Grinding oven floors - the 'mythical' perfectly flat oven floor.

[gaucho1]

Hi guys. Having spent quite literally ages trying to get my oven floor perfect and going through my 300 bricks for the very best specimins, alas it seems that to make a perfectly flat (no edges to catch a pizza peel) oven floor without somekind of after grinding is the stuff of dreams.

Can I ask; am I going mad over nothing, or are little edges really quite annoying when using the oven and have an impact on its usability? And if people did grind their oven floors, what did they use and how did they feel it worked out? Any pitting?

All help appreciated, thanks!

[nissanneill]

Your hearth floor should be flat and have no leading edges of the bricks raised that will catch your peel, very frustrating.
I ground my hearth floor flat with a grinding disc as seen at

http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f21/...-4-a-2045.html (Neill’s Pompeii #4)

Permalink #8
It was durable enough to surface a granite slab to shape and did an excellent job on the firebrick hearth.
There are now diamond disks available for surfacing concrete but theses are more expensive.
Cheers.

Neill

[Tscarborough]

As long as you lay the brick at a 45 degree angle to the face of the oven, it is not a big deal.

[stonylake]

I bought the 4 1/2" angle grinder at Harbor Freight... but i didn't use the grinding wheel, i bought a couple of packages of the 60 grit sanding wheels and used those. Probably went through 3 or 4 of them, but i figured that i would have less chance of gouging the brick...

[Les]

I used a belt sander. I recall using 40 grit. It took a little time but I would do it again.

Les...

[fxpose]

Originally Posted by Tscarborough

As long as you lay the brick at a 45 degree angle to the face of the oven, it is not a big deal.

+1

I've got several 1/8" variations between bricks including a couple of key spots and my peel never catches.

[RTflorida]

I went the same route as Les - beltsander with a 40 grit disc, no regrets.

RT

[gaucho1]

Wow thanks guys for all the help and advice. Seems I may go the belt sander route. I actually bought today a stone grinding disc for my angle grinder which I was going to give a go with but first I'll test it on an off-cut of brick to see how abrasive it is. I suspect by the feel of it that it will me more abrasive than the sanding sheets so may use the sheets instead. I think I'm going to finish the dome (as I've now stuck the forms in and built two courses) and just go over the floor lightly after I've finished. It's not ideal I know but there is only very light sanding needed on a few areas and I can't be bothered to pull all the forms out.

Les - how fortutous you commented as I've just noticed which oven which was your build. A few months back I looked though a great number of photos of corner ovens looking for an idea on which to base my design. Yours was the one I liked most and my build is loosely based on it, in fact I have a photo of it printed and stuck up on my study wall where mine designed. So many thanks, it is a very prodigiously excecuted piece of masonry. Are you per chance in the trade? Anyway if you like you can see how we're getting on here;

http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f21/...hen-14685.html (Argentinean parrilla and 42" oven outdoor kitchen in Surrey/London)

Thanks again guys, nice to have had such a quick response.

[Les]

Originally Posted by gaucho1

Are you per chance in the trade?

Not at all, but after building one of these I think we all could be. After my build, I took a close look at my house - I think the masons were posers

Thanks for the complement.

Les...

[bryan20]

Use only machine guards designed for cut-off wheels. These guards can be purchased as an accessory item to your right angle grinder.