No Form Brick Oven

[camarina73]

here are my brick oven photos. I built it using no forms all the way to the top. My father said they used to do it in Italy and I said if he can I can.
Here are the pics:

Yahoo! Photos - brick oven

If you have any questions let me know.

[boccu]

[quote=camarina73;8186]and I said if he can I can.

...... e cosi` hai fatto! (and so you did!) looks really neat. Well done!
happy cooking!
John

[dmun]

You did a great job. Fabricating the double arch and entry flat before starting the dome is a GREAT idea, and I think it should be made the standard of high-class oven building. That vent is really hard to build after the fact, and I think you've solved one of the worst part of the puzzle. It's a lot easier to trim your upper dome bricks to meet the arch than vice versa.

I urge everyone to click through and look at the 124 pics. It's a really high class job.

[Versachi]

There is some really nice brick work on that oven. I am really impressed with the trasition between the dome and the vent as you worked your way up. Also the dome is amazingly symetrical after it leaves the vent. Great work also with the vent itself. My hat goes off to you.

Cheers, John

[redbricknick]

Unbelievable. Dmun, I whole heartedly agree with you regarding the arch.. Camarina.. What did you use for mortar? How did you stop your bricks from slipping? So many questions.. Inspiring work.

[Chris]

That looks great!

I built the entrance arch after the first 1 or 2 rings went in, and I thought it was fairly easy to join the rings to it. My little tile saw took two passes, and I had to freehand everything, so my cuts weren't as accurate as they could have been.

What did you use to set the radius of the dome? I used a quarter-circle of plywood, but had too much slippage near the end, so I resorted to styrofoam. Looking at your work, you use smaller pieces near the top. It seems that perhaps if I would have cut my brick pieces in half again, they would have stuck better, and had smaller mortar joints as well.

[camarina73]

I used Refrax in the first three or four rings and the vent arch. I did not have enough refrax so I bought 2 bags of heatstop 50 for $130 a bag. I saved half a bag of refrax for the top because it works so well and i new it would set up in the perfect amount of time to finish the last three rings. Refrax is a much better product than heatstop. If you have small joints and perfect cuts than heatstop works well.
I pre-cut all my vent arch pieces, then I put up the vertical portions. I installed the triangular pieces and a wood form for the arch ( so I guess I did use a form for something) The arch is very strong. I stood on it and hit and it does not budge.

[camarina73]

And I would like to thank everyone here, and James for all the information. All my Motivation and Ideas came from reading your posts.
Thank You Again

[camarina73]

Also part of building without forms is the type of arch you make. I used the catenary arch. Measure a level line on a wall. mark the width of your oven. Put a mark at the center below that line of the height of your oven ceiling. Hang a loose string line at those three points and there is your arch. Make sure you tack a piece of cardboard on the wall first so you can trace that line to it. Also take into account the height of the first or however many rings you leave upright before your curve starts.

[Xabia Jim]

Very impressive Camarina. Thanks for documenting and posting.

No forms whatsoever for the dome? Just bricks and mortar or did you use temporary supports?

enjoy!