Texas 42

[Roadkyng]

Re: Texas 42

Got my son involved filling the gaps between the soldiers with brick cut-offs. Showed him how to measure and score the brick pieces then cut them with a sharp hammer blow and a brick chisel. He did a fine job. We'll mortar everything over when all gaps are filled.

[geisen]

Re: Texas 42

Once you get a rythm going, it goes up pretty quick. Free labor is always a good thing and bonding time with your son makes the project invaluable.

[Roadkyng]

Re: Texas 42

Got the inner arch one and have worked a solution for the flue area. Found out that trying to mortar bricks after the oven has heat soaked all day long in 100+ degree heat just does not work. Even though it is not in the sun the brick temp was up there. I soaked mortared the bricks as much as possible but the mortar still would not stick well. Finally gave up and went at it the next morning with success.
My inner arch is 12.5 inches high and 21" wide with a 1" reveal, and has a fairly aggressive curve. The flue transition will be 12" x 7" giving me 84"sq. this should work with a 9" flue liner.

I am planning on the outer arch being only 12" total height with a shallower curve, resulting in a lower lip inside the flue transition. This should prevent smoke spills out the front if my draft is sufficient.

After my arches are done I will complete the rings.

Any comments, suggestions, criticisms?

[bernerdog]

Re: Texas 42

Won`t lowering you outside arch impede, at least a little, the ease of slipping in a tight fitting door? I just finished this stage and kept my outside arch(actually a double arch of 2 1/2 inches except for the first two bricks on each side) the same 1 inch+ height above the inner arch. We have a great stainless insulated door 2 inches thick that slides in and plugs the inner arch (many thanks to a recent poster for both the design and links to the supplier of thermometers and other goodies) and the thickness of the door prevents tipping it much to get it in. A simpler and thinner door would be no problem I suppose. Careful about following my advice tho` because I lightly mortared my soldiers when starting the dome and it is pretty clear that was a bad idea. Les saved me from a redo by reminding me we weren`t building rockets here. I know I have to get pictures up and will try this week!

[Roadkyng]

Re: Texas 42

Good point. I'll make a mock-up of my proposed door and make sure it will fit

[dbhansen]

Re: Texas 42

Tipping the door as you put it under the arch should leave you enough room, depending on the design, I suppose.

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Texas 42

Yup, tipping the door slightly works. It's almost kind of natural as you are putting the door in and you don't want to ding or knock the edges of the bricks so tilting it forward as you go in just happens. Lowering by 1/2" should be fine. Also, if you are going to put a decorative outer arch (or just a decorative tile or brick facade) on the outer arch, you would do this after you've already cured your oven and probably cooked in it a while and if you still have smoke issues (I bet you wont) you could always drop THAT outer facade tile or brick another 1/2". Just some options to think about.

[Roadkyng]

Re: Texas 42

Thanks Dino.
Is your outer arch the same height or slightly lower than the inner arch?

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Texas 42

No, I did not drop my outer arch. In fact it is larger. My inner arch is 12.25" at the middle. My sides where the arch starts are just 3 bricks high (8.25") so its shallower at the sides than those who went 4 bricks on the side walls.

My outer arch is 14.5". 2.25" higher. The flared arch is nice, you've got more room to put the door in, the food in, move your pizza paddle around etc. It's easier to see in too. BUT, my landing is 15" deep. That let me build a relatively difficult yet successful large vent transition that sucks smoke like a tornado.

Wish I knew the magic numbers of how shallow or narrow a vent opening you can have, how tall to make the transition as it narrows to your vent pipe, how smoothly does that really have to be etc... to make it draw smoke well without creating a large 15" deep landing like have unless you want it. It makes a nice space to set your pizza while you "eye" the best place to put it. Same with casserole dishes but shorter people have trouble reaching the rear of the 42" oven. How much room is front of your inner arch to where your counter edge will be?

[Roadkyng]

Re: Texas 42

Have not posted in awhile because of the disgust in how things were going. But it's coming together now. 7 chains up with 3 to go and my Arch transition looks pretty good. I figured a way to do it without the dreaded sag towards the vent. For my last 3 chains I'll switch to Heatstop as I need the higher stickiness and quicker set so I can keep working. Gotta say I really like working with the homebrew mix and will use it on my brick barbecue that is my next project.

Chimney will be the last thing. Probably use the clay flue tiles.

Will post pics soon.

[Roadkyng]

Re: Texas 42

Getting there....

[Roadkyng]

Re: Texas 42

Should have 4 or 5 chains to go

[geisen]

Re: Texas 42

looking good. it goes pretty quick from here on out.

[jmhepworth]

Re: Texas 42

It's really fun as it starts to close up. Clean as much as you can from the outside. It's not easy to clean lying on your back inside the oven.

Joe

[christo]

Re: Texas 42

A little late on this topic - but thought I'd chime in.

I lowered the outer arch about an inch lower than the entry arch - I figured it would help keep smoke off the front.

I also made sure I had rounded or chamfered any 90 degree corners on the smoke path. That combined with 8x8 flue tile seems to have done the trick - no smoke stains on the front of my oven - and it's a good thing - my oven is very light colored. So far no stains and no scrubbing of the brick entryway.

Good luck!