My Pompeii in hull

[leetheldc]

Sorted it 

[marco]

Nice one Lee, I love the arches, really neatly done.

I have started mine and have got to the vermiculite stage, although I am integrating the oven arch with the outside one as this is only for the chimney to take out the smoke. I will create a post when I have the time as I am working overseas and get to go home every other week end.

Ciao
Marco

[leetheldc]

thanks marco im looking forward to seeing your progress il be looking out for your thread --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
i managed to get the floor finnished with the heat break i used 50mm flat rope and a thin piece of stainless all pressed against the the brick face leaving a slight gap, also cut some bricks for the chimney vent as you can see in the photo its a little upside down        
i couldnt lay the bricks as my fondue cement has past its day is there any other mix i could use for them its only going to be 1 more cousre on top of them and for the flue i have plenty of grog left over but another bag of fodue is going to 34 pound and il only use a cup full.
ive also filled behind the face brick over the arch to recive the outer dome arch im going to put a piece of flat stainless across the entrance aswell a little bellow the top of the floor brick down covering the calsil board and verm layer i think cobbler dave once metioned it for a water barrier it should also help against the counter top
got the fire place / bbq up a little higher too started the corbeling for grill racks and ash pan can just see them in the pic my idea for the fireplace design is an arched top like a barrel with a lower steady flatter arch as a mantel would the barrel shape have an effect on the chimney draw would it even work? i would just leave a big enough hole in the top for a chimney

something like this sketch just a wider fire box
i wanted to keep the arch theme going 
 

[leetheldc]

Test

[leetheldc]

hi guys ive had to drag the laptop out been having no luck with posting photos from my phone for some reason. anyway ive made a change to my vent since my last post as i wasnt happy with the size,i dint fancy all my face brick getting covered in black smoke stains so i got the sthil saw out cut most of it down and did it again making for a lot larger opening tappering the right way to a selkirk 8 inch twin wall anchor plate the only brand i could find hopefuly this will draw wel enough to keep the face clean

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[dirtlover2005]

The brickwork on that vent is a thing of beauty - really nicely designed.

[leetheldc]

Thanks Andy it was quite a simple design really only a few cuts il post pics of them when I get chance show how I did it

[rokdok]

Hi Lee, that is a beautiful creation well done indeed.
When you try to do these things yourself you really appreciate the effort that folks put into their build and -- in some cases the latent talent they have.
I hope you'll be using it over the winter. Cheers Paul

[leetheldc]

Hi guys I've had a long spell away from the oven due to what life can throw at you and then the winter hit so I covered up the oven with tarps and yesterday finaly striped them off my temporary roof took a good hammering so I took that down too. So I thought while I have the chance I would start to do a few curing fires my mortar has now had months to do its own curing so do I still need to follow the curing regime from the plans? I took the fire to 300f today for an hour or so but something came up I had to go out and had to let it die. Also do I need to let the oven cool completely before the next raised temp fire? Really looking forward to getting going on the oven again it's been to long!

This is the first time my oven has seen fire I think it liked it!

[leetheldc]

The attachment didn't work so hope this works ...... No what a surprise this damn forum is so buggy posting pics has become a nightmare il try the post image     Finaly 

[cobblerdave]

G'day
Great to see you back.
Never did like the term curing. Should be drying really. Your ovens had a while to sit and any chemical curing should be finished, low temperatures or not.
It's a case of drying the oven out. Use the same size fires and let the oven rest between the fires. In this way any water in the structure will have a chance to migrate to the dry surface left by the fire. This way is in the best spot to be drawn off by the next fire.
Same size fires because as the water diminishes less of the fires energy is being used to boil of the water and you'll find the temperature will rise as a result without making bigger and bigger fires.
Cracks can happen due to water turning to steam. Remember that happens at 100C. 1 ltre of water can produce 1500 ltre of steam. That's a lot of force expanding in the interior of the brick.
Heat naturally goes up resulting in the top of the dome getting hotter and drying at a faster rate than the floor. So you have uneven expansion going on as well.
You'll get some cracks for sure, but if your careful you can minimize these.
Remember your on your way to pizza temps eventually but don't let that heat all go to waste. Cook something in that drying fires and get satisfaction out of what else your oven can cook
Regards dave

[leetheldc]

Thanks dave its good to be back il take that on board  with the fires got another fire going this morning hopefully be able to keep this one going for 6 hours I dry stacked a few fire bricks on the chimney to get a bit of a draw my chimney will be about 3 times higher when finished and theses few dry stacked ones are working a treat not much smoke out the front at all I used a mix off soft wood a little Apple wood I've been drying and some chucks of oak which have just perfumed my garden beautifully and me! I did use the heat I generated to cook something dragged a few embers to the front and made a bolognese  put up a make shift door  Worked a treat  

[leetheldc]

I did get a few hairline cracks I think I maybe had the fire going for to long, another fire tonight to get to around the 400 f mark  here is one of the cracks 

[cobblerdave]

G'day
That's a crack all right. Just a hairline one and just follows the mortar and doesn't crack any bricks or leak smoke or anything.
Couple of things you'll find as the water is being drawn off you'll get visible smoke but as it dries you find your oven will be smokeless.
The black soot on the inside of the oven will burn off and if you find the black persists particular down low your oven will still have moisture in it..
It just takes time and like I said before the time left to rest between burns is just as important as the fires themselves. This is the time that the water is drawn to the dry surface and will be ready to be drawn off in the next burn.
Your doing well, you'll get there just be patient like you have and you'll be good
Regards dave

[leetheldc]

Yes dave just the mortar no bricks have cracked and no smoke coming from them. Got another fire going last night had the dome well saturated to around 350f on the Ir but had to cut it short as the heavens opened up had to pull the tarp over keep the oven dry did manage to keep fire going for 3 hours though closed up the door and let the heat do its thing and even out. hopefully get another fire in there tonight and take the temp up abit. I am so pleased that I changed my vent as it draws fantastic it's great to look up from underneath the vent to see how the smoke channels up there with nothing coming out the front at all you can see the soot here up the vent and so far the clean outside arch.