My progress Newbie Forum Discuss My progress in the Good Background Information forums; The ancient romans built many ovens with bricks almost exactly like that: You can see the whole photo set at: ...

[dmun]

The ancient romans built many ovens with bricks almost exactly like that:

You can see the whole photo set at:
Pompeii Oven: Brick Oven Arch

[Neil2]

lwood

What is the inside diameter of your oven ? It looks pretty big.

Also, as splatgirl suggests, I recommend you go with at least two inches of hearth brick material, (and with all the voids filled with refractory mortar).

Are your bricks "fire bricks" or "refractory bricks"? These are made of a different material than normal building bricks (which are sometimes called, confusingly, "fired brick").

[lwood]

Great thanks!!! The bricks are the only thing available here in provincial Philippines. They look like terra cotta tiles, close to the bricks in the ancient Roman oven. I guess I am following the ways of my ancestors. They say they are firebrick but who knows here. I need to pour 2" more perlite insulation anyway, so I think I will start over with the layout and add another layer of hearth brick. At least the brick is cheap, about 6 cents each. Hopefully it wont turn into a pile of dust on the first firing.

[splatgirl]

I think it'll be gorgeous looking inside with all those thin chains of bricks! Between that and the size of the oven, you are in for a seriously time consuming build!

[Neil2]

"Hopefully it wont turn into a pile of dust on the first firing."

They won't. Even if they are the "wrong" bricks they will still last quite a while.

[lwood]

"I think it'll be gorgeous looking inside with all those thin chains of bricks! Between that and the size of the oven, you are in for a seriously time consuming build!"

Thanks splatgirl and your right it's going to be a very tedious process. Good thing the labor is very cheap here and they love doing this stuff cause it's something they would never see here in the Philippines.

I'm going to have to make the oven a little smaller because of the new configuration but I think it will still be 55-57". Thanks for your advice John

[lwood]

We made pretty good progress this week. Poured two more inches of perlite, laid out and trimmed two layers of hearth brick, mortored second layer of hearth brick, started the entrance arch/chimminy opening, ran out of fire brick. It's fiesta time here so all the workers went home yesterday.

[lwood]

More pics of yesterday's progress

[lwood]

Hi Everyone,
We finally got back to work on the WFO...sigh!!! Haven't been able to work on it because, we poured the concrete roof over the WFO and surrounding area. WFO was covered with scaffolding for weeks. Not to mention the three typhoons that came through the Philippines. The WFO is situated in a kitchen/bar area inside an open cabana adjacent to the infinity pool. I will post a rendering on my next enrty. Anyway, we made pretty good progress this week with installing the soldier course, finishing the archway entry and getting about 2/3rds of the dome completed. The arche/dome trnasition is proving to be a real challenge. I think we have it under control. You tell me...haha. Thanks in advance for any input.... John

[lwood]

More of this week's work