Red brick oven in NSW, Australia

[bullster]

Got the slab finished. Pretty exciting.

Wife was worried about me starting another project before finishing any of my other projects. When she saw the slab, she stopped worrying. If I didn't get any further, she could use it as a nice place for a garden seat and a cup of tea. She's worried again now though. I have eight hundred bricks stacked up around the place. Not a very relaxing place for a cup of tea, and if I don't get going with it- what will we do with all these bricks!

Got the bricks for free. I like that. Wire cut, extruded bricks for the base and red clay bricks for the dome. They were free- if you don't factor in the cost of my little trailer's suspension, my back, shoulders and legs. And a pair of gloves. And the time involved in loading, unloading and stacking. And the time yet to be spent cleaning the old mortar off the used ones. Actually, the bricks weren't free at all.

Bought half a tonne of sand and a couple of bags of mortar and cement. It was raining. I hate that. I don't hate the wet and cold bit. I just don't like the mass of water that is in sand that I am paying for by weight. I really only bought a quarter of a tonne of sand combined with a quarter of a tonne of rain-water at a rate of thirty-five dollars a tonne. Even if you were just a tiny bit price sensitive that would hurt. For me it was really painful.

Wife needn't worry. I'm committed to finishing this project. I'm actually becoming a little bit obsessed with the whole pizza oven thing. I wake up in the middle of the night counting bricks and measuring angles, radii, volumes and masses. Is there anyone else here obsessed with wood fired ovens? Is there an easy cure?

I'm looking at the end goal: I like pizza. “No oven: no pizza!” That will keep me going.

God-willing, I’ll start the base tomorrow.

Cheers,
Pete.

[chidding]

Good to see another Aussie onboard! Unfortunately for yourself.. the pizza oven will consume your every thought. For me it was just constant, and only stopped once it was completed.

Everyone will doubt you through the entire project, as did my wife/family.. now i have a pizza oven they tell all their friends about.. and poeple beg to come over!

enjoy the process.. and goodluck

[brianventura]

Pete,

There is no cure! You are certainly in deep and fully committed. When you are finished though it is a great sense of accomplishment, especially while consuming your own pizza.

Good luck with your project,
Brian

[bullster]

Thanks chidding and Brian. It's good to know there's other obsessed oven-builders out there, even if there isn't a cure for it.

Cheers,
Peter

[bullster]

I've put together a sequence of photos of the work I completed on the base of the oven over the weekend. I set up a web-cam, taking photos every 5 mins. These were then copied into a video with each photo being displayed for 0.25 seconds. If you have lots of time on your hands you can play games such as: watch the wheelbarrow, or watch the coffee mug, or watch the hose, etc., etc.

The video doesn't show much detail, so luckily it doesn't show how badly my brickwork turned out. I intended for a Flemish bond, but it soon degenerated into a Flemish/English/Bullster bond with a semi random pattern. Structurally, the three walls should really be considered as six pillars in close proximity, because of so many vertical joints lining up. Anyway, glad you probably can 't see all that.

On a more positive note, I managed to not have to cut any bricks at all. And also, it was terrific having my 12yo daughter giving a hand with some of the laying- she is amazing.

Here is the video: day 1 & 2 of the base

[Tony DF 69]

Hi Pete, I thought it was just me! I woke up last night at about 2am thinking about the final keystone I hope to install in the top of my dome on the weekend. My wife cracked up at me today calling it ..... Wait for it , my STUPID pizza oven because I wouldn't go to David jones to help her choose a new washing machine to replace our one that just died! I've been working on my oven most weekends for the last 2 months and loved every minute of it! Hopefully not much longer now.
Good luck on yours,
Tony.

[cobblerdave]

Tony Pete

It definitly isn't just you 2 the forum full of us wfo nuts.... the cure...none

Regards Dave

[mattfruitbat]

Hi Pete,
i've almost finished my oven - taken a month of weekends and quite a few $$ on materials to do it my way. I used a steel arch support - that I'm still not 100% sure if it should stay. Have a look - happy to answer any questions as its my first, but did heaps of research
cheers
Matt

[ggoose]

Looks good...reminds me of the Sydney Opera House

[cobblerdave]

Yes I had to look twice.....
Think the camera angle doesn't do the oven justice in this case

Regards Dave