Elizabeth's oven

[egalecki]

I'm not really hung up on the non-gender specific terminology, so workmanship is just fine with me. Cuts down on typing letters!

I did get another round done- now I have to figure out how to close it up.

I do have a few really high spots on the outside- from some bad breaks on the bricks- and I can't cover them all up, so I think I will have to grind at least a few. I promise not to get too compulsive about it! I have that same mental picture about fingers, etc, every time I start up a power tool. It pays to have a healthy respect for them. My dad's the only guy I know with a radial arm saw who still has ALL his fingers and knuckles. I hope I didn't just jinx him...

The height is coming in at just about 18 1/2 inches, which is pretty good for a 36 inch oven, I hope. I was going for 20, but it shrank as I went.

I have no idea how you all get in there to clean it up- and did you wear goggles or something so you didn't get it all in your eyes? I swear I don't think I'll fit!

[sarah h]

Elizabeth, your oven is looking terrific - nice job!
Given how you've progressed up to now, closing the top shouldn't hang you up for long.
The height sound good. As for cleanup, I'd just get what you can reach and don't sweat what you can't - no one but you is going to be sticking their head in there.
Exterior bumps - they'll get covered over even if your finish maintains the beehive shape. What finish style are you thinking of anyway?

Sarah

[egalecki]

It's closed up! I templated the hole, sawed and ground two bricks to fit, mortared them together, and stuck it in.

I still have to do a lot of clean up tomorrow and also get the outside coated to even out the mass where I didn't fill in the angles as I went. A good day's work, for sure. I'd like to get the outer arch done as well, then I can do the flue transition when I get back.

Then I can leave it alone while I go to the beach and commune with the waves and the sand....

And come home and make fire!

[christo]

I love the blue brick!!! Where did you get it? Smurfs making pizza!!

progress looks very good!

I spent part of the afternoon fixing mistakes on my foundation pour - cutting and grinding the edge back so it won't show when I put the patio pavers in...

Looks like you are having way more fun than me!

Christo

[Les]

You go girl! Excellent work. Doesn't it feel great to drop in the keystone? Kinda like "mission accomplished" (without the bullets). Enjoy the beach - you deserve it (that's exactly where I headed, except on the west coast)

Les...

[egalecki]

Whew. I got the outer arch finished just in time to let it dry a few hours before I button it up for the week.

Do you see my clever use of bamboo sticks to keep my half bricks level? I used them inside the dome too on the last couple of really steep rows. They didn't get in the way as much as the bigger sticks I'd tried. Also check out my temporary buttressing (just in case, I hate it when things fall over on me) for the sides of my arch. I'll figure out something permanent later.

It was great to get the floor cleaned up too, and to get the outside coated.

We're off early tomorrow for the beach, so have a good week, all, and take care of yourselves!

[Modthyrth]

It's absolutely gorgeous, Elizabeth! The cleaned-up dome looks absolutely impeccable.

When you coated the exterior, why did you stop where you did? Just curious and noticing little details like that as I get nearer to starting my own dome.

Have a marvelous vacation! Come back well rested and ready to fire up that beauty!

[egalecki]

I stopped where I did because I didn't have enough fireclay to make enough homebrew to do the bottom- what you see underneath is my baking floor and my insulating layers. I didn't think that coating that part was as big a deal as the top, since if you look at some of my earlier pictures, you can see how big the gaps were between bricks on the dome. I wanted the mass on the dome to be more even than that, so I used a mortar bag to squeeze in between cracks and a trowel to slap it on the outside.

I didn't think that a layer of mortar on the outside of the floor would really increase any thermal mass that much, so I'm just going to use more blanket there to keep the heat in.

when you cut your bricks with a wet saw, do it in a pan so you can catch the water, dump the whole thing into a bucket and let it settle, pour off the water, scrape out the clay from the bottom and dry it out. I got quite a lot of fireclay that way- just not quite enough to do the whole thing.

[egalecki]

Ok. The beach was terrific, not much rain, not too hot most days, good water temps, but now I'm ready to fire it up. I'm going to burn the newspaper this morning. We have a bunch right on the table...

Oh, last night when we got home I ran out and took out my forms- The arch stood up! And my blanket came while we were gone too, so I'm set!

(I must confess that most nights when it came time to cook dinner, I kept thinking "I wish I could be doing this in my new oven.." along with "I wish I had a potholder, better knife, silicone spatula, cooking spoon which didn't bend at the neck...) The normally well-equipped house we rent on the beach has had a few thieving guests, methinks. The owners really try to keep it nice, too, so that's disappointing for them. Somehow, though, they've developed a superfluity of 9x13 pans. 5 of them.

Ok, off to burn some stuff!

[egalecki]

Ho Ho Ho, we have fire! So it's only a small one made of newspaper, but there's fire!