Another one of my wild thoughts....

[brickie in oz]

Another one of my wild thoughts....
What about an upturned cast iron bath for the oven, then cover with mass of some sort like gravel, broken bricks, then insulation?

Just cut the bath off to length then build the front arch etc as normal.
The baths are available from Epay for about $200.

You could even get a white one so the dome is always white...


The enamel according to wikiP doesnt melt until between 750 and 850 °C

[texassourdough]

The enamel won't melt but it will probably crack and fall off but... you can also get scarey close to the temps you quote in the dome!

It would work better for pizza than bread because pizza doesn't particularly depend on retained heat other than the hearth. While one could certainly bake bread in it, the loose gravel/whatever would not be likely to store or conduct heat nearly as efficiently as solid refractory (but coating it with refractory won't work for the thermal expansion will break the refractory up.

Try it and report back!
Jay

[dmun]

I'd be a little concerned about the lead content of old enamel.

[Lburou]

Just one question.....

What are you smoking/eating to conjure these ideas?

Never hurts to think outside the box. If you want a readymade oven, the end of a large propane tank sounds good. Somebody posted about it recently.

Stay dry Brickie, and trim the vegetation around your house to retard the next roaming fire

I buried one of those tubs in my yard, you can have it for free, just stop buy and I'll help you dig it up. It was slightly used however

My best to you.

[brickie in oz]

Originally Posted by Lburou

Just one question.....

What are you smoking/eating to conjure these ideas?

Ive always had "these" thoughts, and think it strange that others dont....

Never hurts to put it out there.

[brickie in oz]

Originally Posted by texassourdough

Try it and report back!
Jay

It may be a while....

[texassourdough]

Aw, Brickie! You're just trying to lure some unsuspecting lout into building your "nightmare" and saving you the time and trouble! )

More seriously, I think it would/could work pretty well for pizza though dmun's comment on lead is well conceived.

Things do get twisted around down in Australia don't they!
Jay

[mn8tr]

What about an upturned cast iron bath for the oven, then cover with mass of some sort like gravel, broken bricks, then insulation?

Around here they end up half buried as someone's front yard grotto with the Virgin Mary standing inside.

(No disrespect intended)

[Wiley]

This has been proposed before:

http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f3/c...oven-8640.html (Can you make a wood fired oven from an old iron bathtub?)

As for "flaking off" of the enamel I suspect not, rather more likely to bubble and get ugly looking. As for expansion cracking an externally added thermal mass: this shouldn't be a problem if one accounts for it in the construction. My WFO has a steel interior and I made provisions for expansion and contraction and have had no problems with this.

The "Tuscan Grills" are cast iron as are alot of the gratings in furnaces and grills in quality BBQs. Cast iron is actually quite stable in the temps we are normally working.

Bests,
Wiley

[brickie in oz]

Originally Posted by Wiley

This has been proposed before:

So Im not the only fruit loop?