Resurrectuon Modular Refractory Oven Installation Discuss Resurrectuon in the Pizza Oven Design and Installation forums; A client of ours, Barry P, managed to buy a modular oven (manufacturer unknown) from a pizzeria in the Toronto ...

[CanuckJim]

A client of ours, Barry P, managed to buy a modular oven (manufacturer unknown) from a pizzeria in the Toronto area that was going out of business. It's a big guy: 53 inches deep. When I saw it in pieces in his barn, I thought "this ain't gonna be easy." The oven had seen a lot of use, and a few of the pieces had been broken, probably during disassembly. We discussed options, including repair methods, adding extra mass under the oven floor, stand dimensions and materials, insulation, etc. Benji, an extremely capable guy who works for Barry, welded up the stand. To say it's not going anywhere is an understatement.

For insulation, we used 3 inches of Durablanket, put on in 1 inch batts, alternating the seams, layer to layer. Then chicken wire. Then 3-4 inches of Matrilite 18 castable refractory insulator (about 5 inches at the apex of the dome). Originally, the plan was to build a surround for the oven itself, but when the owner saw how well the Matrilite formed, he decided on a stuccoed dome. It's now curing, waiting for the addition of the chimney (Excel is the manufacturer) and the stucco.

See, it is possible to give an old horse new legs. Check the pics. Sorry about the typoooo in the heading; don't know how to fix it.

Jim

[DrakeRemoray]

You have to roast a whole pig in that big beast! Porchetta!!

Drake

[CanuckJim]

Drake,

I'm sure both are on the list for that beast. Barry has a personal chef on the property who's worked with WFOs in the past. Should be very interesting to see what he gets up to.

Jim

[james]

Jim,

That is really cool. Nice find -- you can rent out half of it to house a small family. :-)

James

[Archena]

Originally Posted by CanuckJim

... Sorry about the typoooo in the heading; don't know how to fix it.

Jim

Ask James or Dmun very nicely - only a mod can repair thread titles.

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

great oven, Nice job bringing it back to health...

[RTflorida]

Looks like a 12 legged rhino.....HUGE! What a cool project. What is the idea for finishing the base?

RT

[CanuckJim]

RT,

There were various ideas for finishing the base, from metal to stone. I'll be down there later in the week to see which way the owner is leaning. Everything changed once the decision was made to leave the oven in a dome shape with stucco. Once it's finished up, I'll get some pics.

Jim