Michigan WFO Brick Oven Photos Discuss Michigan WFO in the Good Background Information forums; I would agree that using an angle grinder to grind out he mortar on the one brick in question, would ...

[mannextdoor]

I would agree that using an angle grinder to grind out he mortar on the one brick in question, would be the way to go. You should be able to replace just the one brick.

[mfiore]

I'll see what I can do.

Do I need to put a coat of mortar over my dome? I plan to use insulating blankets, no vermiculite. It will have a walled enclosure, so the dome will not be seen. Does the surface coat of mortar provide any structural strength? Is it's only purpose to round out the oven and give some (0.25-0.5 inch) further mass? Unless it is needed for structural purposes, I'd just as soon leave as is.

[Les]

Mike - I don't think it is needed. After you fire it up, and develop cracks - it may help minimize the size of them with a second coat.

Les...

[mfiore]

A second coat? but I don't even have a first coat. The bricks are naked and exposed.

[egalecki]

I only put my extra mortar layer on because I wasn't as tidy as you were while I was building. I had a lot of "backfilling" to do, and since I only cut halfway through my bricks and broke them the rest of the way, I had a lot of sticking out parts, which I covered up so I didn't shred my blanket (I had already shredded my knees)

You don't need the extra mass, and your dome is nice and tidy. I wouldn't mess with it.

If you're using blanket, you can fire up the oven and pull the blanket back to check for cracks- that's what I did. Although, I didn't get much in the way of cracking initially, and now I have several (of course, AFTER I'd done the rest of the insulating!). They're minor, however, and I think I'm the only one who'd see them.

so, are you taking the arch apart or covering it up?

[Les]

Originally Posted by mfiore

A second coat? but I don't even have a first coat. The bricks are naked and exposed.

Mike - I would fire it up and see what happens. I've seen cracks up to 1/2 in. wide on ovens. If that were to happen, I would add some mortar to it. As Elizabeth mentioned, you don't need the mass, I'm just thinking the smaller the cracks, the better.

Les...

[mfiore]

Originally Posted by egalecki

so, are you taking the arch apart or covering it up?

Haven't decided yet. I'm going to mull it over tonight over a bottle of wine.

[staestc]

Mike,

Make sure it's good wine

As for the extra mass, make sure you don't want it. Always a trade, and not sure I want it either, given the extra time to heat for pizza, but possibly will hold heat longer for other things.

I have been so into the design and engineering aspects of this forum since I finally found it, that I have not even begun to start studying the huge cooking half of the forum! I am thinking I need to do at least a little of that before I make any final design decisions, but I know that I want pizza, bread, and roasts. Probably never loads of any of those.

I am curious how you (and others) see yourself using it, and if you think the extra mass makes any difference from that respect, as well as knowing if there is a stuctural reason to add it.

You had got to be so happy to be worring about these type of things! Your oven is just looking great!

Travis

[mannextdoor]

If you coat the dome to add more mass. What product do you use? Does anyone wish they had added more mass? Will extra mass on the dome give a greater difference in temperature between floor and the top of the dome?

[Frances]

I don't think it matters much either way in the end...

After building your oven you will have to learn how to use it, and as each oven reacts a bit differently, in respect to heat up times, hot spots, temp curve etc, and as most of us only ever get to cook in one oven... well, how would you compare?

I didn't add any mass to my oven, and I use it a lot for all kinds of cooking. So the answer would have to be no, an oven doesn't need any aditional mass. But really I think that if I had added more mass to the dome the oven wouldn't be better or worse, only different.