Mark's WFO

[Breven]

I used some bender board too in my build. It's wood, but covered in a vinyl sheeth. It's in the garden department. People use it to edge around flower beds and what not. It comes in long peices, maybe 10 footers. Very common here in C.A. at all the garden centers.

[exceloven]

Christo, I went to HD and got the SKU for the EcoForm Bender board. It is 230-230 and is $7.37. Hope it helps.

Mark

[gjbingham]

Bender board around here is 8' X 3" (ish) X 1/8" thick cedar (planks is somewhat applicable) - sold for use in garden edging or forming curves in concrete work or other similar applications. You can bend this stuff, nearly as much as you need before it breaks. Gentle curves are no problem. Serious bends are difficult. If you plan on buying some for a tight bend in concrete work, give it a bend test in the store and put the broken pieces back for the employees to deal with. Knots and swirls in the wood are deadly. They break easily.
I did use this stuff to form the two bends on my corner installation oven. In each case, I broke the entire eight-foot section, even after pre-wetting and pre-bending, before trying to fit them into the concrete form. The last useable piece was the one that worked both times.
A nice strip of formica would be a better choice, but you'd need to find a demolition someplace to scavange a bit from. No chance in buying that for a reasonable price at HD or Lowes.
G.

[exceloven]

I was able to get my top poured yesterday and I stripped the forms today. I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out I hope to pour my insulation layer early this week if work allows. I found firebrick for .95 so I hope to pick them up this week and start cutting. Any recommendations on how many brick I should pick up, I can always get more so a general idea would be appreciated. By the way its a 42" oven.

Mark

[Les]

Mark,

I believe I went through 275 brick. I did have a lot of scrap because of the cuts. If you are going to use 1/2 bricks - I would think 200 would cover it.

Les...

[amber]

Mark,
Mine is a 36" and I went through 165 give or take. I have a lot of scrap, too, so I probably could have gotten away with a bit less, but I liked having as many as needed.

[Justin]

Nice work MArk, it all makes sense now!

[egalecki]

I built a 36", and I just went by the plans when I bought brick. I think I have about 7 whole bricks left over and a 5 gallon bucket full of scraps. I used as much scrap as I could as I went- and I tried not to get too far ahead of myself when I was cutting, so I didn't end up with half bricks when I really needed thirds.

[amber]

I have that same bucket! Now my question is what to do with the brick bits and my leftover 1/2 bricks...

[exceloven]

I got the insulating layer poured today. I was surprised it took EXACTLY two bags of vermiculite. I wasn't short and had zero leftover. I've heard it takes a while to set up. Any thoughts on how long I will have to wait till its set enough to work on, and should I keep it covered while it drys. Thanks all.

Mark