Matt's WFO Build Pompeii Oven Construction Discuss Matt's WFO Build in the Pizza Oven Design and Installation forums; as I am 6'2" and crawling in the oven does not leave a lot of room to work. How Tall ...

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

as I am 6'2" and crawling in the oven does not leave a lot of room to work.

How Tall is you wife ???

Ok this waiting is killing me.

you can throw a halogen worklight or a small electric space heater in there to help spped things up.. Just block the door of to hold the heat in...

While I wait I decided to try to make a oven door template out of wood.

my door is wood with double sheet metal on the inside,,, and I wrapped the edges in aluminum angle iron.. works great you can also soak the door in water so it releases steam for bread baking...

Keep up the good work
Cheers
Mark

[mluttropp]

My wife is much shorter but I suspect her response to a request to crawl into the oven would be he'll no. If need be one of my kids is always happy to crawl in.

I like the suggestion of the hsllogen lamp, but I don't think that will speed up the cure of Portland cement. Might be a good way to start drying out the oven when I get to the cutting fires stage of things.

Humm, simply wrapping the wood in sheet metal protects it enough from the heat. Does the wood provide enough insulation on the door. This sounds like a nice simple way to go for those of us that are welding chalenged.

Thanks for the advice.

[mluttropp]

It has been 19 days or so since I place the last brick and I decided that that was enough cure time and I really wanted to get going on the curing fires.

Yesterday after work I started up a propane weed burning torch thing and started heating the oven up. Since I did not want to leave the propane on all night I thought I would make a little pile of charcoal and have that keep the oven temp warm durring the night. I got the oven up to something just shy of 200 degrees for 5 or 6 hours. By this morning the oven had cooled down to 80 degrees or so.

Before I started to heat the oven up again I shoveled out the charcoal ash and discovered that I will have some bricks to sand as the ash rake gets hung up on a couple of the bricks.

The plan is to get the oven up to about 250 or 300 degrees today.

So far I have not noticed large quantities of steam just a bit of humidity in the air. I think this is what I am trying for as large quantities of steam are what likely cracks everyones oven.

I will let you all know how it goods.

Happy Halloween

[mluttropp]

After about 3 hours the top 2/3 of the oven was near 300 degrees the lower 1/3 was near 200. I noticed that on the outside of the dome some very thin hairline cracks had developed and it woul appear that moisture is escaping from these cracks as they are slightly lighter. I am not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing or just a thing. I suspect that it is normal, so I turned off the propane and loaded in a small oile of charcoal to keep the temp best 300 degrees while I go gave a fun Halloween.

Tomarrow I will heat the oven to the same temperatures and see how it dies before moving the temps any higher.

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

Humm, simply wrapping the wood in sheet metal protects it enough from the heat. Does the wood provide enough insulation on the door

Hey matt...
My uncle in italy has been using just a wood door for 50 years,, They just soak it in water and replace it every few years.. I will tell you if your gonna use just wood, you cant leave it on overnight, as it will burn up (trust me) and you must wrap the edges as it will burn up (trust me) if left on overnight.. Right now my door is made of hard maple, holds the heat but wont soak up a lot of water as the grain is very tight.. I have a nice piece of maple for the next one....

am not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing or just a thing. I suspect that it is normal

Its just a thing.. nothing to do about it,,, as the beatles said "Let It Be" dont worry and enjoy your Halloween

Cheers
Mark

[wayner]

Matt,

Thanks, I picked up the indispensable tool from the Post Office yesterday. It's been quite a few weeks since I've worked on my oven. I'm glad to see you're moving along with your cures.

Do you want me to send you a check for the postage or paypal you some money?

Have a safe Halloween.

-wayne

[mluttropp]

Wayne,

it was not ghat expensive to ship so dont bother with sending me anything. I just ask that you send it on to the next person when you are done with it.

Let me know if you have any question or problems with it.

[jmhepworth]

The camaraderie in this forum is remarkable to me. People from all over the world who for the most part have never met each other or even talked on the phone, share ideas and tools. Truly amazing.

[mluttropp]

I started the propane borner this morning at 9 am and ran it till 6:30 pm for a long 9 1/2 hour burn at 300 to 350. The outside of the dome was consistently at 150. A few hairline cracks showed up but nothing that worried me.

The interesting thing was that you could see the outer render layer changing colors as it dried out. The outside of the dome is nearly all white st this point. I thil it may be time to get the insulation layer on this thing.

I will do another shorter burn after work tomarow and see if I can slowly vying it up to 400 or so.

[mluttropp]

Tonight I got the top of the oven up to 450 degrees. Funny thing is that the lower part just can not seem to get all that hot. My guess is that I am at the stage where I need to be thinking about putting the insulation on. The cool thing is that the insulated floor stays nice and hot four a long time after the rest of the oven has cooled off. That at the very least is a good sign.

The cracks in the outside of the dome are starting to get a little bigger, but I think they would still qualify as hairline and no big deal. I think I will use wood for the next firing and see how hot I can get it and if smoke comes out of the cracks. I am also currious to see how well the chiming draws.