newbie about to start Newbie Forum Discuss newbie about to start in the Good Background Information forums; Hey All, Just in the preliminary stage of pouring my foundation for my outdoor kitchen which will include a 42" ...

[woodhead]

Hey All,

Just in the preliminary stage of pouring my foundation for my outdoor kitchen which will include a 42" pompeii. A question that keeps bugging me is at what angle do you cut the first row of bricks as you start the dome. I plan to use a full soldier around the exterior of the floor. I do want to minimize cutting angles as much as possible throughout the building of the dome. Any help would be appreciated.

Woodhead!!

[toddj]

mine was 7 deg

[dbhansen]

Mine was 0 degrees. First course after that was about 10.

I assume you mean the angle at the top, and not the angle between soldiers.

[Breven]

You could also set the soldiers in straight, the wedge the next brick to set your angle. Right or wrong, that's how I did it.

[asudavew]

Mine were all Zero... No way to cut angles.

[Frances]

I suppose it depends how you intend to get the curve of your oven dome. You can use some kind of form to give you the incline of each row, or go freestyle and just eyeball it, or lay out the bricks in advance and decide/calculate which angle each row will have to be - I assume you're thinking of the last one from your question.

However, if you really want to minmise cuts you may want to follow a build like Dave's, or indeed mine. Btw, did you see this thread yet? Its a very neat idea on how to get the angle for each row without much bother:

http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f28/...idea-2573.html

[woodhead]

thanks to all..so to summarize, you can use the mortar between the top of the first row and the bottome of the second row to achieve the correct slope?

[mfiore]

Sure. The original pompeii plans describe just that. Simply half bricks used without any bevels or angles cut in. The brick is tipped up to meet the desired angle (often following a form), perhaps supported with a temporary shim or wedge, than mortared in. Shim removed and gap filled with mortar. This is a perfectly acceptable method that has been utilized many times. Many have since created prettier domes by cutting brick with more precision to reduce or eliminate gaps. Depends on your style, time, and overall goal.

[Frances]

Hey, my dome's pretty too! Rustic, but pretty...

IF you decide to fill the gaps with mortar... I put small pebbles or leftover pieces of firbrick under the bricks to tilt them to the right angle, which means you don't have to mess around removing shims etc.

Seriously, if you want to minimise cutting that's the best way to go. And you will still end up with an awsome oven.