a ton of pictures, you'll thank yourself later.

[SCChris]

Re: SC Chris's 42" WFO build

Thanks Dino, the complement is much appreciated.

It looks like I was a bit optimistic on the rows need to complete. After measuring the opening and doing the math, I have 4 courses to go and the cork. Maybe I can get these done in the next 2 weekends, my fingers are crossed..

On course 9, I cut the bricks at 3x3" 4"x5" and 4.5"x4.5". The 4" inch seems to be a good width but I just didn't have enough of them on this tier. On the next course I have an estimated 10 bricks to divide up. I'll sacrifice 1 inch on 3 of these to get 6 4" bricks and set the rest at 3" and 4.5", I still have 3 5"ers left over. These 5" are nice to bridge over a 3" brick. I did want to mention that the cuts from a previous course still fit in nicely. As mentioned elsewhere, “Mortar is your friend”.

Chris


Chris

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: SC Chris's 42" WFO build

Looks real good Chris. Your craftsmanship shows. Closing it up is a real exciting part. It is fun to look beyond ingredients and recipes for high-heat mortar and switch to cooking mode. It wont be long now. Keep up the great work. -Dino

[SCChris]

Re: SC Chris's 42" WFO build

62 Degrees and counting. 3 more courses and the cork.

Chris

[SCChris]

Re: SC Chris's 42" WFO build

Thanks guys,

With all of the logistics of the chimney, the housing structure, and the oven door, I still seem to be a bit congested. All of that said, I?m starting to pay more attention to bread flour, and braising recipes.


Chris

[christo]

Re: SC Chris's 42" WFO build

Nice! I can smell the pizza, too.

Christo