Toolmans Oven

[toolman]

As promised I will document the progress of my oven. It's going to be a Quebec (I think that's what they call it) type of oven.

This is the start where I layed out the blocks to get an idea of size and placement.

[toolman]

Progress

I concreted the blocks in place and put a base board in to retain the vermiculite/cement layer. The 2" vermiculite/cement layer was then poured.

[toolman]

Progress

Once the vermiculite was cured I boxed up for the hearth.

[toolman]

Progress

After boxing I welded up the steel reinforcement for the hearth slab. I did it this was as I has a lot of scrap steel and I could form it to give maximum strength where needed.

Note roof over boxed area. This was to stop the rain getting into the vermiculite layer.

[toolman]

Progress

Heath slab has now been poured

You can just pick it in one of the pics, a thermocouple wire coming out of the slab. This will be inserted into the oven floor.

Last diagram is the slab construction.

For anybody wondering, I chose to go with 2 layers of vermiculite as it wasn't that expensive to do this and it covered both bases I figured. The old way of constructing on a slab with vermiculite underneath and the new way of constructing directly on the vermiculite layer. I suppose only time will tell if I got it right.

I couldn't help myself. I had to fill it with wood

[dmun]

Wow that's great. When I saw your first 2" of vermiculite under the slab I was worried, but that's just an extra layer.

And that roof! That's better than some of us have on our permanent enclosures. What is that stuff, aluminum decking or something?

[christo]

Really nice!!! How much time do you have in it so far?

Christo

[El Puaco]

You've done some nice touches that vary a bit from what I've seen before. I like the look of it. Anything new for the dome phase?

[toolman]

No progress to date. The family has been keeping me busy.

In response to the questions;

The roof is made of corrugated plastic. It's just like corrugated cardboard but made of plastic. I got a heap of it from a factory that was throwing it out. I had so much of it I used it for the boxing of the hearth slab.

I have about 12 hours in this project so far but I think that the time input will increase dramatically when the oven construction starts.

I hope to pour the vermiculite/cement fondou this week. I'll post pics when done.

Dave

[Brauma]

Very nice, Dave. I'm looking forward to watching your progress.