Dome completed.

[Chris]

Thanks to some nice warm days here in Austin, I have completed the dome. Next step is the vent and chimney, then the facade. Hopefully this will be ready to go by the time the evenings get warmer in late March. You can refer to my blog for a few more photos of the construction.

I cut each brick into thirds, to make the walls approximately as thick as the floor (3 inches), and of a comparable thickness to some of the commercially manufactured ovens.

I used a quater-circle form to set the angle of the first nine rings of bricks. With the buttery-smooth Heat Stop 50 mortar, these rings were self-supporting. On the ninth ring, I had a little trouble keeping everything in place, so I made a set of styrofoam vanes to hold everything in place.

It is a hemispherical dome, with a radius of 21 inches.

[james]

She's beautiful. Eccelente.

What is your venting plan? Metal, constructed from brick, or cast?

Take care with your curing; it would be a shame to see a crack in that great work.
James

[redbricknick]

Way to go Texas. Is anyone keeping a tally of forum user built ovens and the states/countries they come from? Texas has gotta' be up there. Hey, any chance of a photo looking back at the opening arch from inside the oven? It's not an oft seen angle.

[james]

I could look into a mapping application. Could be fun.

Does that seem like a good idea?

We also have ovens all around the world -- Asia, Europe, South America, Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East and the Carribean off the top of my head.
James

[dmun]

That is really impressive. I've been advocating 1/3 brick ovens for a while:

http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/f8/p...thick-215.html (Pompeii oven - too thick?)

I think this is a really good idea. I'm also interested in if your pompeii cracks: most pompeii builders use a portland/sand/fireclay mortar because of the expense of a real refractory mortar like heat-stop 50 (I think they call it that because it's fifty bucks a bag) I used a cut-every-brick method to keep my joints below the recommended 3/16 inch maximum. I'm looking forward to seeing how your dome behaves with bigger joints on the exterior.

Keep us posted.

[Marcel]

Originally Posted by james

I could look into a mapping application. Could be fun.

Does that seem like a good idea?

We also have ovens all around the world -- Asia, Europe, South America, Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East and the Carribean off the top of my head.
James

(M) James, and redbricknick,

Consider a visit to Frappr Maps - My Maps

Several FB Forum members are also members of that site which shows the locations of "Frapper" Brickoventampa registered users. I'll try for a more direct link and perhaps a map.

Ciao,

Marcel

[Chris]

I will certainly take care to cure the oven slowly. I was fortunate enough to find a clay products manufacturer, who sold me four 50 lb bags of Heatstop 50 for $32 each. I used about 110 pounds in the project. The package says joints up to 3/8 inch are allowed. Near the top of the dome, where joints became larger, I tucked a brick chip into the joint for good luck.

The concrete block base will be covered with a limestone block veneer. Whether or not to include an arched entry to the wood storage or an angle-iron entry will depend on my developing masonry skills. The clay tile chimney will be supported by an arched brick vent. The upper portion of the oven will be clad in stucco, and finished out in a “Mission” style, with rounded corners and little alcoves, where candles or flowers can be placed.

I bought 140 firebricks for the oven. I used up all but a handful. The extra pieces and offcuts fill up half of a 5 gallon bucket.

There's an 8-foot fence near the oven, so I'll be going up about 9 feet with the chimney.

The sketch of the finished design:

[redbricknick]

Go the arch. Your masonry skills are more than adequate grasshopper.

[Marcel]

(M) Testing this URL for Frappr

Frappr Maps - My Maps

Ciao,

Marcel

[james]

What do you think of Frappr? Does anyone know the folks who set up the the map on it from Tampa? We could talk with them about making it bigger, or do a new one through FB.com.

Hmmmm.
James