Question about cracks

[cholme]

Upon further inspection, the crack does go through to the inside of the oven. It is, oddly, only on one of the chains, the rest look fine. I wasn't noticing any smoke coming out, but I did patch the outside.

It feels pretty solid, I don't feel any loose bricks. Should I press on and continue my cure, or should I not? I hope this doesn't mean I have to dig out and re-mortar, re-cure etc... but if it does, so be it.

Thanks,

Chris

[brickie in oz]

I fairly sure it wont collapse so patch the outside and press on, itll still cook ok.

It actually takes a lot to get brickwork to fall over if there are no lateral forces at play.

[david s]

Problem with a thin slurry is that extra water means more shrinkage. A clay only mixture is also going to result in high shrinkage. If you can add about 50% aggregate (finest sand you can get) it will result in a mix that won't shrink too much.

[Neil2]

"It feels pretty solid, I don't feel any loose bricks. Should I press on and continue my cure, or should I not?"

Carry on. Keep an eye on any changes, loose bricks, or crack increases, but I think you will be OK.

[cholme]

Thank you guys so much for your input. On further inspection, I don't think my crack goes through to the inner part. At the chain that has the crack, I switched from using my "indispensable tool" to a form so I wasn't able to clean the mortar off as well as the lower chains. As a result, there is a bit of mortar standing proud from the bricks which makes it so the soot has a void.

I am at 1 week, 6 fires up to 650deg. I am away this weekend so I put a high wattage bulb for a couple days. No further cracks, my patches are holding. When I get back, I will insulate and finish the enclosure.

In the home stretch.

[SCChris]

Cholme,

I think the oven is gold at this point and running a light in the oven won't get you anything except a bigger electricity bill.

Enjoy!!

Chris

[azpizzanut]

Hi All,

I've been following this thread with interest. I agree with SCChris, you're almost there. Maybe another couple of fires and it'll be dry as an Arizona haboob.

Cheers,

[david s]

I have also been following this thread with interest. It won't help you, but I was interested to see that the cracks in your oven are precisely where I designed the joins in my oven casting.

[cholme]

David,

That is interesting, I guess that area is prone to more stress and movement.

I haven't had much of a chance to do too much since my last post. I did one more firing to about 725deg, the cracks that are already there open up a tiny bit when it is hot but I didn't notice any major new ones. I am hoping to insulate and enclose in the next couple weeks.

... My wife is having second thoughts on the finish design, so it is a bit up in the air right now.