Shay's Pompeii Oven and Kitchen

[Lars]

Re: Shay's Pompeii Oven and Kitchen

Shay,
Heres a pic of the back of my oven...

I would build up your vent and flue before firing, but put a blanket around ( or somehow insulate the flue) before firing hard ( if it is masonry)

just my opinion.

L.

[blacknoir]

Re: Shay's Pompeii Oven and Kitchen

Awesome, let me know when you do.. that's exactly what i'm thinking of doing. 2 weeks and counting for my first pizza.. did you put a vent in before you started firing? I'm going to wait and do it after I've fired the dome.

[Lars]

Re: Shay's Pompeii Oven and Kitchen

Shay,
I'll be posting pics of my enclosure ( back and front) with just a scratch coat on the stucco over the dome, and brick in front. We fired it up for pizza tonight and, miracle of miracles... NO CRACKS!!!! Weird!

L.

[blacknoir]

Re: Shay's Pompeii Oven and Kitchen

Don't get me started Lars!

After talking to the wife I think I'm going to try brick trim and square rock veneer for the stand. Then for the dome I'm going to see what it looks like with just stucco on it and probably brick around the flue.

The big thing is that I'm doing a whole kitchen area, including a fireplace, and not just an oven so I'd like them to work together..

I've seen people selling leftovers of veneer on craigslist so I might start there. I saw someones oven once which had some really nice smooth bricks going into the oven.. I think they had a bullnose to them too.. the look was impressive and I'd like something like that for a ledge in front of the oven.

-Shay

[Lars]

Re: Shay's Pompeii Oven and Kitchen

Shay,
What kind of enclosure ( for the dome?)

L.

[blacknoir]

Re: Shay's Pompeii Oven and Kitchen

I'm thinking about it.. I'm not sure I like that much brick though.. I was thinking either brick arches and trim with stucco or stone veneer in between.. gotta think on it some more.

[Lars]

Re: Shay's Pompeii Oven and Kitchen

Hi Shay,
I know the feeling. I used a very simple ( 1/8 masonite) support for my arches. Right as I was getting the keystone in ( and everything was perfect) I made a quick gesture and my hand caught thin ( too long) board that I had wedged in under the flexible support. The support lifted my arch out and into pieces and, to boot, snapped in two!

When I put it back together, I used a rubber mallet to get that keystone in place... and the left side mortar broke loose and inched (very slightly) to the left. Oh well. It gives my oven 'character'

This all will be forgotten when you face the 'crack' phase.!!!!!

Oh. For your facade. Put a brick facade on your base as well!!!!

Lars.

[blacknoir]

Re: Shay's Pompeii Oven and Kitchen

Well, yesterday was not fun. I had my arch complete and had started on the vent area when I decided to quit for the day and start cleanup. I wanted to get the arch sponged off so I removed the forms. I noticed the left side was just a bit lower so I stupidly tried to nudge it and.. well.. a lot of swearing commenced when my arch crumbled down..

Sooo.. I picked up all the pieces, cleaned off the old mortar and started over. this time I left the arch untouched after completion... of course my last blade went flat right at the end when I had to re-cut my keystone.. another trip to the store.. but I think I like how it turned out this time more then last time so that's an up side.

Still have no idea how I'm going to surround the opening with red brick.. I think I made a mistake in having the opening be flush with the front of the hearth.. I need to come up with some solution for that... maybe I'll try and slide a sheet of metal under the FB board which protudes just enough to hold a brick in front.. ackk..

[blacknoir]

Re: Shay's Pompeii Oven and Kitchen

So today I did get the dome completed and I started on the entry/vent area. With all the posts about how quickly things are going I actually got antsy and decided to do a bit more tonight, thus the shot with the beer.. I'm going with a flared entry like Jim has, using his template. I hope to have the entry completed before the weekend. Saturday I'll probably be busy doing family stuff and Sunday I have to put together a new swingset for my soon to be 5yr old boy so the weekend is already gone.. Tomorrow it's supposed to rain so I might be left with just Friday to finish this up before i go back to work on Monday.. crossing my fingers that I can get to a point where I can let it sit for a week to dry before starting my firing..

[dmun]

Re: Shay's Pompeii Oven and Kitchen

I couldn't take it anymore and I climbed inside with my spatula and started scraping. It came pretty clean. I also scrubbed a bit with a scrub brush and that helped but it was difficult with the bits flying in my eyes..

A brick fragment makes an excellent abrasive surface for scraping off visible mortar within a couple of days. A week out: it's pretty much muriatic acid (which you don't want to use inside a closed dome) or accepting it as the charm of the homemade.

[blacknoir]

Re: Shay's Pompeii Oven and Kitchen

I couldn't take it anymore and I climbed inside with my spatula and started scraping. It came pretty clean. I also scrubbed a bit with a scrub brush and that helped but it was difficult with the bits flying in my eyes.. tight squeeze getting in there, I could only pry one arm in at a time.. but I also noticed I need to put some more mortar into some holes at the top so I'm glad I squeezed in there.. course now I have to do it again..

[bimbo]

Re: Shay's Pompeii Oven and Kitchen

Thanks Jim! I was able to put the 'wheel' on the tool today and finish most of the top. Only have the final keystone to make and place.. I'm going to let it set up for a couple hours before I finish it up.

The only downside I have now is that I neglected to sponge off the inside yesterday after I was done and now today I can't get the residue off. Will this burn off eventually? It's all pretty high up so the casual observer shouldn't see it but I will..

-Shay

Far out you don't muck around do you - I must be spending far too much time standing round drinking beer and scratching my head wondering what goes where next.

As for the residue are you talking about smears of mortar or just the light colouring after you have alrady wiped it down. If it is bigger bits of mortar then you should be able to scrape it off with a screwdriver/paintscraper as it will still be soft.

Cheers
James

[KraemerBAC]

Re: Shay's Pompeii Oven and Kitchen

Gottcha...

Thanks

[blacknoir]

Re: Shay's Pompeii Oven and Kitchen

Sorry Peter, I miss-typed. I got my fireclay from my local refractory source. The rest I got from Menards.

[KraemerBAC]

Re: Shay's Pompeii Oven and Kitchen

Shay,

Which box store did you get the fireclay at???

Peter