My progress

[lwood]

Originally Posted by Lancer

Thanks John. Had some luck, found both perlite and kiln dried red clay fire bricks. They have to be ordered though and the bricks are P12ea (about 28cents) and the perlite is P230ish or over $5 a bag. Still, that makes it doable. May I ask how many bags you've used John?

Hi Lancer,
My bricks were 3.5"x7.5"x1" and about 5cents each but I had about 10% loss due to breakage. My perlite was cheap because it is basically where they mine it, I got 5 bags for that price. I used over 1000 bricks and 25 bags of perlite.

I am amazed at the insulating power of the unexpanded perlite. I have been firing the oven for the last week and progressively getting hotter. Yesterday I fired it all day long and the outside dome was just warm to the touch (~110degF) while the inside was blazing hot. I don't have a door yet so not white dome hot yet.

I have developed one small crack radiating out from the left rear corner of the chimney, maybe 4 to 6 inches long and less than 1mm wide. The exterior dome is the hottest right around the chimney ~ 120F. Wondering if that is normal. Maybe I could use more perlite in that area? Any suggestions/advice out there?