If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

[kanoer54]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

listened to gulf on how "epic" this build may be. it is a lot larger (diameter) than i had imagined. i would have built it smaller and thought more about the final outcome, as to the final diameter. i guess i need to post some recent pics on the build.....although i am still a little shy about the final outcome. i would have built the diameter a little smaller....39 inch down to perhaps 36 inch.

my next oven at my fiance's forest property will be in the 34" to 36" diameter range.

[cobblerdave]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

Gudday
Spent a delightfully time yesterday afternoon restocking the stowage in the oven stand. Did manage to finally remove the orange and lemon that had been entombed at the back forever and into the ready use stowage.
To get the wood in there and out there's only one way to do it and that's to crawl.... And bark your back on the entrance.
If I were to build again I build a H shape so that I get two shallow bays and build the entrance ways higher.



Regards dave

[V-wiz]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

I would make a smaller and lower dome. I find my 40inch to be huge and more than i need. I also would probably cure the oven with insulation on, i cured it without so i could find and repair cracks.

[davemartin88]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

Take a bit more time on the wire supporting the stucco to get a more consistent finish/curve in the final dome shape.

[ATK406]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

Home brew, no soldier coarse (lower dome), more insulation (> 2.5").

[oasiscdm]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

Make my yard bigger

So i could do what Benguilford suggested having the hearth slab and oven floor all at the same height with a small landing at front of decorative arch. Alas room did not permit.

Why!!!!!! because that looks so damn pretty.

[boerwarrior]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

I would move my inner arch about 1 inch further back. And I would make the floor about 2 inches higher. Other than that probably nothing!

[Filthymutt]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

Time. I would change time. As in give myself more of it. I definitely did this oven with one eye always on the clock. I rushed it and it came out sloppy. Not what I intended at all.

Ok this was my first and in no way a permanent oven for me but a favor to my landlord. When its time to leave in 3.5 years she gets a brick oven with some years still left on it.

This was a practice oven to show me what I would do wrong. And the biggest mistake was time and lack of patience.
Next oven I will shape and form every chain of bricks, Build a jigsaw from scratch. Make it pretty. And do it somewhere outside of China where I can buy bricks of uniform size and quality, not the hodgepodge I got to work with.
But that is it, what I would change first, TIME.

BC

[texman]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

david s

That is about exactly what my oven prep times are. Takes 1.5 to two hours to clear. Not sure what a complete saturation is just yet and not sure how to tell. So it just takes a while to get them to temp for pizza whether small or larger. More mass=more time but more retention. For some reason i had it in my head the smaller ovens were quicker to heat. Thanks for the clarity.

Texman

[david s]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

A smaller oven doesn't mean faster heat up because a smaller oven has a smaller fire. It is the thickness of the walls and their conductivity that govern how fast it will heat. My oven is only 21" and has 2" walls, it still takes an hour to clear and an hour and a half to get to proper pizza temp. If I'm cooking for a big crowd I'll give it two hours of fire.

[texman]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

Just want to post here to bring this thread back to the top for awhile. Really good points in here to consider for the class of 2013 and beyond and it was hard to find this thread.

For me, I would use homebrew and save $$ and probably build a smaller oven. 36" takes awhile to get to pizza temp. The size is great, but i think a smaller would heat faster and get used more. Not sure, just wish i had time to use it more.

Texman

[Spunkoid]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

On a similar thread, one thing that I did that I really like and get rave reviews for is I found and old wall mount bottle opener and I screwed it onto the forno. Everyone comments on it and it gets regular use during any of our get togethers.....

[lwood]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

Agreed Spunkoid, especially if you want a low dome oven. The issue gets worst as you increase the dia. I have a 60" oven and I would definitely remove the soldier course and start the dome right at the floor.

[Spunkoid]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

I put in a soldier course on the bottom row, not necessary, with a 1 meter diameter, the dome would have had sufficient height.

[vtsteve]

Re: If you had the chance to rebuild your oven, what would you change?

I've been baking in my 42" Pompeii (4.5" floor, no cladding, 17" dome height) every week or two for a year now. I work nights, and I usually do pizza for lunch & leftovers (2 or 3 18-20" NY style, or a dozen Neapolitan when the weather is warm). The next day I've got 400+ degrees, so I burn a moderate fire for a couple of hours and bake 20-30 loaves of bread. If I were to build again, I'd go bigger (46-48") and lower (14" or so). And maybe mobile (or at least towable)...