Wanting to build a wood fire oven the best way we can Getting Started Discuss Wanting to build a wood fire oven the best way we can in the Pizza Oven Design and Installation forums; Hi all. I have been researching wood ovens for months now. I found this site a few days ago and ...

[Wheels1974]

Hi all. I have been researching wood ovens for months now. I found this site a few days ago and have found it absolutely AMAZING, so thank you so much for providing inderviduals with such a site that is full of ideas and information.

My father is going to build a pizza oven for me but originally he was going to do it so it had a flat back with a arch on top simply because it would be allot easier to build, as opposed to a complete circle or oval. (Pompeii Oven)
After going through this site I now understand that wood ovens work there best when completely round or oval due to even heat distribution at all times which also increases the longevity of the heat within the wood oven which is PRICELESS I believe. I guess that's why 90% of all the ovens that I have seen while doing my research are of dome shape. Hence why we have decided to go with the dome shape wood oven now.

Dad if building a FULLY enclosed BBQ room which will have its own BBQ and rangehood and so forth and behind this BBQ room we are going to build the wood oven, so only the opening of the wood oven will be visible when inside the BBQ room.
I live in Melbourne Australia and I just found out that I have a shop called the ''firebrick and refractory company'' literally only a 10 minute drive away from where I live. When I called I wanted to know if they had a few products and they have everything that is required for people to build there own wood oven apart from the flu and the likes.

Dad was and still is thinking about building our wood oven out of fire bricks but when I called the shop today they also mentioned that they sell a cement type mix. From what I understood all it would take is to make a mould out of sand or polyurethane, then mix this special cement and pour it over the sand or polyurethane mould and once it has cured I will be left with a solid cast which I can make as thick as needed. I figure its just a matter of pouring more or less of the mix over the mould of choice then smooth it all out to create the right thickness.

My query is if I were to make a cast out of this material, I'm worried if it will crack. I also thought it might be worth making 2 casts and using a mortar to connect the two casts together just as a reassurance then anything else and then cover it with a high temperature insulation, similar to the way you would go about building a fire brick wood oven.
At this stage I have no idea how much this stuff costs but I know a 9'' x 4.5'' x 3'' fire brick costs $3.
I know if dad were to build the wood oven using fire bricks then this wouldn't be a issue, regarding cracking. Although after downloading the PDF file of the Pompeii oven instructions, I found it very complicated to understand each step by step instruction and so did my father.

Does anyone have any idea's about making a full cast or any other idea's that may help, any advice is appreciated?

Regards
Wheels