Can you spot the mistake? Brick Oven Photos Discuss Can you spot the mistake? in the Good Background Information forums; O.k. guys...I just found out that the hip bone is connected to the leg bone, the leg bone is connected ...

[Breven]

O.k. guys...I just found out that the hip bone is connected to the leg bone, the leg bone is connected to the knee bone, etc. etc. If your hip is crooked- your feet won't work!

Take a look at this pic I've attached and see if you can spot my first mistake:

See it?

O.k. so I came to the realization before I started this project that there is no way a novice like me is going to end up with brick work like Les. As long as the dome doesn't cave in, I'll be a happy guy. I'm doing a lot of eyeballing rather than exact measuring. I'm covering it all with a gable house though- so only the inside needs to be presentable.

I'm on my third course now (no pic of that yet) and as the course meets the arch, the left and right sides aren't even. In fact one side of the brick is dips into view slightly when looking through the arch.

That's because when I first laid out the arch towers, rather than cut one of the soldier course bricks lengthwise, I cut the archtower to accomodate a full brick! Had I cut the full brick and left the two arch towers identical, the dome courses would be lining up. Nothing a grinder won't fix- but a good note for the other novices out there getting started not to make this mistake if you are going for a highly esthetic looking dome.

[egalecki]

Just remember that if anyone is looking inside the oven while it's going, they'd better have asbestos eyeballs.

I wouldn't sweat it. I'm having some strange "arch meets side" things too- as long as they stand up, who cares?

[SpringJim]

Originally Posted by Breven

O.k. so I came to the realization before I started this project that there is no way a novice like me is going to end up with brick work like Les. As long as the dome doesn't cave in, I'll be a happy guy. I'm doing a lot of eyeballing rather than exact measuring. I'm covering it all with a gable house though- so only the inside needs to be presentable.

Actually, if the food is good, everyone is happy!
I'm betting Les can't cook!

[asudavew]

Originally Posted by SpringJim

Actually, if the food is good, everyone is happy!
I'm betting Les can't cook!

Haha!

Now that's funny.

[Kemo]

Mistake? what mistake? how bout we just call it a 'custom' build

[Breven]

Steve-
It's funny how the little things get erased as you move forward. By the time I went through all of the courses- it came out just fine. Never would have even noticed. In fact, there were a bunch of small mis calculations that never showed when all was said and done. Just too many good masons on here, I didn't want to embarass myself with shotty work.

[Kemo]

Man...i hear ya. I got so many areas that were less than perfect. But once I got it all put together and made the little adjustments, it all came out fine.

[Liam]

anything that can be "adjusted" with a grinder is not necessarily a mistake. and if it's your design you can adjust it

[gjbingham]

Don't sweat it. Go back to the photos section and look for the old Italian dude building an oven from odd shaped bricks in an odd shaped enclosure. Your's looks like tightly bound leggo compared to that. I think the idea is to adhear to the ideal as closely as possible. You should be fine. Have fun. Good luck sleeping.
G.

[Breven]

THat original post was from August. I moved right past that mistake and made a bunch of others too before completeing the dome. I figured out later that a few mis-cuts here and there or a brick not exactly in the perfect position aren't even noticed once you have a fire in that oven and food cooking on the floor! When you watch Les building his perfectly symmetrical oven, while you are building your not-so-symmetrical oven, my little mistakes really stood out to me. In the end, none of it was a big deal.