WFO with a view Brick Oven Photos Discuss WFO with a view in the Good Background Information forums; I was away most of the weekend, but managed to squeeze in a few hours late Sunday to start on ...

[tfasz]

I was away most of the weekend, but managed to squeeze in a few hours late Sunday to start on my 5th row.

This weekend I need to start thinking about how this is going to merge into the arch.

When do most folks start switching to 1/3 bricks for their upper courses? I feel like I am getting close.

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

Bergen county is a great place - nice to see some good pizza is still being made there in hand-built ovens!

Bergen is pretty good, they (gov. christie)are trying now to change the blue laws and allow the malls to be open on sundays, which is the only day you can actually drive around without getting killed here.. and I think the clothing store MacHughs is a doctors offices now,,

RE: 1/3 bricks, I used half bricks for the whole oven, so I cant answer that question, But I can say your oven is looking great and you are doing a NICE job,,,,
Cheers
Mark

[tfasz]

Spent some time this weekend puzzling through the dome merge into the arch. This is one area I never spent much time thinking about - and it was a bit more involved than I would have guessed. I don't have a good picture, but I ended up with some intricate cuts for a small brick behind the left and right arch supports and then a brick over the top. Getting the next course in went pretty smoothly and that leaves me to ponder the next steps in dome/arch merging this weekend.

Decided to start mortaring in the whole brick gap now that I'm getting more vertical. Finished my second bag of Heatstop 50 so will be swinging by the store this week to pick up some more. Hoping I can finish with one more, but might be tight with the chimney.

[tfasz]

Felt like I did not quite accomplish much this weekend despite a number of hours work out back in "the salt mine" (I tell my wife that so she thinks it is a slog while I really am having fun ;-) ).

I cut 3 bricks to bridge across the top of the arch, and then fit 3 more to be mortared in underneath. Hoping the mortar holds them in there as there is nothing else holding them up.

Meant to get my next course up too, but ended up trying my hand at tapering bricks to see if I could get them fitting better.

[tfasz]

Did not get much accomplished last weekend with mother's day and all, but managed to squeeze in some hours this weekend. What a pleasure the past few weekends have been - finally feels like spring in Seattle. Perfect pizza oven building time.

Nothing too exciting but a few more courses finished. Might actually get the dome closed in this month!

Funny how I notice all my mistakes so much more easily in the pictures then when I was leaning over a brick holding it in place until the mortar sets up ... ;-)

[Eric Pfeifer]

Great, clean work!

[Dino_Pizza]

"Funny how I notice all my mistakes so much more easily in the pictures then when I was leaning over a brick holding it in place until the mortar sets up ... ;-)"

Ya, I know exactly what you mean! Your oven looks great and the inside looks fine. Mine turned out about the same. I like how well you used the mortar on the outside to fill the gaps. Tappering (on the lower courses) is fine but not really neaded and your nice oven shows that. I also like how in your last pic you can see the dome "flattening" over. Now those are some serious tappering cuts!

Good job cutting the side reveal into the side walls/inner arch. It makes a stronger, integrated dome. What are you going to do for the reaveal at the top? Add a smaller arch 1" above?

Keep up the good work, nice documentation too on picassa,
-Dino

[tfasz]

Dino - thanks for the comments. I'm sure we are all our own worst critics.

Originally Posted by Dino_Pizza

Good job cutting the side reveal into the side walls/inner arch. It makes a stronger, integrated dome. What are you going to do for the reaveal at the top? Add a smaller arch 1" above?

I was planning on having a door with an inset insulated section that fits into the arch and then have some flat outer piece that presses up against the reveal and the top of the arch. Figured it was mostly important to have a flat outer section to seal up against. Let me know if you think that would be a problem.

Originally Posted by Dino_Pizza

Keep up the good work, nice documentation too on picassa -Dino

Thanks! Learned that from you and everyone else. I think I got as much out of looking at other folks pictures than reading the PDF.

[tfasz]

And an update - fun weekend in the back yard. Managed to get the final two courses in this weekend and the keystone. Let my kids sign the keystone when it was all wrapped up.

Wish I had gotten that last course a bit flatter, but reasonably happy with how it all turned out. Now on to the chimney/flue/landing and then the outer insulation and dome finishing. Hopefully pizza buy July/August!

[fxpose]

Hey, congratulations on closing your dome! We both did the same thing over the weekend....good timing!
Very clean brick work on your part. Nice!

George