My uncles oven, no plans. Brick Oven Photos Discuss My uncles oven, no plans. in the Good Background Information forums; Here is the second oven my uncle built. He used two layers of regular clay brick on his dome, and ...

[redbricknick]

Here is the second oven my uncle built. He used two layers of regular clay brick on his dome, and built it using a sand form. Note the pappasan chair in the background. It was an experimental dome form which didn't work. Cool stonework huh?

[jengineer]

edit your post please - no photo was attached. If you plan on posting a phto directly to this forum then it need to be less than 100K

[james]

Nick,

Nice stonework. I really like the arch into the wood storage area.

What did you use for your external stucco on the dome Igloo and how is it holding up the weather? That would be good to hear.

For the future, you don't have to mess with sand form idea. I know that some builders use to do it this way (then use the sand around the dome), but I think it is better either building the dome free standing (with a wedge) or with internal styrofoam forms, and a combination of the two. The outcome is a lot more predictable. Plus, sand is a poor insulator, so it is better to take advantage of ceramic insulation and either vermiculite or perlite. You gotta go with the most advanced technology.

I always remember that many of the older ovens in Italy (and those originally built by Italian expats in the new world) were done by folks who were pretty poor (the contadini in Tuscany and immigrants from Sicily) and their ovens did not always take advantage of everything you could buy. Many of them even used field stone.

Easier access to new technology really helps.

James

[redbricknick]

Just to be clear, and not steal any of My Uncle Loucas's thunder, it was he who built this oven, and did all the base stonework. This is his second oven, built for his friend. He's currently knocking down his first oven and building a newer, bigger one. As far as I know, he's going to use two layers of regular red clay bricks on his dome again, and he's working on building a collapsible metal form for the dome construction. I'll have him send more photos. I'm also unclear as to what he used as his final insulating layer.