Pizza Bob's 42" Build Pompeii Oven Construction Discuss Pizza Bob's 42" Build in the Pizza Oven Design and Installation forums; Here is a link to my YouTube site which has a video I made of progress to date. I'll update ...

[pizza_bob]

Here is a link to my YouTube site which has a video I made of progress to date. I'll update it periodically as I make progress:

YouTube - Bob's Wood Fired Pizza Oven

~Bob

[Dino_Pizza]

Bob, your youtube video is awesome! I just love the music too. It's nice to see all your work to date in a couple of minutes. Nicely done. Is that Dean Martin singing That's Amore? Can't wait to show it friends.
thanks, Dino

[cecilB]

Hi Bob, while I'm waiting for your video to download, I wanted to ask you about your arch dome brick cutting. Yours look so good - Yesterday we worked all day trying to cut them right and then one whole section was just not supported well enough, so it fell in. I cleaned up and went in for the day!
Is there a trick to getting your dome to arch bricks cut that perfectly?
It's one thing to see it in your mind - which is hard enough in my mind - but to put it up to a blade that only runs straight up and down - you have to know which position to place the brick - AAAAACK!

Any tips?
thanks,
cecelia

[Rodneyf]

Cecilia, I got around the transition bricks by using polystyrene foam cut from old Broccoli (vegetable) boxes cut to the same size as my bricks. It is easy to cut with a hacksaw blade and if you make a mistake it doesn't matter, it is then just a matter of transferring the cuts to real bricks.

[pizza_bob]

Originally Posted by cecilB

Hi Bob, while I'm waiting for your video to download, I wanted to ask you about your arch dome brick cutting. Yours look so good - Yesterday we worked all day trying to cut them right and then one whole section was just not supported well enough, so it fell in. I cleaned up and went in for the day!
Is there a trick to getting your dome to arch bricks cut that perfectly?
It's one thing to see it in your mind - which is hard enough in my mind - but to put it up to a blade that only runs straight up and down - you have to know which position to place the brick - AAAAACK!

Any tips?
thanks,
cecelia

Hello Cecelia,
Thank you for thinking my arch dome bricks look so good. I'm sorry to hear you're having trouble with this part of the build but perhaps I can help. I wish I took a video of the process because once I figured it out it really was so easy! It took a few years off my life and added some gray hairs for sure but I was pleased with the results. I know...I know...You want me to shut-up and explain the process...

My approach started off like Rodney's - I used cardboard to cut the shape in a flat pattern. The shape ALWAYS ended-up looking like the image below. The key was to mortar the course you're working on right up until there is only enough room for the transition brick. Then take your cardboard and place it on the upper most surface of that last brick in the course you're working on. Make sure it's the upper most face as shown in the picture below. Trace the pattern in the cardboard so that the v-groove intersects with the arch and the long side of the v-groove is flush with the arch bricks. Then take that cardboard pattern and transfer it to your brick with a Sharpie or marker that doesn't smear with water. Your first cut on the brick will be with the brick placed flat down on your tile saw table. Just a simple straight cut. You will have to flip the brick over to complete the cut and probably have to hit the portion you're removing with a rubber hammer or the palm of your fist to remove it but that shouldn't be a problem. The next part gets a little tricky as to how to hold the brick. If you look at the image below of the angled brick against the tile saw blade. The only way to do that is to hold it in your hands at the correct angle and keep your fingers away from the blade. I know...What is the "correct angle"? You will need to "creep up" to the final correct angle. Just make sure yo maintain the the original cardboard pattern by not cutting into it but rather cutting away from it (if that makes sense ). Both surfaces of this v-groove need to be angled back until it fits properly against your arch and dome bricks. Just take a cut and and match it up to where it will be mortared in. You'll see the angle will need to be cut probably 8 - 12 times before it fits perfectly.But as you cut these angles on both surfaces of the v-groove (when I say both surfaces - there is a long surface and a shorter surface that form this v-groove) make sure you do not change your initial cut that was transferred from the cardboard. The radius in the v-groove that you see in the image below was just "whittled" away by holding the brick in my hands and using the tile saw as a pedestal grinder and rotating the brick to get a nice transition of the two surfaces. Nobody will ever see this radius but a sharp corner there can introduce a stress riser or an area for a crack to form. As you progress on to the next course you will need to make the "longer" surface of the v-groove longer to overlap the course underneath it. This will allow you to continually close-in your circle at the arch transition. Just keep an eye out for the "tear-drop" shape ). This can be avoided by slightly overlapping each transition brick from course to course. Take a close look at pictures I posted earlier in my thread and you'll notice this overlap.

I hope this makes sense and it helps. I'm not sure if it's the easiest method of doing this and I'm sure I probably over thought an area that no one would have seen if I just kept my camera in the house...

Good luck on the rest of your build. My build is stalled at the 8th course.

p.s. - I will post another message with two more images.

Regards,
Bob

[pizza_bob]

Here is the last image...

[cecilB]

wow - thanks for the instruction!
I was thinking about it yesterday - using paper or cardboard to make a template of the top of the brick at the transition, and then one of the bottom - and then transferring that to the top and bottom of a brick - but it was always the getting it up to the blade at the correct angle!
Saturday, I did start holding bricks up to the blade like a grinder. That was a revelation for me!
I probably won't get to work on it much this week. But who knows how things may change!
Thanks for you help - I have lots of those styrofoam things from chickens.

Cecelia

[Rodneyf]

Cecilia, sometimes an angle grinder is usefull for cuts like these as you can come in from any angle. Once your oven is built I can tell you now, nobody will lay on theie back with there head inside your oven to check out your transition bricks. Enjoy your build and have some fun.

[DaveW]

Hi Bob,
You and Dino are my inspiration. . .true craftsmen. Of course there are many others but I have been focusing my attention on your builds. Is the weather as nasty up there as it is here in VA? I set my soldier bricks and the wx went sour. I won't catch you but I hope to follow closely behind. Thanks for documenting your build so well,
Dave

[dsgreco]

Your oven looks great. I can only hope mine comes out that nice. Thanks for posting the transition brick images. I am sure I will need them in the near future.