Pizza Bob's 42" Build

[fxpose]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

Very nice Bob! Is that the M31 galaxy that is visible through the dome opening? Nice shot, btw...

[pizza_bob]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

I completed my final course before the keystone today! The final shape of the opening is slightly "egg-shaped" but not too bad. The dome will end up being 19 1/2" tall. The keystone will be two bricks mortared on top of each other. There will be 10 flats or facets on the keystone which I traced onto a piece of paper today. I am so looking forward to dropping the keystone in tomorrow! It's been a long time coming for me...

[pizza_bob]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

Dave W,
Thanks! I'll replace the skyshots with pictures of pizza and loaves of bread!

Fxpose,
Thanks! I think I'm gonna' go with another course. I'll probably use 1/3 bricks because the gaps between courses are getting a little too large for my liking...

jbarker,
I'm not exactly sure what you mean. I'm still building the oven and will be placing the keystone any time now.

John K.,
Thanks! You are correct - "one more course" will not hurt - too much.

Tfasz,
Thanks!

Dbhansen,
Thanks!

I should be back on the oven this weekend and hopefully cap it off! I have been looking at flues:

Superior Clay Flue Liners


Would it be crazy to go with an 8.5" x 18" (outside dimensions) clay flue. This is one of the standard/available sizes but it seems SO BIG! The effective area of this flue is 102 square inches (inside dimensions). This would be equivalant to a round flue that has an inside diameter of approximately 11.4". I have read in a few posts and other websites that the flue opening effective area should equal to 10% of the area of the opening to the oven. My oven opening area is approximately 216 square inches. 10% of this area is 21.6 square inches which would approximately equal a 5.250" diameter pipe. I definitely plan on using a rectangular flue but I include the diameter equivalants for feedback from people who have used a round flue.

Thanks again for all the help you guys have provided!

Regards,
Bob

[dbhansen]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

Beautiful dome, Bob! Go for the small keystone.

[tfasz]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

Nice work Bob - your dome looks great. I would also go with one more row before closing in your keystone.

And congrats on the 2nd on the way!

[John K]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

Any tips for the keystone?? Should I make it from multiple pieces stacked on each other or keep building courses until the keystone can be one multi-faceted brick?~Bob

Hi Bob

Great job your nearly there!! If you can get another row in why not, you have already done about 12 so 1 more wont hurt. (that's what I told myself anyway lol). Either way it will do the same job.

Good luck and keep those pics coming.

cheers

[jbarker@smarthealth.com]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

Bob,

I have not seen the final results for the oven. Do you have any updated pictures?

[fxpose]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

Any tips for the keystone?? Should I make it from multiple pieces stacked on each other or keep building courses until the keystone can be one multi-faceted brick?

I was lazy so I used 3 larger chuncks to form the keystone and I thought it came out pretty decent. Otherwise, your dome is looking really nice. And that's a pretty sight looking up through the hole into the open sky...

George

[DaveW]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

Congratulations on the coming bundle of joy! I'm gonna miss those sky shots when you close up the dome.
Dave

[pizza_bob]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

Ahhhh Father's Day! My lovely wife and son allowed me to work on the pizza oven for most of the day as my gift! My wife is 11 weeks pregnant with our second child so I really need to get this oven wrapped-up!
I cut and mortared the tenth course today. It looks as if I'll have one more course to go and then the elusive keystone!!! This tenth course came out okay. I didn't notice the first brick I placed was slightly longer than the rest and I was too lazy to remove it and start over. The brick is only longer on the outside of the dome and will be covered soon! The next course might have to be smaller bricks because there are two spots, as you can see in the pictures below, that are creating too large of a joint between this course and the previous course. I still haven't used any forms!!! The HeatStop 50 is SO NICE to work with!! You hold the brick there for one minute and presto - doesn't move! The bricks were soaked before I cut them and then not too wet by the time I mortarted them in place. It seemed to work-out so well on this course. I really thought a form would be required at this point!

Any tips for the keystone?? Should I make it from multiple pieces stacked on each other or keep building courses until the keystone can be one multi-faceted brick?

~Bob

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

Is the cladding a must?

No Bob, cladding is definitely NOT needed. I just assumed you would. I would just put it along your 1-2 joints (outside) that have the minor crack showing on the inside. Cladding in my opinion is not needed, and the danger is it's hard to apply at 1/4" and easy to overdo which just cost more money in mortar, time and more wood to load the oven (unless you want more mass). But, it makes me feel better 'cuz it "smoothes" and evens the look of my ugly dome exterior even though it gets covered in insulation.

Greg: I know of at least 2 others that cut the 8x13 clay pipe diagonally in half, flipped and re-mortared to create a constricted flu vent. I'm sure others just went straight up. Constricting certainly will cause an upward draft. So will length. Maybe others might know if will make a difference.

-Dino

[gbohnstedt]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

Bob,

I'm at almost the same point you are and I'm fascinated to see what your calculations come out to be when you optimize your vent and landing area. My landing area flares much more than most, 22" wide at the opening and 36" wide at the front, so I'm worried about capturing all the outgoing smoke.

I had planned on a wide, deep vent like Dino's 8x20 or so, but I wonder if transitioning to an 8" round at the chimney makes any difference than transitioning to a 8x13 clay liner. Will resorting to only 50 square inches of chimney create a lower pressure in the stack than 104 square inches? You'd think that there should be some difference in the two.

Greg

[pizza_bob]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

Thanks Dino and Dave!

Dino,
You mentioned the exterior cladding. I plan on doing the sheetmetal framing with cement board enclosure. Then I'll finish the exterior off with New England field stone to match my surroundings. Should I still plan on putting cladding around the exterior of the dome? I thought it would just get wrapped with 2" or 3" of cermaic blanket and then loose vermiculite. Is the cladding a must?

Dave,
If this was the only crack I had after curing the oven then I wouldn't be too concerned. But I haven't done any curing fires yet. I'm gonna take your advice, leave it and keep an eye on it when curing.

Thanks Guys,
Bob

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

The dome looks great Bob. Good job keeping it clean. I had a couple similar, very short cracks like that too. I attributed it to some combination of not soaking that brick enough (or too much), having my mortar too wet (or too dry) the day was too dry (or too humid) and any combination of those 3. Your crack may have happened early and you didn't notice it separated as it dried.

Either way: as Dave said, leave it. It's down low and has the weight of the dome on it. You can add slightly more than the recommended 1/4" cladding of mortar to the outside of that joint as I did. I think we all get lots of those kind of separation in small spots and we can't even see them most of the time. The brick is still mortared properly and will do it's job.

Very fine looking brick work and dome, you should be proud.

-Dino

[DaveW]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

You call that a crack?! I'll show you a crack! I honestly don't think I would have even noticed that in our oven. Your bricks look tapered so I think every joint could crack all the way through and the dome would still stand.
I wouldn't even touch it.

Looks great!
Dave