Dave's Pics of Progress

[asudavew]

Originally Posted by Kemo

Dave,

Greetings from Austin! Hook'em!

Nice to see another TEXAS oven. I hope to start mine here in the next month.
Thanks for posting.

Thanks Kemo,

and Go Cowboys!

[asudavew]

Well..... call me crazy, but I picked up a load of sand/gravel mix today.

Tomorrow I will pick up some cement and my form materials..... Hopefully by the time the weekend is over I will have a hearth!

[asudavew]

No hearth this weekend. It was too hot in my neck of the woods.


But I did get a good start on the forms.

Here's a few pics.


I wanted a overhang all around the stand so I built my forms 1 1/2 bigger on the back and the sides. The front will have a 12" cantilever.

I started the forms upside down to make the screwing easier, then flipped it right side up, placed it around the stand and put support legs under it.

I will post a picture of the final form when I complete it.

I almost forgot... I didn't level the initial blocks on the pad, so I am leveling the hearth pour to make it all work out. Actually I will probably have the mouth of the oven slightly lower than the back of the oven. So water can't get in the oven.

[asudavew]

And of course my daughter Harley helping as usual!


She is always willing to lend me a hand!

[Ken524]

Looks like you are making progress! You spreadsheet looks good. I wish my total cost so far was that low!

[asudavew]

I finished the forms today, and the rebar is set.

Tomorrow I pour.

I've bought 3/4ths of a yard of sand/gravel mix.

And I will pick up 3 bags of cement tomorrow.

The gravel mix is 3 parts gravel to 2 parts sand. So I will need to add 1 part cement and about 1/2 a part of water.

And then mix..... Hard work ahead but it will be worth it.
I will put some pics up Sunday or Monday.
I'm starting to get really excited.
Next week I hope to pick up my bricks.

[Ken524]

Originally Posted by asudavew

I finished the forms today, and the rebar is set.

Dave,

I really like your idea of the overhang all the way around. Make sure you take a few pics of your finished forms and rebar before the pour.

Good luck and have fun pouring.

[asudavew]

I'll do it Ken.

I thought I would take some better close up pics of the form in case someone also wants an overhang around the whole stand.

Thanks for keeping up!

Did you get much done on your dome this weekend?

[Ken524]

Originally Posted by asudavew

Did you get much done on your dome this weekend?

I finally got the courage to open a bag of Heat Stop last night. I laid about 10 bricks. I'll put a few more down today and take some pics. Heat Stop is surprisingly easy to use. As others have said, it's as easy as spreading creamy peanut butter.

Can't wait to see your hearth pics!

[asudavew]

Well we started mixing at 9:50 am.

Each batch consisted of about a 5 gallon bucket of sand/gravel, 1 gallon of cement, and a half a gallon of water.

Let's just say I got to know my new hoe really well.

25 batches later the forms were full and I floated it.
It took us two hours almost on the nose. My wife and one of my daughters was doing the measuring of concrete and sand. And I was doing the mixing and pouring. My wife or daughter would help with the screed board as needed. It went surprisingly well, and I thought it went pretty quick.

I will post pics tonite. Now I'm ready for some Sunday football, of course I will have to finish it with my finishing trowel as it sets up more.

Oh, the cost of the concrete we poured was about 55 U.S. dollars. I will update my spreadsheet later.

I'm ready; bring on some bricks! and vermiculite of course.