NOT Forno Bravo

[CanuckJim]

All,

I'm installing an Italian modular oven in a new outdoor kitchen oven in the western part of Toronto. It's definitely not from Forno Bravo. The casting can only be called more than a tad on the rough side, so much so that I'll be parging the interior with a product used for such a purpose in large industrial furnaces. Don't have the product name handy (it's at the site), but I'll supply it if anyone's interested. The crate contained a four piece floor, a four piece dome and a bit of a landing, much like what FB supplies. What it DID NOT come with were instructions or a vent of any sort.

As a result, yesterday I cast a vent using Kastite (max temp 2600 F) from Chicago Firebrick. The form work was a bit tricky, because I had to make a form within a form. Releasing the angled form was hairy, but it finally came out. To get the round hole for the anchor plate, I coated a 12 inch length of black stove pipe with oil and left it in place overnight. The angle on the smaller form was 15 degrees, which I used to help the draw. The total casting is 6 inches thick, with three inches for the top portion and three inches for the angled portion.

The exterior dimensions of the main form were 16x19x6 inches. In total, I used 75 lbs of Katitite. The manufacturer specifies 8 to 9 pounds of water to every 50 lbs of Kastite (it comes in 50 lb bags). At that hydration it's a sloppy mix, but it sets firm within about two hours, then begins to heat up quit a bit.

I'm keeping the casting wet right now and covering it with a tarp. After it sets completely, I'll bake it in my bread oven a few times, with cooling cycles in between.

Attached are pics of the site and the vent.

Jim

[CanuckJim]

All,

As luck would have it, I'm also installing an outdoor oven near a town called Port Hope, which is way to the east of the Toronto job. Fortunately, this one is a Casa 110 from Forno Bravo. The homeowner has specified a large fireplace on the left of the pad shown in the pic. The entire facade will be of red "old time" brick. The steel stand was fabricated by Lloyd Johnston, who's actually a blacksmith/gunsmith. As he put it, "She won't fall down anytime soon." If you look closely, you'll see that Lloyd had drilled holes into the angle iron to hold the rebar in place. That will make tying the mesh to it and pouring quite a bit more precise.

The actual installation begins next Tuesday, once the reinforced concrete within the stand tray has firmed up. I'll be using 2 inches of SuperIsol below the floor, coating the dome with RefMix, insulating it with two batts of Insulfrax, plus three inches of Matrilite 18, the castable insulator I've mentioned elsewhere.

Jim

[Wlodek]

Jim,
Off topic, but what is the odd animal on the left in the first photo here? Looks like it starts off as a small dog, is quite long and and grows towards the end?
W.

[jengineer]

Jim - With all the steel work why did you not go with a stand similar to the one that James has made and then top it with a steel sheet followed by the isol board? would have saved on some cement mixing.

[CanuckJim]

Wlodek, JE,

The odd dog in the pic is actually two; they're joined at the hip and are never parted.

JE: I felt it was better to go with a cement pad in the tray, rather than sheet steel, for stability and to avoid the possibility of flex. Call me traditional.

Jim

[Alfredo]

<...what is the odd animal on the left in the first photo here? Looks like it starts off as a small dog, is quite long and and grows towards the end?...>

Hmmmm. My theory was that it was a brontasaurus.

-A. Elk

[CanuckJim]

Alfredo,

That's it, is it? You know the rest of the skit.

Jim