PC's 42" Build

[Pizza Common Sewer]

Well after a tough summer I am back to working on my build. I had finished my foundation work and began going up with the cinderblock walls of the stand in early July. Well, it was the start of Texas's worst ever heat wave and drought and I was working on a Friday for about 5 hours on a day where it hit 105F and I got hit with heat exhaustion or something. I went from being hot and sweaty to being cold and dry and really sick to my stomach. I dropped everything went in the house and to a cold shower and threw up and was quite sick the rest of the weekend. I decided then that I would not work again on the project while the heat of summer was so intense, I really want the WFO but it's not worth dying over. I had no idea the heat wave would be as severe as it has been but now that it's well passed I'm back out there working and hope to have my top slab poured by Thanksgiving and begin working on the
oven itself.

I'll try to post some current pics when I get a chance.

Bill

[aceves]

Hey Bill,

Great start on your WFO and great layout! I have a similar layout, with firepit, wood grill and plenty of countertops. It's an "L" shape corner build as well. Don't worry about taking too long, I'm going on 3 years, but it's finally coming together!

Keep building and you'll get there. Good luck and post pics!

aceves

[Pizza Common Sewer]

I've made some progress on my build after quite a few delays, mostly weather delays.

I am mixing my own hi-temp mortar, as are most of you guys I am sure.

I Found the medium duty firebricks for $1.43 each, maybe I bought too many as I bought 210 so I could use them for the floor too and have some spares in case I mess up.

So far the process has been hard on my hands (see pic below) but easier than I thought. Laying out the oven and getting the floor bricks cut took a good while as it's a lot of cutting. I'm cutting with one of the Harbor Freight $189 wet saws and a $70 diamond blade from HD and it is working fine.

I am at the point where my first, soldier course is up and mortared in place. I cut the soldiers in half rather than leave them full height as I am shooting for a internal height of 17". I don't want to exceed 19" so I figured if I shoot for 17" I've got some room for error.

See the progress in pics:

The top slab poured:


The floor of the oven laid out and cut:

The entry to the oven built, mortared and level:

The entry with the arch to the dome area built and mortared, built this arch first so I could build the dome up to it. Note that I left two full sized bricks to extend out from the side of the oven entry dome so that I could tie in my dome and entry very well. I also cut my bricks that transition into the dome from the entry on 45 degree angles so that this area would be very sturdy:

I found it difficult to work with gloves on, especially the working of the mortar between bricks. I wanted the oven opening area to look great so I worked all the mortar in this area with my bare hands, but you pay a price for that. Between the friction and the irritation that comes from the portland and lime in the mortar you fingers get outrageously sore:


I hope to work some more this week but we have a lot of rain coming through over the next couple days and that will probably hold me up some.

Let me know if you have any questions or comments! I'm happy to be this far along now with my oven / outdoor kitchen project. The initial plumbing, electrical conduit running, foundation work and oven base building were back breaking. I hauled around 140 bags of 80lb premix concrete around my house not to mention rebar, concrete blocks, etc, etc. The oven building part is quite fun in comparison. Even if my fingers are a bit sore, ok they are really, really sore! LOL

[SableSprings]

Good progress Bill! As to those "injured fingers", buy yourself some cheap white vinegar and liberally wash your hands with it after working with mortar/cement. The weak acid of the vinegar neutralizes the lime and really makes a difference helping your hands heal.

I also like to work without gloves, but the thin, blue nitrile ones really do a good job of giving you protection and "touch control"...even when you double up the gloves for an extra layer of safety.

[Pizza Common Sewer]

Thanks! I will try the vinegar to neutralize the mortar. I did pick up some thin latex gloves to help me keep my skin on my hands! LOL

[Gulf]

Years ago when I did this for a living I would coat my hands with mineral oil (baby oil with out the smell) before going to work. It helped to keep the mortar out of the pores, cuts, nicks etc. Back then I had no fingerprints .
Now, I'm a wuss . I use the un-powdered exam gloves. I get them in a box of 100 and change gloves every break. I do use cut resistant gloves for the wet saw and when I am moving large amounts of brick.

[Pizza Common Sewer]

Thanks!

I will definitely try the mineral oil and couple that with washing up with vinegar!

Bill