Pizza Bob's 42" Build

[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

[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

[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

[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?

[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

[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!

[dbhansen]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

Beautiful dome, Bob! Go for the small keystone.

[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

[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...

[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...

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

19" Bob! That's perfect. Glad you spent the time on the last row before your keystone. It's a great parting shot. So many milestones along the way of a wfo build. They're piling up fast now.
Can't wait to see your 2 part keystone.
Cheers, Dino

[pizza_bob]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

Thanks Dino and Fxpose!

I finally, finally, finally put the keystone in today!!! It was much easier than I thought it would be. I didn't require any forms for this. The HeatStop 50 works so well - I haven't used any forms since the last time I used the indispensible tool on the fourth row. The bricks just always held in place right up to the keystone.
The keystone ended-up being two pieces stacked on top of each other. I traced the opening of the dome onto a piece of paper and then transferred that to a brick to cut the keystone(s). My wonderful 13 week pregnant wife came out and lightly tapped the keystone into place as I laid on my back in the dome watching the keystone come to the correct depth. The sides of the keystones were all tapered so it felt as if it tightned everything up nicely. I think I added a little too much mortar between the upper keystone and lower keystone because it didn't seat as low as it did when they were dry. So, as you can see in the pictures, the upper keystone is slightly proud of the dome. No big deal because this will be completely covered soon!
You can also see in one of the pictures I made an "okay" sign with my fingers as a shadow - because everything is okay now that this dome is DONE!
It sure feels good to have that keystone in there!

~Bob

[pizza_bob]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

The keystone required a few more pix...

[jbarker@smarthealth.com]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

Bob, I was just enjoying your build so much I was in a hurry to see the finished product. Your keystone is amazing and unlike any other one I have seen. Great work!

Jim

[mfiore]

Re: Pizza Bob's 42" Build

Great job on the keystone, Bob! The entire dome build looks great. I can't wait to follow it's progress to completion.