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Post by swatson on Jul 11, 2013 21:16:26 GMT
If you are doing it on your own you will need to allow an hour or two for the sand former, and at least 6 hours for the clay dome. It really is better to have some help as its tiring puddling the clay/sand and then forming the bricks and building the actual dome.
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Post by cannyfradock on Jul 11, 2013 22:43:51 GMT
Ditto to Swatson's reply. Especially when puddling that clay.....many hands (or feet in this situation make light work)......involving the kids at this stage is always a good idea. Try to get a 2 to 1 ratio (sand/clay) as this will help in reducing cracking when curing your oven.
Terry
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nixie
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Post by nixie on Jul 12, 2013 9:37:04 GMT
Sand former took me about an hour + maybe half an hour to lug the spare bricks from the side of the house that I made the core of mine with.
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Woody
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Post by Woody on Jul 21, 2013 21:49:01 GMT
Some good progress today at last Sand former: This took way more sand than I thought: I was aiming for 3" of clay , but I think I was a little over 4" Now for the drying process. I built the clay around the brick arch a little, rather than building up to it. We'll see if this makes any difference once the shrinking happens. In a weeks time, I'll be going on holiday. Since there is no hurry for me to remove the sander former [as I won't be here to use the oven] , I am wondering if I should leave the sand former in place to allow for gradual drying. Then in 3 weeks time once back from hols, remove it then? Would this be a good or bad idea? Cheers, Woody
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Post by cannyfradock on Jul 21, 2013 22:53:38 GMT
Woody
I think cracking will appear more on one 1 thick coat as apposed to 2 thinner coats of clay. I think I would try to remove part or all the sand before going away on holiday. It will help the clay layer dry better if air can get to the inside as well as the outside. If you have the time leave the the oven alone for a few days then start removing the sand.
It sounds like we are due a few bad storms in the next few weeks so try to secure a tarp over your oven before you go away.
Your oven looks really good but do expect some filling in of cracking when you return from your break.
Terry
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nixie
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Post by nixie on Jul 22, 2013 11:16:35 GMT
Looks great Woody
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Woody
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Post by Woody on Jul 22, 2013 15:25:02 GMT
Cheers folks. I will definitely weather proof the oven before I leave !
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Woody
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Post by Woody on Jul 23, 2013 20:08:38 GMT
Day 2 since finishing the first clay layer and a couple of [inevitable] cracks have appeared: Since the weather has been threatening rain I have had the oven covered up under a tarpaulin since the weekend. The clay is still 'tacky' to the touch , which is to be expected with such a large mass. I have gently removed a very small section of sand to get a bit of air circulating. I'll probably remove a little more each day until it has all been removed. Woody.
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Post by mattfarmer on Jul 23, 2013 20:52:08 GMT
As I removed the sand i lit a few tealights and left them burning over night to help harden the clay before i removed the next section of sand. I thought that this may help reduce the risk of the dome collapsing. I started off with 2 tealights and ended up with 8 when most of the sand had been removed. You can see the images here: makeapizzaoven.com/TheBuild/1stFire.aspx
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nixie
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Post by nixie on Jul 24, 2013 8:59:24 GMT
Ikea does large packs of tealights cheaply, once I had the former out I was burnings 25 at a time twice a day.
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Woody
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Post by Woody on Aug 18, 2013 18:59:18 GMT
Well, it's been a while since my last post, so here is an update so far. After removing the sand former I had a series of small curing fires. There have been a few cracks during the curing process. Each time a crack appeared I have been filling with left over clay. I still have cracks now, but they don't appear to be getting any worse. I managed to get hold of a spare metal chimney from a friend and I couldn't believe my luck when it fitted straight onto my clay chimney. At the moment I take the metal chimney off when I am not using the oven and store it in the shed. [It makes it easier to cover the oven when not in use!] I decided to go all out and buy some Caputo 00 flour from Forno Bravo. I have to say that the first pizza was not a perfect as I had hoped. By time I had the pizza ready to go in the oven I think the oven had lost some heat. All the flames had gone from the wood and I just had the embers. I don't have a door at the moment and only one layer of clay. I was using a thermo block as a kind of sudo door, but i think the oven was only at about 180C. The pizza was tasty none the less but took longer than I expected to cook at about 6/7mins. I think the next step is to get another layer of clay and hopefully get up to the hotter temperatures that I have seen other people reporting.
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Post by cannyfradock on Aug 18, 2013 20:07:01 GMT
Woody
Those cracks that appear at the arch transition are a pain in the butt. Those bricks will be dry and your clay is still wet so cracking will appear for a while yet. Just keep parging those cracks up with fresh clay/cob and eventually they will stop.
I have my sticky fingers in lots of wood-fired oven pies and visit many blogs and facebook pages of people who post about clay ovens.....a lot of their best photo's have cracks in the clay, but....they all work....and work well!!. Even Richard scadding who sells pizzas from his earth oven at the Abergaveny food festival every year has a horizontal crack that you can park your car in, but he still knocks out a pizza every 90 seconds for 4 or £5 a throw over that long weekend. Multiply that by the 20 or so hours that the festival is on and you can see that these clay ovens are both commercially and domestically successful.
I love the pic of the pepper, mushroom and ham pizza. Even though you did not get the heat you wanted from your oven.....don't despair. Your oven will perform better the more you use it as it takes perhaps 4 or 5 full firings before you drive all the moisture out......only after this period you will get to know the full potential of your oven.
Terry
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Woody
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Post by Woody on Apr 20, 2015 12:33:46 GMT
It been a while since my last post but i am happy to report the oven is still standing. To give it a chance against the elements I added a shelter last year. I just need to make a front panel and add some roof felt.
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Post by rivergirl on May 3, 2015 8:00:40 GMT
Loved this blog! As one who is girding her loins to do an english build! Even though I have previously built two I still love learning new tricks etc. This build I would like a brick mouth... As one of the problems with mine was mouth cracking!! I would also love to have some kind of opening in front of the mouth entrance to sweep ash etc into. I have not checked my soul here yet to see the clay content..,, still too busy unpacking, rebuilding and sorting! Especially as I am trying to concentrate on the outside kitchen and living area.
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raj
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Post by raj on Jun 5, 2015 12:10:25 GMT
Very nice thread.
I'm having loads of problems with my build soooo many large cracks!
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