Spanning the interior doorway

[williamkaelber]

I know that you show steel to span the interior doorway but I would
like to use some granite to support that layer of firebrick. I'm not
worried about the strength as much as the heat. Any thoughts. I am
ready to span the doorway and am stuck for now until I make the final
decision. Thanks for help.

Billy Kaelber

PS. I have some pictures and will continue to snap away as I
progress.

[Yahoo-Archive]

do you want to use granit for esthetics?
since granite is not used as an oven floor for it's problems with cracking i wonder how wise it would be to use as a door span?
i myself liked the idea of using all firebricks in my oven and actually made a brick doorspan using firebricks with a slight curve of about 1 1/2 inch ....
you can access some photos in the forno bravo photo section in the pompeii file.
good luck
--simone




On Apr 21, 2005, at 2:10 PM, Robert Musa wrote:

why not use both steel and granite? place an angle iron in the rear of the span and lay the back of the granite lintel in the "angle". then even if the granite cracked it would be more likely to hold the spans above it while you made the necessary repairs.

[ColonelCorn76]

Careful using granite. It is a brittle stone and will crack far more easily then firebrick or concrete. The top of the oven throat gets extremely hot in use when you get the fire going before pushing it all the way into the back (and even after that if you build a hot fast fire). This will in fact be the hottest part of the oven for most of the burn time.

Jim

[david]

I just finished doing this last night and after a lot of fiddling around,I decided on doing this.The Angle iron should give me the strength I need and by moving the rebar back and forth allowed me to fine tune the angle of the bricks.Onward Mortarred Soldiers ! Doorway span support method.jpg (36.7 KB)

[ColonelCorn76]

Looks good. Pack the angle iron with mortar and you're golden.

Jim

[david]

Cheers Jim.Did that ,and I got another row of bricks on.Now I need to put my round form in place and get the sand mound ready to continue on.I'm aiming for an 18" high dome,so keep your fingers crossed.I'm using Alsley Flue Set refractory Mortar which so far seems to be setting up nicely.I just hope it holds it all together when I pull out the supports!.