Who's made their own pizza tools

[bimbo]

I have been looking on the net at prices for oven tools and they are a bit pricey for my liking (well I'm just tight) and figured they can't be that hard to make, after all a peel or a turing peel is just a bit of sheet metal bolted to a pole.

I am interest to see who has made their own tools and how, post up pics and show off a little too if you want

Cheers
James

[Les]

Re: Who's made their own pizza tools

James - this stuff was made from aluminum (for the most part). The handles are EMT pipe from HD or Lowes. My shovel and rake was a "pooper scooper" from Pet Smart. Probably the hardest to fab were the handles - I don't like the router blade that close to my digits

Les...

[blacknoir]

Re: Who's made their own pizza tools

Nice tools Les! Do you worry at all about the aluminum oxidizing outside or do you bring them in when not in use? For handles, did you sandwich the aluminum with the wood all the way down?

btw, a suggestion for routing. Take 1 long piece, those look like 3/4"x1 1/2" I'm guessing, and route the edges first. Then cut them each to size, nip of the corners on one end and rub the ends on the table router. This gives you plenty of distance.

I'm a big time wood man and this thread has got me thinking of different pizza toys I could build.. nice..

[Les]

Re: Who's made their own pizza tools

I bought one of these for when the tools will be out for an extended amount of time (with no use) or winter weather. To make the handles I glued two pieces of oak (3/4 inch) together - ripped them into 1 1/2 inches square. Cut them to length, ran them through the table saw for the center Cerf (sp?), then the router for the bevel. After that, I ran a drill down the center and locked the handles to the steel with Gorilla glue. Seems like a lot of work but, when it's so cold your beer freezes, and you are done with every other chore - go to the shop and play.

Les...

[bimbo]

Re: Who's made their own pizza tools

nice work. I was initially only thinking of metal peels and did'nt even think of making wooden peels. This oven is going to keep me busy for a while yet

[texassourdough]

Re: Who's made their own pizza tools

Hi Shay!

Aluminum is, for all practical purposes, always oxidized. It is one of the most reactive metals and oxidizes very rapidly to form a tight, hard oxide. Alumimum can be left outside for years without effect so long as it isn't in contact with acid (including tomator sauce or vinegar or potentially acid rain which could cause pitting or worse) or in contact with another metal (which will cause galvanic corrosion). This latter issue makes it important to not use things like steel or iron screws to assemble aluminum utensils.

PS. I saw your comment on winter ovens. Those of us in Texas LOVE to do pizza in the winter. It is the summer we dread!
Jay

[blacknoir]

Re: Who's made their own pizza tools

Cool. I am a wood guy not a metal guy so had no idea.. BUT, I know a guy...

[KraemerBAC]

Re: Who's made their own pizza tools

Shay,

I got peels from American metalcraft, commercial food service supplier... they have a whole pizza line, nice long handles available and reasonably priced. I bought the small one and cut it into an 8' circle and bought a med one for loading. They have brushes too

Peter

[charger10s]

Re: Who's made their own pizza tools

I'm building a 36" WFO with an 18 inch entry-way.
Any opinions on the optimum length for my peels?
I want them to be long enough, but not so long that I'll be crashing into everything.

[Les]

Re: Who's made their own pizza tools

Toby - I have a 42 inch interior with about 32 inches of entry / counter. My tools are cut to 54 inches and work quite well. I guess you can scale from there.

Les,,,

[charger10s]

Re: Who's made their own pizza tools

Thanks, based on that I should be good in the 40 inch range.

[texassourdough]

Re: Who's made their own pizza tools

Hi Toby!

I think the most useful tool for those of us who have one is a round 8-9 inch "turner" paddle. That should be a bit longer for you want to be able to use it two handed (one hand holding the shaft up front and the other hand twisting the shaft to lift and turn. You probably also want a longer shaft on your big peel if you make one so you can use two hands also. One hand is enough for putting the pie in the oven so a shorter handle is no problem. Two hands probably need more than 40 inches.

Good Luck!
Jay

[charger10s]

Re: Who's made their own pizza tools

Hi Toby!

I think the most useful tool for those of us who have one is a round 8-9 inch "turner" paddle. That should be a bit longer for you want to be able to use it two handed (one hand holding the shaft up front and the other hand twisting the shaft to lift and turn. You probably also want a longer shaft on your big peel if you make one so you can use two hands also. One hand is enough for putting the pie in the oven so a shorter handle is no problem. Two hands probably need more than 40 inches.

Good Luck!
Jay

Thanks Jay! I was thinking about the longer peels, but I didn't want to go crazy.

[PerryPizza]

Re: Who's made their own pizza tools

Here's my pizza peel made from thin marine plywood with an ebony/ purnambuco handle - it's short because I only use it with my domestic wood fired oven/ pizza stone. It doubles as a sign which I hang on my front door whenever friends come over for pizza!

[edschmidt]

Re: Who's made their own pizza tools

Here is a pic of a couple of my homemade tools. I made a wood peel out of a piece of 1X12 pine (I glued an additional 1X6 to get it to 16" width). and my pizza cutter which I made from a scrap piece of 1/16" stainless steel, and a couple scraps from my brazillian maple flooring. I have been using both for around 3 years now.
Eddie