Pizza Bob's 42" Build

[DaveW]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

Complimenti Roberto!

We love your oven and can say from experience that you will really appreciate all of that counter space. We broke ground on ours one day before you started this thread and we have been following closely ever since. It's great to see your oven completed, even if we did beat you to the finish

Congrats,

Dave and Tiziana

[Tman1]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

Very nice.. looks like it fits into the setting well.

[pizza_bob]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

After two and half years in the making the oven is finally done! The veneered stones and granite counter tops need to be cleaned and sealed but for the most part this baby is done! The counter tops look like cement in these pictures but they are really a green granite. Again, not sure why they call it green because it's not really green. Once cleaned and sealed they'll maintain a "wet" appearance - until I start covering them with pizza sauce! I love the detail the mason put into the four stand-offs for the granite chimney cap! I just hope it keeps most of the water out.
I have a DuraTech 8" stainless steel cap if anyone is interested. I thought I was going to use that but then didn't like the way stainless looked with all this stone...

[pizza_bob]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

Thanks for the compliments guys! I wish the compliments were for MY work on the veneer - I'll pass the compliments on to the mason(s) when they come back to finish. It was too cold today and looks even colder the next two days. They are so close to finishing - just need two days over 40 degrees!

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

Bob, the ledgestone looks great. I like the way you've got them applying it with the mortar; very natural looking. Very old world looking. Colors are great too.
-Dino

[mfiore]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

Bob, the stone work looks great! I don't blame you for handing the project over to the masons. Sounds like you've got your hands full!

[C5dad]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

Bob-

The oven looks beautiful! Nice job on the stonework.

Chris

[pizza_bob]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

Thanks Gene! Yeah the two different ledgestones used on the oven seem to work well together. The retaining wall was all New England fieldstone which tended to have a lot of grey stones. We wanted some tans in there so the Old Country ledgestone had some of these mixed with its own greys. The green granite (I'm not sure why they call it green...I don't see much green ) seems to tie everything together.

Sorry to hear about all that snow. The snow seems to be to our south, west and north. We keep avoiding it somehow. The pizza oven gods are looking out for me!

~Bob

[ggoose]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

Looking great Bob; I like the contrast of the two type of stone...glad the weather is on your side - we have a foot of snow here
gene

[pizza_bob]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

See previous posting for details on these pictures...

[pizza_bob]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

It's late in the year in Connecticut for doing outdoor masonry but it looks like the oven will get stoned before the snow! As I mentioned in earlier posts, my two year oven building process has been handed over to a mason. I just didn't have the time to veneer the oven myself with a two year old child demanding my attention and a little sister for him that the "stork" will be delivering around January 8th!
The masons have been working on the oven and retaining walls for a couple weeks now and have made great progress. I tend to worry a little about temps dropping around and below freezing but he assures me that it's not a problem... They applied tar paper (moisture barrier) and wire lath around the Densglass enclosure and then a scratch coat was grooved to help retain the stone veneer. The retaining wall they built is New England field stone and the oven stone veneer is 150 square feet of New England ledgestone and 150 square feet of Old Country ledge stone. The border located at the beginning of the hipped roof angle is green granite. This green granite will also be the working shelf all across the front of the oven at hearth height. The green granite will also form a border around the top edge of the roof and be used for the large counter tops that will flank both sides of the oven. The counter top to the left forms an "L" shape and is 30 inches deep. The "L" shape lengths are 5 feet and 4 feet. The counter top on the right is 30 inches deep and 5 feet long. The finish on all counter tops is called a torch finish which is formed with water and a flame. It creates sort of a semi-rough "pebbled" type finish that is not polished but will be sealed. It's not too rough - definitely smooth enough to put a wine glass or beer on! All of the exposed edges of the granite have a rock edge that the mason formed with a chisel. We found the arch stones in the woods around the oven and the mason worked them to what I had envisioned for the past year! I just need to decide what to do for a chimney topper and this should be done soon! I will also eventually put wooden (teek) doors on the opening under the oven.

I'll post more pictures in the next thread...

~Bob

[pizza_bob]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

Gene,

it is NOT possible to cut 4.5" cut with the Harbor Freight 10" saw. I cut one side and then flipped the bricks over to complete the cut. The blade really seems to pick-up the initial cut and the brick cut face comes out much smoother than I anticipated. The Harbor Freight saw has been a godsend. I cut compound angles on all the dome bricks. My oven is a 42" diameter so there were quite a few cuts and I'm still on the first blade!

~Bob

[ggoose]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

Hi Bob,
Was just perusing your thread and I noticed what a fine job you did on your arches. I also saw what appeared to be a HF 10" wet saw in a few of the pics. Is that the saw you used to cut the faces of the arch bricks (the wide side)? Did you have to flip the bricks to cut all of the way through? I've asked this question on a few other threads just to see if its possible to face cut a 4.5" wide brick with a 10" wet saw.
Thanks,
gene

[tdibratt]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

Looks good. Can't wait to see that stone veneer on.

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

Eggplant pizza looks delicious. Your crusts have good color too.

Regarding shifting bricks: I wouldn't worry about it at all. I have 1/8" gaps too but I bet when its 700 deg, they are gone although I can't get close enough to it at that temp, oops, there go my eyebrows .

Chunks of ash will fill it after 3 or 4 fires and even if you vacuum it clean (when totally cold of course) it still compacts and wedges in there.

That brick with the tattered edges: I would think it's more likely a slightly malformed brick (at the factory) and it only took some heat or scrapping of a shovel to make the edge deteriorate. Again, having 30-40 bricks on my oven floor, I'm sure I may also have a "bad" brick somewhere that wasn't compressed and fired perfectly at the factory. I just don't see it. Unless it taters or deteriorates, I would also live with it and replace it only if I have to. I would not put something else over the floor.

Can't wait to see the stone veneer Bob! Good job, the ovens looking great, it's holding heat well and the food is looking good.

take care, Dino