36'' or 42" oven? Newbie Forum Discuss 36'' or 42" oven? in the Good Background Information forums; I'm impartial on this one--hey, maybe I am a waffling American politician! I was born to krauts, and I love ...

[Eric Pfeifer]

I'm impartial on this one--hey, maybe I am a waffling American politician!

I was born to krauts, and I love when they describe machines in sub 0.01 mm precision. But I'm also an amateur historian of the machine tool tradition. The first useful machine lathes were British and American (surprise!), and used Imperial measurements. The first numerical temperature scale was Fahrenheit. The first standardized screw threads were in Imperial units. I have a granite flat ground to 30/1,000,000 inch flatness. Sounds more impressive describing it that way, I think. And to this day, when a european buys an LCD flat screen TV, they are presented with INCHES screen diagonal.

Yeah, I know bla, bla, bla.

It sure is cool outside today, 0---Celsius. I can't wait for the wet saw to get here.

[Mitchamus]

Originally Posted by Eric Pfeifer

And to this day, when a european buys an LCD flat screen TV, they are presented with INCHES screen diagonal.

nope - it's presented in centimeters.

Even though those cm equate to an inch measurement,
That's only because it's expensive to build 1 size for Luddites and one size for everyone else

I mean no self respecting Luddite is going to buy a 39 1/64" tv

I also find it funny that imperial background people weigh water and present it in grams.

Not that there's anything wrong with Inches...but why work with fractions if you don't have to?

[jmhepworth]

It really would be nice if we Luddites would convert. I tried to change the oil on my Honda lawn mower and needed to find a 10mm wrench because the imperial ones were too big or too small.

[Mitchamus]

here you go...




(I hate these things BTW)

[jmhepworth]

Thanks. I laughed out loud.

[Frances]

On a completely different topic (or mabe not).... WFOAMBA - why just America? Something wrong with metric ovens maybe?

I mean WFOAMBWW also sounds quite catchy... or maybe we need a European and an Australian division?

[Alter ego]

I agree with Frances.

My proposal for this new organisation is WOMBAT... Wood fired Oven Manufactures Belonging to Any Town

Paul

[david s]

I agree about the wall thickness being the main factor in heat time. A smaller oven is burning a smaller fire but still takes around an hour to fire up. The heat is still only going to travel through the walls at the same rate. A fast heat up is not really desirable anyway because it only creates more stress on the refractory materials. If you really want to be kind to your oven you should keep the rate really low (like 100 C/Hr) But who wants to go that slow ?

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

I actulally bought an adjustable wrench once and its marked on the handle
"METRIC ADJUSTABLE" which is the only reason I bought it,,, I thought it was too funny to pass up....

Cheers
Mark

[karl]

If the tread is still discussing 36" versus 42" oven size I may add that it is important to be aware of the following. heating up the inner skin of the various size ovens to a certain temperature does not differ much in time. The duration of the fire is however very importent in regard to the temperature gradient in the fire bricks. Until the fire bricks are "fully loaded" (minimum temp. gradient) the oven will respond with a very rapid initial surface temperature drop when firing stops. This is due to the fact that the temperature gradient will rapidly flattens out. A "fully loaded" brick wall will see a very gradual temperature drop determined by the heat loss through the insulation mainly. If you plan for short firing you should consider a smaller diameter to assure that your oven get fully heat loaded.

karl