Hansen Horno

[mfiore]

Nice work. Are you cutting/beveling/angling/tapering (what ever the proper term is) the sides of the bricks also, or just the mini taper on the bottom? What is your planned final dome height?

[dbhansen]

Thanks Mike. Yep, I'm still cutting an angle on the sides of each piece to eliminate the triangle-shaped gap. So I'm really only saving one cut by not tapering the full underside of each brick, but I'm not cutting away as much brick on the inside face, which should make the dome go a little faster. I'm aiming for a dome height of 21". Right now, it feels like I'll never get there!

I've gone through more than 3 Harbor Freight saw blades already. Not sure why. Last night I bought a Husky blade; I'll see if that lasts longer. I think these bricks are medium duty; maybe that has something to do with it.

[dbhansen]

The next course, tying into the arch.

[dbhansen]

Eighth course. I used a "bridge" to get it over the arch. I hope that's a sound method!

[egalecki]

It's looking good!

As far as your blades go, are you using enough water when you cut? I found with my little baby wet circular saw that if I ran it too dry it was more difficult and burned up my blade faster.

[mfiore]

Daren, you are burning through this dome! Looks outstanding. I like the "bridge". It seems to fill in the void that many domes have had when crossing the arch. To me, it's quite sound. Really just a continuation of the seventh course. Great build. I'm following (and copying) it step by step!

[dbhansen]

Thanks all! I think I will try running the garden hose on the blade, lightly. I do have the built-in pump set to max. I tried soaking all my bricks before cutting today, and I still burned through another $35 blade after about 2.5 courses. It must be these bricks, although I believe others who used medium-duty bricks only used 1-2 blades, so what's wrong with me?!? I'm also trying to reduce my cuts, so that may help. Overall, the blades are (so far) a fairly minor investment when looking at the whole project.

A note about that bridge: I did cut a small "V" groove along the length of the underside so it locks into the arch somewhat. Attached is a pic of the back side of that area. I would have notched 2 regular bricks for that spot, but the notches would have been too deep.

[Frances]

I somehow missed out on this build so far... its looking really good! That bridge is a great idea (maybe needs to be put in the photo gallery, as inspiration to future builders?)

And its still perfectly round after tying in the archway. This is one outstanding dome.

[Ken524]

Daren,

The bridge looks great.

I'm really surprised you are going through blades like that. I used medium duty bricks, and like I said, I still have several layers left on my original blade.

The blade I used is a segmented blade very similar to this one:
MK Diamond 10 In. Premium Grade Segmented Diamond Blade For Paver Bricks. - MK- 10S 10" at The Home Depot. From what I have read, the segmented blades get through the bricks a bit faster.

The label on it was yellow, so I'm thinking it is a Bosch from Home Depot. It may have been around $70. I think I told you it was a bit less in the private message.

[rocks281]

db - That's one sweet looking wfo you're building there. I grew up in the Neenah area and went to FVL. As much as we like Tucson, this time of year, I sure miss WI.