A few pic's of the beginning

[70chevelle]

Old Fireplace and a big chunk of 5000 psi reinforced concrete. (A mismake from our foundation manufacturer)


After I cut my flagstone and set the concrete in place. (not a one man job, but I don't work well with others!)


After the lintels and block were installed, and then the cells filled and the top leveled with type S mortar.


The final dimension of the pad is 48"w x 52" wide.

Between the Pen's in the playoffs, entertaining with my new Big Green Egg, and the rain we've been having, the blockwork has been at a standstill. I hope to have the block laid this weekend.

[dbhansen]

Wow, that's one big hunk o' concrete! How on Earth did you move it?

[70chevelle]

"Ancient chinese secret!"

A bobcat with a set of forks got it to the patio. I used an engine crane and straps to get it close. Then some pry bars to make minor adjustments. It took my tractor to get the straps out, and that helped for the final move also. I'm just glad it's done.

[70chevelle]

A few more pics

Brickwork almost done. Need to lay up the firebox, and then do the arch. After that I'll pour the hearth and start on the dome. The bottom exposed block are going to be covered with cultured stone.


I did an eggplant pizza yesterday for an appetizer to a pork loin. Both were cooked on my Big Green Egg. The eggplant was cooked in olive oil, garlic, rosemary, salt & pepper on a cast iron skillet. I stretched out my dough and then put it back into the cast iron skillet, topped with the eggplant and cheese, and then on the egg for about 10 minutes. Here's a pic.



And while I'm at it, here's a pic of my outdoor kitchen.

[70chevelle]

No pic's, but I've had another revelation. I've been having a design issue with my fireplace oven combination, which is basically that I wasn't happy with the bottom of my hearth being the top of the interior of my fireplace. I was going to use cement board for my form, and leave it in, which I am still going to do, but....I'm actually going to mirror my exterior fireplace arch with firebrick on the inside of the firebox. Now there will be an airspace between the firebrick barrel ceiling and the concrete hearth. There will be about a 4"-5" gap between the rear of the barrel and the rear firebox wall which is being laid on an angle from back to front. This will be the entry into the smoke chamber, and hopefully the 8" terracotta flue liner will be enough to get a draft. I should be done with the firebox and start my form for the hearth by the weekend, maybe even get the hearth poured. I'll try to get some pics this as it's being laid.

[70chevelle]

Another update. I killed the revelation as it was going to make my oven too high. You'll see in the pic's below, that I took 3 hole firebrick, layed up 3 seperate stacks, filled the center hole with fireclay mortar, and then inserted rebar in the outer holes and filled with fireclay mortar. then I layed those on the firebox for the lid. I layed the arch on Thursday, and filled it in and layed the hearth stone today. After it drys in I'm going to layout my form and rebar and pour the rest of the oven floor. My dome & hearth isulation should be here next week. If the weather holds out this weekend, I should be ready to start laying the oven up this week.

Here are the pics

[70chevelle]

I got the cement for the hearth poured Saturday evening. It came out nice. It looks like a fireplace now, and hopefully it will look like a pizza oven by the end of next week. I still have a lot of planning and tasks left, but getting the base/fireplace finished was a big accomplishment.

On another note, I can't wait for this oven to be done. I cooked a delicious focaccia to have with dinner last nite. I should have my pizza dough & focacchia dough perfected by the time it's done.