FINALLY!!! - Start Of Building My Oven

[Laurentius]

Re: FINALLY!!! - Start Of Building My Oven

Oven-man,

Wood is for fuel, use steel.

[Oven_Man]

Re: FINALLY!!! - Start Of Building My Oven

Hi David

I want to also experiment eventually with retained heat cooking and bread baking. I was thinking of making a door for my oven and was wondering if the pine wood will work?

If not, what wood do you recommend?

Thanks
OM

[david s]

Re: FINALLY!!! - Start Of Building My Oven

Sounds good, good luck.

[Oven_Man]

Re: FINALLY!!! - Start Of Building My Oven

Hi David

I have managed to source glue shown in the link below.
According to the description it's food safe for indirect contact - I have found a few other products online but not available here in SA and they all say food safe for indirect contact so i assume this would be OK to use?

Ultra Wood Glue | Wood | DIY Products | Alcolin

Thanks
OM

[david s]

Re: FINALLY!!! - Start Of Building My Oven

Unless you have access to a biscuit joiner laminating the wood together will probably not be successful in the long term. You will need at least some clamps and use PVA glue,

[Oven_Man]

Re: FINALLY!!! - Start Of Building My Oven

Hi David

I've managed to source some Pine Wood however I've been told the maximum width everyone stocks is 200MM wide X 1.2M Length X 20mm Thick. I require atleast 300mm Wide but preferably 350MM. I've read a little about making my own wooden peel and the instructions suggest I glue multiple pieces together to get to the desired size. I have no problem doing so however I'm a little concerned about the glue and the whole food safety factor.

Is there a special glue i should be using?
What's the possibility of this glue leaching into my Pizza Dough?
Would the heat affect the bond and cause the wood to separate upon use?

Thanks
OM

[Oven_Man]

Re: FINALLY!!! - Start Of Building My Oven

Hi David
Thanks for the tips.

I'm glad you mentioned Pine Timber because as far as I'm aware, we have plenty available - I'm sure I'll be able to grab a few offcuts - I guess it should be untreated plain pine?

Just regarding the thickness of the timber, what do you suggest?

I think with regards to the tapering, I'm gonna ask a friend to do that for me - he has all the equipment and I'd just end up ruining it.

Thanks a mill
Regards
OM

[Laku]

Re: FINALLY!!! - Start Of Building My Oven

Laminated wooden peels tend to crack open at the joins particularly when they go into the dishwasher frequently.

I'm pretty sure you shouldn't use dishwasher on any wooden instrument, or you risk ruining it.

[david s]

Re: FINALLY!!! - Start Of Building My Oven

The leading edge of the wooden peel gets a bit of abrasion especially where it touches the hot floor. I prefer a solid piece of timber. I use pine because it is easier to shape. Tapering the leading edge takes longer than you would think. I find a flap disc on a 125 mm angle grinder the best method so far.i've killed two cheap 100mm grinders doing this operation, but the 125 copes much better.Laminated wooden peels tend to crack open at the joins particularly when they go into the dishwasher frequently. You can always run a sander over a wooden peel to clean it up occasionally.

[Oven_Man]

Re: FINALLY!!! - Start Of Building My Oven

I Guess you are right - I managed to locate a supplier - nice chap to deal with - I'm trying him out with a small load and if all goes well I'll end up taking a ton or maybe 2

I've been researching a bit between the difference of a wooden peel and aluminium peel for loading my pies into the oven as the s/s peel is sticking. I found most people prefer wooden since it slides off much easier so I'm leading towards the wooden peel.

I have found a few websites that have step by step with pictures on how to diy a wooden peel but the wood they recommend to use is Ply Wood. When I was researching the type of wood for the handle of my S/S peel, and David s can back me up on this - I was advised to use hardwood because of the heat however now for the wooden peel ply wood seems fine and unlike the handle of my S/S peel which doesn't get much exposure to the heat since its in there just to remove the pie, wouldn't the ply wood peel get more exposure to the fire hence chance of it not lasting very long - have I misunderstood somewhere along the way?

Thanks
Regards
OM

[Laurentius]

Re: FINALLY!!! - Start Of Building My Oven

OM,

That's the way to buy wood. You're in a relationship, you feed it, it'll feed you.

[Oven_Man]

Re: FINALLY!!! - Start Of Building My Oven

Hi Guys
Thanks for all the great tips - they will surely come in handly along my journey.

I am in the process of making an alluminium peel as well as a wooden peel. Just have a few questions regarding this.

1) For the alluminium peel, is there any special type of alluminium I should be looking for or will any alluminium work?

2) With regards to the wooden peel, same question, should I lookout for specific type of wood e.g. Hardwood or similar?

I'm still looking out for good firewood - most suppliers that have well seasoned wood won't sell to me only a few bundles - they want me to buy an entire load of it - almost a ton if I'm not mistaken but heck - if its good stuff I would go that route since this stuff is so hard to come buy.

Keep you guys updated
Take Care
OM

[rsandler]

Re: FINALLY!!! - Start Of Building My Oven

FWIW, there do exist fairly cheap IR thermometers. My understanding is that they aren't as accurate down to the degree as the expensive ones, but that doesn't seem to matter for this application. I just bought this thermometer: Amazon.com: BAFX Products (TM) - Non Contact - Infrared (IR) Thermometer (-58F - +1,022F!) - BATTERY INCLUDED!: Everything Else off of amazon to help with curing my oven, and so far it seems to work okay.

[david s]

Re: FINALLY!!! - Start Of Building My Oven

Just keep firing, cooking and eating and you'll get the hang of it. Try using a wood peel to place the pizza and sprinkle a little semolina on the peel first, to prevent sticking. You can also use a little semolina on the floor to test temp. 3 secs until it turns black is ideal. 2 secs =too hot, 4 secs = not hot enough.

[Oven_Man]

Re: FINALLY!!! - Start Of Building My Oven

Hi David and rest of the forum members

I have great news - my oven is "finally" structurally complete. I added the stucco 2 weeks back as per Davids instructions and wrapped it in plastic for a week and then left is open for another week. All it needs now it a touch up here and there, I did notice fine hairline cracks but I'm certain these were there before firing up after stucco.

This past Sunday I decided it was time to see all my hard work at play so I made my first few pizza's but unfortunately I didn't have a very favourable experience. Now only do I realize how many variables there are to contend with when it comes to a Wood Fired Oven. Here's how my experience went.

1) I started out at 10:30AM and gathered some twigs, a whole wad of news paper and my firewood. The first lot of firewood I bought when I was curing my oven was excellent and that's the last time I had experience with good quality wood. I bought again from the same supplier and it was whole logs, not split and definately not dry. I notice the supplier did receive a new lot of wood the next time I went to buy hence I think the ones I bought before that were actually in their possession for a while I'm sure and had time to properly dry. Never the less, for this firing I went out and tried to get split logs which I was hoping would be properly seasoned. I started out by placing wads of paper at the bottom, spread twigs across and then layered 2 logs of wood. Each log was probably 400mm long. I struggled from about 11AM till 3PM trying to light the fire. Yeah, 4 hours, every time I would get it going and the logs would catch, it would just go off. Eventually, we managed to get it going.

2) Once that was done, I took the doughs out the fridge and gave it about 45 mins to warm up, also giving the oven time to heat up.

3) At about 4PM I was ready to stretch the dough and place them in the oven. I did struggle with stretching due to inexperience but eventually go it right and then I tossed it onto my floured stainless steel peel but the minute I added my sauce and topped it only with cheese and tomatoe, it stuck to the peel. I got to the oven but I just couldn't get it off the peel. Eventually, I just slid the peel into the oven with the pizza ontop of it and baked for a little while until the pizza firmed up a little for me to use a spatula and shift the pizza onto the oven floor.

4) After a little while, I turned the pizza so the side furthest away from the fire was now next to the fire. Pizza was removed after about 6 to 7 mins of baking and served. Unfortunately it wasn't the taste I was looking for.


Based on the above, I guess a lot had to do with the unfavourable results. I'm certain the oven wasn't up to temp. Without a therm, its difficult to say whether the oven is at optimum temp. or not. Is there any way to test the temp of the oven without investing in a therm just yet - I had to bite the bullet and buy the stainless steel flue.

The other problem I need to counter is wood. I just can't seem to find quality seasoned wood. I would see wood at a lot of stores but only after learning about oven management from here did I realize how difficult it is to find seasoned specific type wood. I guess it comes back down to equipment again and measuring the water content in the wood but it would have to hold on for a short while. The famous wood I see everyone selling is Black Wattle. One supplier mentioned its good for WFO - how true that is I'm not sure. Oak and Almonds amongst some of the exotic woods is almost impossible to find.
Would black wattle work and how do I test whether my wood is seasoned without actually buying special equipmeent for now. Many WFO pizzeria's I visit have this live flame going on in their oven all night but with my oven, the flame died quickly and all I was left with was bright red ember. Also, like I've read in so many other posts, the oven chamber should become white, this definately didn't happen with me.

Lastly, I'd like to say a special thank you to David_s - you have no doubt been there for me, guiding me and taking me through this journey with lots of patience to the sometimes silly questions I ask and for that, thank you a million - you have indeed been great.

Thanks
Regards
OM