First fire. Thanks, everyone.

[Chris]

Three enclosure walls are on. The chimney is covered in lath and perl-crete. I just found out that the masonry store has perlite for 1/3 the cost of the hydroponics store ($10/bag), so I’ll be filling the entire enclosure with loose perlite, rather than messing around with chicken wire or partitions.

The dome has had about a month to cure on its own while I messed around with the vent, chimney, and enclosure. The evenings are getting warmer, so it’s time to get moving. I lit the first fire tonight. Just a pile of sticks, really. Probably a little larger than the “1 newspaper” fire recommended, but the oven seemed pretty dry.

It burned for about 30 minutes. The smoke went right up the chimney, not much was escaping out of the front. After it was finished, the outside of the dome was slightly warm to the touch. No cracks (yet).



Thanks for the site, James, and thanks to everyone who has contributed to the forum. It's a great resource.

[Xabia Jim]

Gives you a warm feeling....congrats!

[james]

Congratulations Chris,

Try to go slow at this point (even though it's hard to wait) curing your oven. Just add about 100ºF every day for the next 5-7 days, and hopefully you won't get cracks. Some great food is just around the corner, and you already get the pleasure of watching the fire dance around in the dome. Pretty cool, isn't it. Try not to get the dome clear for quite a few more days.
James

[CanuckJim]

James, Chris,

Good advice and hard to follow. It's tough not going for the BIG fire right away, but go slow, slow, slow. You'll meet the plasma beast from Star Trek inside your oven when it's going white soon enough. "What is it, Spock?" "I'm not sure, Jim, but it seems to be composed entirely of pure energy, and it's intelligent."

Jim

[Leepinla]

Congratulations Chris,
Good luck, have fun,
let us know how it all works
Leep

[mgraban]

Good luck to you! I just went through the oven curing process, so if you have any "newbie" questions, feel free to contact me.

Mark