my 1st oven, done!

[mekdigital]

Hi ALL!

yesterday I was finally able to create my 1st oven!!! An oven in ONE DAY ???

YES.. Basically a close copy of @thepizzahacker `FrankenWeber` but done with fire clay, silver sand and perlite on a 22"... It took me ~6 hours (but now I could repeat that in 3) and only costed 30$!

(I have leftovers for at least another one..)

Will it work? Will it hold? We will know this week!

I will post some pictures later today!

Question: I've been told over and over that I would need 'castable' cement ($$$) for the dome, but clay worked just fine (so far..): why castable? The clay mix worked just fine: a two inch layer adhered just perfectly inside the weber cover and I was able to build a 'neck' with just one piece of cardboard!

I really hope I did not $crew up the mix!

[brickie in oz]

Originally Posted by mekdigital

The clay mix worked just fine: a two inch layer adhered just perfectly inside the weber cover

Wont it just shrink and fall off?

[mekdigital]

well..

at the moment it's all still there, getting dry... I will find out when I try to get the dome out of the mold! But the `neck`, for example, was able to stand two inches above the cardboard support... we'll see!

[mekdigital]

here we go! https://www.facebook.com/media/set/f...8&l=e24098d423

it seems very solid after 24 hours, but still really wet.. I am going to lite some charcoal to help the drying process now!

I know, it does not look really right, but I'm almost sure I can fix it and I am more than sure I can try again!

[azpizzanut]

Hello mekdigital,

Wow, very interesting idea to build your own Frankenweber.

Please share some information with us:

What is silver sand?

What kind of clay is it? It is an unusual color. Local fire clay is all gray. It is called "masonry clay".

What proportions of each ingredient did you use?

Where did you get your materials?

Here is something I learned about clay, it shrinks. The addition of sand and perlite moderate the amount of shrinkage though. Clay is not water resistant.

Here is something I learned about castable refractory concrete. I bought a 50lb bag for $40. Your dome would need more than one bag and it would be very heavy. Castable refractory concrete is different than insulating castable refractory.

Best of luck with your new ovens.

Cheers,

[mekdigital]

Hi all!

we had a oops this morning and I'll have to start all over again

There is clearly something wrong with the proportions, either too much sand or too much water (in this case me being impatient!), the `neck` started crumbling when I took it out of the grill... I was able to take the dome out of the cast and that is actually keeping its shape on the ground.. I'll leave it there for a week to see if it can get really solid!

So what I used:

Silver Sand #20 (I guess it's coarse construction sand) 100lb, 6$
Arizona (?) Fire Clay 50lb, 7$
Miracle Grow Perlite ?lb, 5$

The dome was a mix of 3:2 sand/clay and a random amount of perlite;
I did not use perlite for the wall.

Now I have a new idea, let me sketch it out and I'll post it.