Canberra - my first oven, help

[wookiewins]

Hi all,

i have finally laid my concrete slab down and now am figuring about what the best design would be. i am keen on the dome style, i have plenty of old canberra red's. They are solid clay and from an old fireplace chimney. The plan was to use these as the Dome and use firebricks as the floor.

how many fire bricks required to build a 39" or 42" oven for the floor, or how many if i was to go the whole hog and use firebricks for both dome and floor?

does anyone have any good suppliers for materials within Canberra or nearby?

ta

trev

[cobblerdave]

Re: Canberra - my first oven, help

Dear Trev

Pulled out my old forno plans......
42 in (1mtr 70mm) dome req 65 bricks for the cooking floor and a further 135 for the dome
36 in (870mm) req 60 firebricks for the cooking floor and a further 120 bricks for the dome
From memory i used 160 odd firebricks for floor and dome I did not use firebrick for the entrance way and chimney which was were I save on bricks.
You really should go to the forno shop and download a copy of the forno plans for Free its all in there and more. I printed out a hard copy and stapled it into sections so I could study each section as I went

Regards Dave

[wookiewins]

Re: Canberra - my first oven, help

Thanks for the reply Dave,

I will download and print out the plans. Will post piccies when i start building this beast

trev

[nissanneill]

Re: Canberra - my first oven, help

Hi Trev,
and welcome aboard.
I bought 200 second hand firebricks for my 40" Pompeii and had around 40 left over which I on-sold.
Just do a smash test of your proposed Canberra Reds, they should break cleanly into several pieces when hit hard with a substantial hammer, eg. a brickies mash or medium sledge hammer. If the bricks break and crumble, then give them a miss as they will spall with the heating/cooling. Select, the darker burnt bricks that were closer to the fire when higher fired "clinker bricks". Internal house wall bricks are generally the least fired, least durable bricks that are protected from the elements when used on internal walls.
Good luck.

Neill

[chooknecker]

Re: Canberra - my first oven, help

i bulit one in canberra what are u trying to find?

[wookiewins]

Re: Canberra - my first oven, help

all good thanks, but for interest sack where did you source mortars and bricks?

[chooknecker]

Re: Canberra - my first oven, help

We bought fire bricks from amber in Fyshwick they were $4.00 a peice from memory and my dad found the fire clay for the home brew mortar I think he got it from piallago or a pottery shop $50 bucks a bag bought 2 used one.

[OscarA]

Re: Canberra - my first oven, help

Try Bunnings for fire clay I got two bags for around $12 each from memory.
Not all Bunnings sell it so if your local one doesn't ask them to search for the nearest one that stocks it. I have 2 Bunnings near me and none had it but the Hawthorn store 7ks away did.

[david s]

Re: Canberra - my first oven, help

Be careful, if it is the Cement Australia Bricklayers Clay (fire clay) it is not a refractory clay. I have contacted them to complain about this mislabeling and all they would tell me is that it is not suitable as a refractory clay. Try to source real fireclay.

[OscarA]

Re: Canberra - my first oven, help

That's good to know I was actually trying to get my hands on some Cement Australia fireclay when I needed it but couldn't find it, lucky me.
The Bunnings one is made by Unimin Australia and has fireclay in large letterers on it. It's in a brown 20kg bag and the clay is brown in color, hopefully that's ok.

[david s]

Re: Canberra - my first oven, help

Yes that sounds like it is true fire clay. The problem is that fireclay has been traditionally used by bricklayers to improve the consistency of their mortars. Cement Australia have developed a product for this and continue to (incorrectly) label it as fireclay.

[brickie in oz]

Re: Canberra - my first oven, help

been traditionally used by bricklayers to improve the consistency of their mortars.

News to me?
Never heard of it, mind you Ive only done 30 odd years in the trade.

[david s]

Re: Canberra - my first oven, help

News to me?
Never heard of it, mind you Ive only done 30 odd years in the trade.

My apologies, I should have said "some bricklayers". Most sands contain a small quantity of clay naturally and will make a good workable mix, but some do not and require some "improvement". Lime is also sometimes used to achieve more workability.

[brickie in oz]

Re: Canberra - my first oven, help

Lime is also sometimes used to achieve more workability.

Thanks for the tip.....

Lime should always be used as it helps with autogenous healing of fine cracks in mortar joints.

[david s]

Re: Canberra - my first oven, help

Al, do you also regularly use plasticiser?