Another Kiwi Oven

[knownasgriff]

Hi,
Been a lurker for a while and have just gotten my arse in gear to build my oven.
Have used the resources here an enormous amount and am very grateful for all the help and advice that I picked up on the way.
Loaded my photos on Flickr.
will post link soon
Have still to wrap the ceramic fibre blanket and then chicken wire and vermiculite the outside.
Deadline is the 21st of June as it is my 40th birthday party and the oven needs to be done for that. Nothing like a little pressure to help you along.

Thanks,

Bob/.

[DrakeRemoray]

Looking Good!!

[jengineer]

I think you are the first to use the mason style of breaking bricks. Good on ya!

[knownasgriff]

Thanks. I bought a 14" segmented diamond blade for my metal cut off saw but it ran too slowly and burnt the bricks.
I used a 4" blade on my angle grinder to partially cut and shape some of the blocks keyed into the vent arch but mostly the bolster and 1.5 kg hammer.
The bricks cut remarkably well, cut the soldiers in half then used the cut sides together to minimise gaps.
Cut the main dome into thirds to create a 3" thick dome.

Bob/.

[krosskraft]

Love it! Its a shame you have to cover it up with insulation. Very nice job.

[knownasgriff]

It is indeed but as you know keeping my heat in is a priority.
The pictures are here:
Wood Fired Oven - a set on Flickr

Bob/.

[knownasgriff]

I lit my first fire with wood in the oven last night. As I do not have insulation on it yet I was able to use the mark 1 Hand as a monitoring device on my keystone.
Nothing above ambient. Bigger fire tonight. I have used refractory mortar and so I should not have any problem with cracking as it is heat cure.
We will see.

Bob/.

[DrakeRemoray]

Almost all of us have experienced some cracking, even with refractory mortar. Take your time with curing!
Drake

[knownasgriff]

Thanks Drake.

I ran a small fire this evening and (because the dome is not insulated yet) had either steam or smoke in little streamers coming out of points in the mortar.
The exit points coloured the mortar and I will cover the points tomorrow before firing again.

The fire ran about 3 hours and as i just happened to have a batch of Pizza Dough made I couldn't help myself and put a small tomato and cheese in to cook. It was good.

[james]

Hey Bob,

Wonderful looking. You are almost definitely getting steam from the oven dome and mortar. You are driving gallons of water out of the oven, so take your time to cure it -- after all that great work.

One other thing -- could you put a link to FB.com [url=http://www.fornobravo.com] in your Flickr.com page? I always think it is helpful showing other potential builders where they can find plans and advice.

Thanks!
James