Elizabeth's oven

[egalecki]

I'm going to try to cut a rudimentary door from leftover insblock 19 when I can touch the oven again- I guess I'll prop it shut with bricks. I'm interested in seeing how hot it will be in the morning in there.

What do you all put your ashes/coals in when you pull them out?

[asudavew]

Looks great.

I used to use bricks to block off the doorway too.

I did, eventually, get around to building a door, but I still need to build another one...
I'm the constant procrastinator lately, but it could be due to the 105 degree temps.

But enough about me!

I covered my chimney (here I go again) (single wall 8" pipe) with chicken wire.
On top of that I added about 1" of high heat mortar. ( I was hoping that it would hold heat longer and help with the draw... I think it helped some)


Dave

Then I added more chicken wire and about 2 inches of vermcrete. I then stuccoed over that. The stucco has a few really tiny cracks. And I like the look better than just the metal flue.

Anyways.. a few pics for ya.

I love your design specs. Can't wait to see the finished product!

[asudavew]

Oh.. one more thing.

I couldn't tell if your outer entry was higher than your inner entry, but mine is and Frances' is. That may be the reason why that you are getting smoke out the front. I have the same problem and Frances does to. But I think it makes the oven look "authentic". So don't you sweat it!

my 2 pennies


Dave

[egalecki]

Chicken in the oven! And veggies too... not sure it's hot enough to cook them as fast as I'd like, but it's hot enough to do the job even if it takes a little longer than an hour.

I'll let you know how it eats!

[egalecki]

Thanks, Dave- yes, my outer arch is higher. I was wondering about that making the smoke worse, but I could also very clearly see that when I had a good fire going, there wasn't much smoke at all anyway. I just need to work on my pyromaniac skills so I can get a good fire going quickly instead of smoking the neighborhood to death. (no complaints so far, but you never know..)

[asudavew]

Originally Posted by egalecki

Thanks, Dave- yes, my outer arch is higher. I was wondering about that making the smoke worse, but I could also very clearly see that when I had a good fire going, there wasn't much smoke at all anyway. I just need to work on my pyromaniac skills so I can get a good fire going quickly instead of smoking the neighborhood to death. (no complaints so far, but you never know..)

Yeah... I used to throw all my wood in at once. Small stuff on the bottom, then medium, then big... And then I would light the bottom. Gosh would it smoke up the neighborhood.

But lately I just start a small tiny fire. When it gets going, I add medium sticks, and work my way up from there. Much less smoke that way.

It's time to go home!! woohoo
So I'm out of here, but take some pics of that poultry!

[Frances]

Actually I have this neat idea for reducing the smoke during the start up fires - I'll let you know more just as soon as I get round to making it...

About the coals, um, this is a bit of a dirty secret, but... officially I have an old metal rubbish bin to dump them in. And an old metal shovel thing to do it with. But what actually happens is, I push them to the back of the oven (still haven't got the hang of getting them to the side) bake pizzas, close the door and just leave them in there. I know its not so good for bread baking, but my bread seems to be turning out fine, so ...

The big advantage is, when I start my next fire theres a bunch of ready made coal in there to build it on. And I rarely have to clean my oven.

So that's what I do anyway. But don't tell anyone, ok?

[Frances]

Oh, cool fires by the way. Fun isn't it?

You know the oven's hot enough when the you count "OneMisoohOOUUUTCH!!"

[egalecki]

First food! The chicken was wonderful- I had white wine and rosemary stuffed into the cans under the chicken, which was just salted and peppered. The vegetables had rosemary, olive oil, salt and pepper, and most of them came from my garden (except for the little potatoes). It all came out well- it took a little longer than an hour.

the kids were most impressed.

[egalecki]

FIRST PIZZA!!!!

Well, actually it's the fifth one. I was busy feeding everyone else first, as usual. This is MY first pizza.

I know I was supposed to move the fire to one side, but all I have to do that with at the moment is my mortar mixing paddle (it has a long handle and it's metal and stiff enough, and I already have it!) and it isn't good for moving to one side. It pushes back ok, though. And it rakes coals forward- I did that once to recharge the floor. I need to work on heat regulation- I didn't have enough heat on top, I think- although I did have flames licking the roof (and indeed, trying to go up the vent...)

I didn't make any calzones, although one was close! I was using my old aluminum cushionaire cookie sheets for peels and to clean off the floor- a suitable use for a horrible excuse for a cookie sheet... Thank goodness we bought a big red suede mitt Sunday at Target, or I'd be missing all the hair on one arm!

It was so exciting to have all that work turn out really good pizza! (thanks for the dough recipe, Dave, it was great)

If you look inside the oven in the first picture, you can see the heat shimmer. Pretty cool.