I've finally started our oven in Costa Rica Brick Oven Photos Discuss I've finally started our oven in Costa Rica in the Good Background Information forums; I did two more fires on Friday and Saturday to get the oven to temperature for last night's Oscars party. ...

[carloswlkr]

I did two more fires on Friday and Saturday to get the oven to temperature for last night's Oscars party. I may have been over zealous on friday, reaching pretty high temps. The oven cracked a bit more, and you could see the moisture escaping from the cracks. But they are all along mortar joints, and none is very visible from inside, so I'm not worried.

I had my first test pizzas on Saturday as we were cleaning up the mess and readying the ranchito for Sunday. The dough wasn't my best, but the oven worked like a charm. I bought new tools (had a rake and shovel made, and found a brush that will work), and tested them out, too.

Last night was my baptism by fire. We had a group of friends over, and made 16 pizzas. It was a great night, and everyone brought something to contribute. We had some creative pizzas, like a white pizza (no sauce) with caramelized onions, fresh mozzarella, goat cheese, and mushrooms; several with shrimp; a pair with anchovies; and an assortment with varying combinations of roasted peppers, marinated eggplant, feta cheese, prosciutto, arrugula, kalamata olives... and the last two were sweet pizzas with chocolate fudge sauce and fresh strawberries.

It was a great night, and the oven was a joy to work. Now I'm off to Honduras for another week, but when I return, I'll get to work insulating and finishing the odds and ends.

Meanwhile, here are a few shots of the oven, party and pizzas.

Thanks again for all the advice and feedback over the last few weeks!

[sjmeff]

Carlos - I'm really enjoying watching your build. As others have commented, the circular arch landing with the tapered bricks looks really nice. I wanted to ask what technique you used for this. I feel like I could probably forge my way through the first arch, but when it came time for the outer one (leaving a lip for the door), it would be difficult to get the two to line up well.

Thanks,
Stephen

[carloswlkr]

Originally Posted by sjmeff

the circular arch landing with the tapered bricks looks really nice. I wanted to ask what technique you used for this.

Stephen, Thanks for the kind words. I have enjoyed building it immensely.

My arch was very easy, thanks in no small part to the ready availability of tapered firebricks. I started off by deciding the width and height I wanted for the inner arch, then I drew the arch on the floor using a compass (actually, the compass was at the brick foundry; at home I used a string and a piece of chalk). Next, I started lining the bricks along the half-circle to see which ones pieced together best. If you don't have access to tapered bricks, you could easily use the same technique with rectangular bricks to determine the size of shimmy you would need to use to get a uniform arch and gap between each brick.

My inner arch was made with bricks cut in half, stacked with the cut side towards the inside of the oven. I used the flat part of a long level to make sure the face of the bricks were in line as I went up. I think I only set down 4 or 5 courses the first day, and the remainder on a subsequent day. I cut a support out of two pieces of plywood, using the same radius of the circle that I had measured for the arch. With the support in place, setting the rest of the bricks on the first arch was quick work.

To determine the outer arch, I added an inch (or was it an inch and a half?) to the radius of the circle, and drew another half circle on the floor. I laid out the bricks again along the new arch, to see which ones fit best together. I ended up using a combination of #22 tapers (same as I used in the construction of my dome) and the regular #1 standard firebrick (these are local foundry brick size numbers -- since I'm a newbie, I have no idea if these numbers are standardized). The outer arch is 1 1/2 bricks in depth (13 1/2" total), and for stability, I offset cut and full-length bricks as I built the first several layers up until the vent, at which point, I continued the outer arch with a standard length brick and another plywood support system.

The inner and outer arches lined up easily, and are connected with a very thin layer of mortar. Both arches have a standard 2 1/2 " thick rectangular brick laid on its side to add a bit of height, and the half-circle starts from that height.

Does this help at all? Again, I think mine was quite easy to do, since all the bricks were laid square (or if you don't have tapered bricks, you would still line them up square along the inner edge). I like the clean look, and didn't have to calculate very much to achieve it. But there are some great looking opening arches on the forum with a wider opening, tapering in to a more narrow inner arch, and I take my hat off to those who were able to tackle those beasts!

Good luck!

[sjmeff]

Carlos - thanks for the detailed response. This is very helpful. I don't believe that tapered bricks are available around here though I will check. Either way, I think I'll try to do this as you described (drawing the arch and then laying out the bricks on the ground). If I can get it to work that way, I'll attempt the second, outer arch.

I will let you know how it goes! Thanks again.

Cheers,
Stephen

p.s. Last year I was at Earth University in Limón for a week for work. Absolutely wonderful staff and students. Very inspiring. I can't wait to get back to Costa Rica.

[dmun]

Tapered firebricks are a refractory supply item. They form the doorways and tops of kilns and furnaces in a number of applications. They come in various duty ratings and are quite expensive compared to the low duty rectangular bricks you get at the brickyard.

If you live in a big place, there is probably an ANH (Harbison-Walker) branch nearby, or a pottery kiln supplier should be able to order them (Just don't get the insulating kind)

[Salv B]

Hey Carlos,

Congratulations on getting to your first pizzas. Everything looks great and you obviously got the hang of it right away - 16 pizzas - not bad! I haven't been game to do that many yet.

[carloswlkr]

Lucky for me, all the tapered bricks cost the same as the standard firebrick... around $1.50! I would hate to have to cut them all on a taper lengthwise with the tools I had at hand!

[carloswlkr]

OK, how worried should I be?

I uncovered my oven tonight and started another fire for a four pizza session. When I walked around the oven, I discovered a new, somewhat worrying crack. I can see the inside of the dome, and smoke occasionally escapes. It goes all the way up from the soldier course, to the top of the dome. Should I be worried? Should I try to fill the crack from the inside and out? I still haven't applied my insulating layers, so a little more work on the dome won't hurt. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

ps. that's a penny in the first and third pictures to show some scale.

[unomauser]

Originally Posted by carloswlkr

OK, how worried should I be?

I uncovered my oven tonight and started another fire for a four pizza session. When I walked around the oven, I discovered a new, somewhat worrying crack. I can see the inside of the dome, and smoke occasionally escapes. It goes all the way up from the soldier course, to the top of the dome. Should I be worried? Should I try to fill the crack from the inside and out? I still haven't applied my insulating layers, so a little more work on the dome won't hurt. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

ps. that's a penny in the first and third pictures to show some scale.

Carlos,
Congratulations with your oven it's a nice one. Unfortunately cracks develop on almost any refractuary material, you may try to use a high temperature putty to fill the cracks. Try this link hope you find a solution for your problem .
http://www.cotronics.com/vo/cotr/rm_putties.htmbelowand
Good luck.
Jorge

[Dutchoven]

Carlos
I am so sorry to hear about this. I am not certain really how you should go about reparing it...I think you need to since you can see the inside of the oven. I might suggest using just a slurry of fireclay and sand and sort of let is ooze into the crack from the outside...if it is just fireclay it does not really harden until it is fired which means you could probably fire it up in the next day or two and it will harden as it expands?...in any event I would mark it across the crack and fire good and hot a few more times then you can see if there is any other movement and give it a chance to stabilize before you repair it...maybe we will get some other opinions
I hope this helps! Good luck!
Best
Dutch