Pizza Bob's 42" Build

[plootsnot]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

Hey Bob,

Nice build! I could make you feel alot better if I posted a picture of the inside of my oven transition, but it would scare me to see it again. Don't sweat it when your oven is at temp and pizzas are rolling out into greedy hands you will be laughing.

Kurt

[pizza_bob]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

Thank you for all the compliments. I'm really not complaining - I was just "venting" because of how much time I wasted on putting thos two bricks in place. It really took me most of the afternoon!
Dino, I didn't think of grinding uneven edges - that would work great. I'll have to pick-up a cheap grinder - I think I have seen them for under $20.
Darius, I will invite anybody who wants to look in the oven just after the temps hit 900 degrees!
Joe, I almost didn't post pictures of this course. But I have been posting every course so why stop now. I wish I took pictures of the two bricks before mortaring them in. I basically used my hands as a fixture and the tile saw as a 5-axis grinder!
DB, I'm hoping it'll be a breeze too. I'm hoping I don't have to cut bricks into thirds if I keep tapering them. But that would probably make a lot of scrap/wasted bricks. Decisions...decisions....

~Bob

[jmhepworth]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

I can't believe anyone would complain about that transition. Mine is so ugly that I refuse to post pictures of it. (Fortunately, it's well hidden now, so no one can ever see it.) I really doubt that it can be any better than you just did it.

Joe

[dbhansen]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

Very nice transition, Bob! The rest of the dome is going to be a breeze.

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

You did great Bob. It's easy to be hard on yourself but your pictures don't lie. Your brickwork looks great. The little glob of mortar on the inside is fine and it helped keep your course round and avoid the teardrop. On my occasional (read: many) bricks that where higher than what they should be, I just took the angle grinder and VERY carefully took them down to match the bricks on either side. Like you said, you could also use less mortar and see it improve too.

[KINGRIUS]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

So, you are mortal and can cut a brick that isn't perfect. Well that makes me feel a little better about the 100's of imperfect cuts I ended up with before I closed my dome.

You can complain all you want, but your dome still looks perfect to me! And of course, I don't think you'll have critics sticking their heads in your oven trying to find imperfect brick cuts, they'll be too busy sticking delicious pizza in their (pizza)pie hole to care about the inside of the oven.

Keep up the good work, you're getting close!

Darius

[pizza_bob]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

I know it's not like putting in the dome keystone but getting past the last course that transitions to the arch is a HUGE milestone, for me anyways! The two #$%@!#&$# bricks from this course (the 6th course) that transitioned into the arch wasted my entire afternoon! And the end result is not perfect! I ended-up with a small "V"-pocket gap that I relunctantly filled with HeatStop 50. The other imperfection was a mismatch in the small brick that I cut to finish off this course. This left a small step on the inside of the dome that will never be noticed without these pictures. Also, the two #$%@!#&$# bricks that transitioned into the arch are slightly steeper angle than the rest of the course. The next course will need to lay a little flatter (less mortar) in this area. It seems like I stayed away from the dreaded tear-drop shape. If anything I might have to use 1/3 cut bricks for the next course in this area so I don't get a large gap where the two #$%@!#&$# bricks meet.
Oh, I also ended-up lining-up a mortar joint with one from the fifth course. I was moving so quickly on the "easy" bricks that I over-looked it.
Well I think I made it obvious as to how much of a pain in the *ss the two arch transition bricks were. I just hope they and the mortar stay in place...

[Lars]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

Hey Bob,
The pizza we make, basic hamburger, black olive, fresh tomato, onion, cheese... costs about $8. in groceries...

The mortar joints are SUPPOSED to be thin.

L.

[pizza_bob]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

Man, that's some nice brick work.

Kebwi,
Thanks! It takes me so long to cut and mortar a course in place but I'm usually happy with the end result. I'm quite certain I'm still gonna' get cracks. It seems so unavoidable...

Lars,
I am using the HeatStop 50. It's so nice to work with but expensive! I'm on my fourth 50lb bag and it's $50 a bag! It was in the low 30's here the other night - you are correct, that cold is a comin'!
I had a mason come out to quote a stone wall and steps for me this weekend. Of course I had to show him my pizza oven. He was impressed and his only comment was that he thought the mortar joints should be wider than the thin joints I have been busting my butt to get in there! He thinks as the oven heats up and cools down and expands and contracts the thicker mortar joints act as a "cushion" of sorts to allow the bricks to expand without cracking. I seem to think the HeatSop 50 sets-up harder than the bricks but I haven't done any testing to prove that.

Joe,
Your build looks great and you're cooking pizzas! I'm still buying pizza in New Haven! That's the most popular town for pizza in Connecticut. The pizza is good but expensive. We went out last night to a place called Bar - just Bar not The Bar. Their signature pizza is mashed potato and bacon - I'm not a fan of it but their other pizzas are great but pricey! A large mozzarella pizza with no toppings is $16.00. So if my oven ends up costing $3000 I would need to buy 187.5 of these pizzas to equal the cost of the oven. That's a lot of "dough'!


I cut the bricks for my next course. Now I need to find some time to mortar them in...

~Bob

[jmhepworth]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

You're work is so nice that I'm really hesitant to let anyone see pictures of mine. Nice job.

Joe

[Lars]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

Depends on what type of mortar you are using.

Try not to let a portland based mortar freeze within, say 48 hrs. of mixing it up.

It isn't really the most critical because the portland eventually fails in the heat anyway, but that cold weather is definitely coming your way! ( it's already here 22 degrees tonight)

If you have a touch an go situation, it might help to cover it with some insulating blanket and then leave a 100 watt lightbulb going inside. That would probably keep the temp in a great range for setting.

Lars.


ps. I see your weber grill in the background looking longingly at the new 'oven' project

[kebwi]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

Man, that's some nice brick work.

[pizza_bob]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

Here are a few pictures of the completed fifth row. The arch transition bricks did not come out as clean as all the previous ones did but they'll do. The cold weather is quickly approaching. Is there any concern of leaving uncured masonry exposed to temperatures below freezing? Someone please say yes so I will force myself to work on this thing for two weeks straight!
The next course should be challenging to figure out how to get by the arch. It appears as if I will have to notch the backside of two bricks to fit on the arch. Then after that it should be smooth sailing until the keystone! The keystone seems as elusive as the Golden Ark of the Covenant!

~Bob

[pizza_bob]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

It does look like you'll be doing some aggressive angle-ing in on the next couple of courses. And don't worry about a mortar gap nearing 1/2". I suspect (guilty ) when we say we never go over 1/4", we often end up with near 1/2" and we are fine. But do try to tapper the bottoms a bit even if it means having a "thinner" ring as viewed from the inside if that's what it takes to get the dome-over.

DIno,
It appears as if I was mistaken! I thought I was on a "crash course" with the dome and that it was going to be taller than the planned 19" so I dry stacked to find out. If I make the gap 1/4" - 3/8" wide in the back of the brick the dome will stay on target for 19" without tapering the bricks in a third direction. I just have to make sure I maintain this uniform gap for the remainder of the courses. The edges on the inside of the dome basically touch each other and then the gap gets wider as it approaches the outside of the dome. So to say a 3/8" inch gap is misleading. The gap starts off at zero and tapers back to 3/8". So the majority of the gap is less than much less than 3/8".
I plan on using 1/3 cut bricks as opposed to 1/2 cut soon - probably around the 8th or 9th course. I don't have my SolidWorks model configured like that but will probably change when the time comes.
Thanks again for your comments/help with this. And by the way your oven and slate roof are looking GREAT! I still don't know what I am doing for a roof. I plan on doing thin stone veneer on the outside and a pergola over the oven but not sure about the roof...

[pizza_bob]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

Cheater!!! I see there are others who have Autocad aswell. I don't know what I would have done without my cad.

Darius,
Thanks for the compliments. Your oven looks fine and once you start eating pizzas that were cooked in there you'll forget there is even a dome in there!

My SolidWorks CAD program is great! It allows me the opportunity to print out the ends of the compound tapered bricks as a 1:1 scaled template. I take this shape aand cut it out from the printer paper and then trace the shape onto the ends of a brick. Then I use clamps, scraps of wood and plastic shims to create a "fixture" to cut the compound angles. The wood on the sides gives me the angle which goes from back of brick to front of brick. Then the plastic shims (black in the picture) tilt the brick to give me the side tapers so I don't get the dreaded "V" gaps in the dome. This "fixture" is set-up so I only have to handle the brick once - cut the right side first then slide it over and cut the left side. It's really been working-out well. I don't think OSHA would approve of my "fixture" but who cares!
These are the bricks for the fifth course and ready and waiting to be mortared in...