Hello fellow Aussies, My 1st build

[MarkJerling]

Finished it

Nice work Paul. I like your door and door handles. I'm busy making a door for my oven at the moment.

[Steady]

Congrats Paul, looks good.

[Paul W]

Finished it

[Paul W]

Thought I would post an update, I have built the landing and outer arch, put on 3 layers of ceramic blanket and put on the chicken wire, now on to chimney.

Things I learnt this week are - I would not make any money as a brick layer, and lime is brutal on the hands.

[Paul W]

Thanks Jay, I haven't rendered the outside yet but I decided to go ahead and start my curing fires, 2nd one today, first day I kept a tiny fire going for a few hours then left it overnight with door on, today I used the heat beads (good tip) they worked a treat, didn't have to keep feeding a tiny fire, fingers crossed I get minimal cracking, I am guessing that happens as the fires get bigger.

[terratree]

I still havent made a final door, but what I have certainly locks heat in. Yours looks good.

When I cured my dome, it was just after Darwin's wet season, so I knew I had loads of moisture trapped. The visible steam coming out the insulation kinda shocked me a bit. So go extremely slow with initial firing, particularly if youve already rendered the outer. I used a heat lamp for 1 week (60 degc), before I started with heat beads (no flame). I reckon this made a big difference.

My 2c:

• Vent - its s good idea. Leave the cap off. Have you seen any of david s comments re. trapped steam/expansion ? Keep rain off the dome prior though - tarps/secured builders plastic.
• Wood - hard to say. But its very small fires at first. Heat beads, or a lamp might be the go first, if you cant replenish wood due to lock down

Cheers

Jay

[Paul W]

Looking Good Paul and Geez you've knocked this up pretty quick ! Not much else to do down that way, at the moment I guess.

As you have gone against a full spherical inner arch, have you worked out what buttressing will be required ? Plenty of experienced builders on here that can help with that.

Hi,
I did get stuck into it, I have let it sit for a week now and still standing , I plan on building an old red brick front which will support the inner arch, I have the stuff to insulate the dome, blanket and perlite etc, but wanted to wait until I built chimney before I start fires, so work has grinded to a halt.
I did make a door out of some stuff I had in shed (except the paint) out of 5mm steel plate, not sure it will be my permanent door as I want the handles welded on, unfortunately I don't have any gas to make welds look good.
I read on here that people put a vent/valve on dome for moisture to escape, I wasn't going to bother but thought I may aswell, so I have a short length of brass pipe I will put in top, hopefully thats ok.

I have a couple of questions if anyone would like to chip in.... I'm sure they have been answered before on here,

-- QUESTION: I have a brass cap to go on it, do i keep that just sitting on there with half a turn? or do I shut it at some stage?, should I even put pipe in?

-- QUESTION: How much wood do I need for curing the oven, I will attach a photo which has the new door and the redgum that I have, do I need 2x or 5x that amount, or is that enough?

Thanks guys.

[terratree]

Looking Good Paul and Geez you've knocked this up pretty quick ! Not much else to do down that way, at the moment I guess.

As you have gone against a full spherical inner arch, have you worked out what buttressing will be required ? Plenty of experienced builders on here that can help with that.

[Paul W]

Been busy last few days, come to a halt as I can't get red bricks, few more pics......

[Paul W]

G’day
Dampen your firebrick but dumping them in a bucket of water before using the mortar on them. The firebrick suck the moisture out of it he mortar if they are dry that why it fails to stick to the surface.
regards Dave

Hi Dave,
I did end up soaking them, helped a great deal.

I have done a little bit more, hoping the back of the arch works out... see what happens

[cobblerdave]

G’day
Dampen your firebrick but dumping them in a bucket of water before using the mortar on them. The firebrick suck the moisture out of it he mortar if they are dry that why it fails to stick to the surface.
regards Dave

[Paul W]

I managed to get more info on using that cement, 1 cement to 2-3 brickies sand, and so I started yesterday and laid a few bricks, the easy ones I'm guessing.

[Paul W]

Need help with my mortar, I found a post on here about the same type I bought, but it never got answered, when I got my bricks I also got some calcium aluminate cement A600, the firebrick place told me that all I need to do is mix it with sand and water, 1cement to 5 orange brickies sand, said not to add anything else, I made 1/3 bucket today to see how I would go, It didn't stick well at all, bricks I had soaked or ones that were dry, wouldn't stick to my trowel either, not sure if I made it too dry or too wet or it just isn't sticky..... I have to use it as it cost a bit and I can't go out in lockdown, thoughts anyone?

[JRPizza]

Paul, arch shape is a preference thing. I built a full hemispherical arch and in addition to looking better (my opinion) the stresses are distributed better and you don't need to buttress the arch.

[oasiscdm]

HI Paul

I just layed my last base panel and guess what started raining arrrrgh.
My hearth and dome were separate with about 10mm gap around the edge of the hearth. I just didn't want the two joined as such.
As for the droop, it happens as you work up the sides dome opening, hard to describe, but the bricks seem to reach. I actually forget what I did to prevent it back then but ended up with no droop to speak of. I have been thinking of making a circular straight edge to sit on each course. That arch brick that intercepts the first course and all arch bricks I kept as close to the full size brick as possible.

The other thing, was i used arch bricks of different sizes to form the dome, this way I didnt need any fire clay mortar top bottom of bricks. I also cut the bricks for a side to side fit. in fours years of use never had one crack.

Anyhow, looking forward to following your build. i followed GianniFococcia's and UtahBeehiver's and Karangi Dude's builds. At one point Gianni and I swapped emails as we were building our outer tapered arch [wider than the inner oven arch] together. Reason i did this was i did a lot of cooking in the oven entry so it gives more space. I actually screwed mine up and had to pull it down when half finished.