Eric's WFO build

[Raffy]

Re: Eric's WFO build

This is such a beautiful pic! Love the opening.

[eprante]

Re: Eric's WFO build

Thanks for the compliments Mark and Raffy. The anchor plate is not FB. I priced the stainless steel chimney parts and found that Metal Fab was about 40% cheaper than Simpson, so I went with that. Now to get a halogen lamp.
E

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Eric's WFO build

Congradulations Eric, the arch is beautiful. Very graceful. Ya know...Jackie O graceful (Seinfeld joke).

I waited less than a week to start fires since I thought the dome was done days earlier and I was just working the arches. The longer you wait, the better.

Does your landing get a little wide at the front? That must by why it's cool to view your oven straight on, you see both arches easily.

Almost done, Dino

[eprante]

Re: Eric's WFO build

Thanks Dino,
The widening of the arch is an optical illusion, probably secondary to the fact that all my pictures are taken with my cell phone camera.

I just drilled the holes for the tapcon screws to mount the anchor plate. No cracks, that was a relief.

I have a halogen lamp in it now to put some low heat to it.
Eric

[geisen]

Re: Eric's WFO build

Eric
you tore up the bricks. I don't log on to the forum for a few weeks and your build is done. looks great. I like the half circle arches. I toyed with doing that. glad the "tool" worked as well for you as it did for me.
Regards
Greg

[eprante]

Re: Eric's WFO build

Thanks Greg for the compliments. Your generosity in letting me come to put my hands on the saw, and place a few bricks was crucial in my making the decision to jump into this project. Despite never having laid a brick before. The Caputo makes excellent sourdough bread, now to try my hand at pizza dough.

Eric

[geisen]

Re: Eric's WFO build

Eric
Now I need a lesson in how to make bread. Do you know a good teacher?
Regards
Greg

[John K]

Re: Eric's WFO build

Very nice Eric!!

That arch is perfect. Did you have a hard time pulling the forms out?

[eprante]

Re: Eric's WFO build

Thanks John,
The answer is yes and no. The first time I had difficulty with the arch sticking to the form. I decided to redo the front span, cutting 2" off the depth of the 7 bricks spanning the front of the flue and adding them to the back of the flue. So when I placed the form back in I covered it with aluminum foil so it wouldn't stick to the bricks, worked like a charm.
Eric

[SCChris]

Re: Eric's WFO build

Eric, How is the curing going?

Chris

[eprante]

Re: Eric's WFO build

I did 6 hours at 300f yesterday, let it cool overnight and heated it to 400f this morning. I plan on letting it go 6 hours today, then go to 500 tomorrow. My bubble has already burst- the first small cracks appeared this morning- I know everyone gets them, but we all think that ours is going to be the one that doesn't. As long as they are small and the oven doesn't collapse I can live with it. This probably means y'all won't get a pic of me standing on top of the dome yelling "I am the king of the world".
Eric

[SCChris]

Re: Eric's WFO build

I think I'd keep your oven at current temp as long as possible today, push that water out.. What are the exterior temps of the oven on the soldier, mid dome and top dome areas? What was your heat slope like. Quick to temp or lightly heating for 30 minutes or more before putting the spurs to it?

Chris

[Raffy]

Re: Eric's WFO build

Hey, Eric! It's great to see pics of the latest development. I'm so excited for you. Don't worry about those cracks. I'm sure they are just surface cracks. It adds character to your oven I'm still in denial about the cracks in my oven mainly because soot is still covering them hahaha.

[eprante]

Re: Eric's WFO build

Chris,
The exterior temps are: soldier course 95f, mid dome 110f, and keystone 125f. I pretty much just lit the burner and brought it up to temp this morning- didn't think about ramping up slowly. I will probably wrap it in a layer of ceramic blanket tomorrow before firing just to keep the temperature gradient between inside and outside reasonable.

I need to use my grill this evening and the oven burner is using that gas line, so I can let it go until 430, that would be 10 hours.

Raffy, thanks for the encouragement. I hope to cook pizza by next weekend.
Eric

[SCChris]

Re: Eric's WFO build

I'd run it untill you have to stop. Since you're seeing less than the 212 on the exterior and you're curing, I'd bet you still have a bunch of water in the bricks.

Chris