Overshot on 5th fire?

[mgraban]

I overshot a bit... the 5th fire was getting to a good 800-850 on the oven dome.

Do you think I'm getting to the point where I can try actually cooking next time?

Or should I make another fire or two at about this size (or slightly higher)?

[mgraban]

The flames are beautiful, by the way, the way they hit the top of the dome and bounce down. Just as I had read about.

[mgraban]

here is some video from the 5th fire:

Link

[mgraban]

There is a tiny hairline crack in the front floor piece, coming from the front opening straight back a bit (in front of where I had the fire).

[james]

Hi Mark,

I know we talked about the hairline crack outside the fourm, but for everyone else, I thought I would post my response here as well. It's OK. That was probably a pretty strong fire for #5 -- and yes, you are ready to cook something. Grill some steaks or chicken, or roast a chicken and potatotes. Have fun!

James

******

This is not a problem at all. The Artigiano does get little hairline cracks in the floor and dome (we've even put a description in the installation guide) and I have talked with the builder about it at length. Basically, real brick ovens, and the authentic cotta refrattario floors are susceptible to hairline cracks -- and they have absolutely no impact on how well the oven will last or how long it will last. The builder's experience of 25 years is that is just part of the territory, and comes with having an authentic brick oven.

I hope this puts you at ease! Your oven will cook wonderfully.

[mgraban]

Thanks. I have a "tuscan grill" but I was really hoping the first thing I cooked would be a pizza :-)

[james]

Tuscan grill tomorrow; or Pizza Napoletana by the weekend. At least it's a good tradeoff!

As our daughter say -- broccoli or spinach isn't reallly a choice.
James

[CanuckJim]

Should have replied to this earlier. If you don't get minor cracking, it's a bonus. But, and it's a large one, they do, as James says, go with the territory. I got a small crack above the outside arch on my all brick bread oven very early on Might have had something to do with the fact that an early version draft door caught fire and overheated the angle iron behind the arch. Ahem. It's not gotten any bigger, it doesn't impact the way the oven performs, and it's sort of decorative. Don' sweat it. Or, as the saying in Canada sometimes is, "No sweat in the Arctic."

Jim