Forno Tito

[Ken524]

Originally Posted by JoeT62

Sort of. I wanted the upper arch to "stick out" slightly from the columns. Just an aesthetic thing. It leaves a small channel that I am hoping will be like little smoke catchers and funnel it into the vent.

Excellent idea. Again, it looks great. Thanks!

Ken

[JoeT62]

Started a second fire in the oven this morning, and will do another tonight. I am using the "Ernie Banks" method of oven curing (lets play two!)

Until my insulation arrives, I'll keep them down to a dull roar. Although the top of the dome did get warm on the outside this morning. I could still hold my hand on it, but the heat from the fire was definitely coming through!

[JoeT62]

OK, maybe not quite a disaster, but a bit of a setback.

On Thursday morning, I went outside to check on the oven and wipe some soot off the face of the front arch that had gotten there from the fires. When I wiped I noticed that the entire center of the arch moved (the middle 5 bricks). Bummer!!!!

I toyed with simply re-mortaring them in as one piece, but decided to take them apart and rebuild it. When I chiseled my mortar off I noted that the centers of the mortar "pancakes" were still dark from moisture - not nearly fully cured. Lesson learned: let ALL the mortar (not just the dome) set up for a good week before firing up.

In addition, I thought I cheated on the mortar joints a bit and left them too wide, so perhaps there was too much shear stress on them? In any case, I decided to change the arch a bit and create more of a keystone in the middle by turning a brick on it's flat side and tapering the edges. Now the arch is as tight as the oven entry arch and (I hope) much more stable.

The culprit. Too much, too soon.

The soot in the low vent is quite visible here.

You can see the middle of the mortar is still dark.

The new arch! I think I actually like the look of this quite a bit better than the old one, so I will call this crisis an opportunity!

[asudavew]

looking good!

Note to self.... be patient.........

It must be hard!

[Brauma]

Looks great, Joe. I give you so much credit for doing that yourself. I hope I have the courage to do it someday.

[JoeT62]

I realized it's been awhile since I updated this thread. I am (nearly) done with the project, and the oven has been performing beautifully.

The first two pictures show the enclosure with Hardibacker board screwed onto metal studs. The next shows the stucco and brickwork done.

The last shot shows a pizza with prosciutto and ramps.

I am still organizing photos, so I will have to find a later one showing the roof shingles in place and the concrete slab stained. When the weather improves, I will be making a concrete countertop.