Brick OK for stand?

[mian]

Hi all,
I'm new around here, and have lots of questions. Due to budget reasons I was thinking of making the stand out of regular bricks, which I can find used, for free.
I was thinking of making it one (long side) brick wide, with alternating lengthwise and crosswise placement (I'm sure there is a proper name for this pattern). This way the width of the wall is a little more than 10". Would this be strong enough? Do I need rebar in there too? If so, how do I do that?

I'm planning on making the stand more of an "H" shape, or [-] but with the middle bar extending all the way out to the sides. I saw the idea in an older thread, but I'm not sure if anyone has tried it. The idea is to have the wood storage area split in two for easier access.

I also need to figure out how to put angle iron across the openings. I don't want the metal exposed. Any ideas?

/Mari
Härnösand, Sweden

[dmun]

It's plenty strong to make your stand out of two layers of common brick. The alternating crosswise brick pattern is called "bond" here, and I think the one you are talking about is called "flemish bond" If you make an "H" shaped stand, I don't think you need any more bracing at the entry than the re-bar in your support stand.

[Dutchoven]

Mari
The angle iron would depend on how wide an opening you are speaking of...you could use strap iron instead of angle if the opening is not larger than say 30 inches...I have dismantled a couple of 19th century fireboxes and they used strap iron to support the top of the opening...you really couldn't see the metal and the following coursed of brick were quite strong...
Best
Dutch

[DrakeRemoray]

I am not sure if you would need angle iron or not.

Here is an example of an oven that used brick for the stand instead of cinderblock. Note that they did put a pretty substantial foundation down (made out of cinderblock. This is a pretty professional job here:
Monterey Masonry: Bake Oven Journal

Drake

[mian]

What do you all think of my newest idea on the subject: two bricks wide on the sides, shaped like [ with two bricks on the "short part" of the bracket, the crossswise part ("-" in the "H") one or two bricks wide, and them build an arc across the openings. I probably would have to make it close to semi-cirkular (and taper my bricks some) for it to not put too much pressure outwards, right? It would look good and also give me a chance to practice some brick-laying skills before attempting the dome. I have not done much brick laying, but I do understand the basic principles behind arcs and bonds.

I don't think I can get the oven compleatley done this summer, so maybe I should concentrate on just making the ground slab and stand, and then the concrete hearth slab on top of that this summer, and save the fun part for next year. By the way, can you start on the first courses of the dome, cover it and leave it like that over winter? Or will it be weakend?

Anyway, if I can't get it done this year, at least that gives me more time to figure out how to get firebricks at a reasonable cost, and what to do for insulation. If the same products all the US builders use are available here at all, they sure do not have the same names. I also live in a small town, and WFO building is not big here. Strangely enough, since back in the old days at least every farm had a building with a bread oven in it, where they (about twice a year) baked enough of a hard flat bread to last several months. There are a few of those around that are still working, but I don't know of anyone who has built one. I have a couple of recipes for three different types of traditional Swedish flatbred ("tunnbröd"), hard, soft and thick, if anyone is interested. The hard one is the hardest to make also. Dough is made from a large percentage barley flour, so it is hard to handle without breaking it. The thick kind is easy.

Sorry, this got a bit long...
/Mari