My Barrel Vault WFO

[turkey]

awesome :-)

can you confirm the render?

the render was 4 parts sand, 1 part sand and 1 part lime

two different types of sand or was that cement and sand?

[samuraidave]

Sorry it should have said 4 parts sharp sand 1 part cement and 1 part lime. Went on a treat and so far no cracks but i will have to see how it lasts.

[wjw]

Awesome Dave. Looks fantastic. I can't wait to get the exterior of mine completed.

Bill

[samuraidave]

Thanks for the great comments. Here is a pic of zone being fried out after i cooked a leg of lamb at the weekend. Freshly felled and yet, let the oven temp drop below 100 and in it goes for a couple of days. Now nice and dry and ready for pizza at the weekend.

[davebeasley]

Great build Dave, flattered to get a mention earlier on. Good to see the solid engineering bricks being used for making the oven, i very nearly used the blue/black ones but skimped and went for the clay solids, never any probs with mine, no degeneration over last 3yrs worth of firings. I wish i'd have put a roof over mine, maybe that can be an addition this year, excellent work, keep it up, Dave B

[samuraidave]

Dave, I am flattered that you like my build. It was your build that gave me the inspiration and confidence to go for it and build my oven. I wanted to build mine like yours and have the brick top on it but I was not sure how to do it. That said I am very happy with my slate roof.

Thanks for the feedback.

Dave the happy WFO builder.

[samuraidave]

Ok so I have not been very active on here of late so thought I would update this thread with some pics. I built three towers of wood. One at the back with thick logs, about 5 inches in diameter and a foot or so long. Then at the front of the oven was two towers of one or two inch thick pieces. They are laid out to form stacks so that the air can rush around them. After about three hours it was good and hot and I had not added any wood, it was just burning what I had put in at the start. No kindling at all just a good load of fire lighters, I find it leads to a quicker fire and therefore less smoke.

[samuraidave]

Keep the mother in-law sweet with pizza!

[samuraidave]

90 second pizza.

Only did about about 15 but could have gone on cooking for ages.

[samuraidave]

Tomato too thick but apart from that nice crispy base, melted cheese and yum yum yum.

[samuraidave]

So after the pizza, I cleared out the fire; one metal bucket and then put the embers into it and fill it with water. Takes a while to empty all of the unwanted firewood from the oven before it all burns to ash. (Once the oven is finished with I drain the charcoal and put it back in with the door ajar for a couple of days and I have the fuel for my next BBQ). Anyway once the floor was cleared in went a couple of loafs of bread, no pic I am afraid and the next day in when a shoulder of pork for about 6 hours. There is a full two days of use out of one fire. Looking forward to next weekend. Mind you where has all the hot weather gone?

[cannyfradock]

Dave

Great pics of your oven and your pizzas look something special.

There looks like a lot of fire in your oven for your pizza party's?....I've never used a Vault oven mind you so I'm not sure how they function compared to a Pompeii?.....

Great oven, nice build and tip top pizzas........#thanksforsharing.

Terry

[muddy4x4]

What a lovely oven ! I take my hat off to you ! Pizza looks great, know what you mean with the tomato, unless wafer thin are still raw. I keep meaning to roast a couple of trays of slices and try them. We always roast our peppers now, just makes them sweeter.
I love the idea of being able to cook things for a day or 2 on one good firing !
I want one !

[samuraidave]

Thanks for the compliments guys.

Terry, I have not used the oven as much as I have wanted to over the last year but the couple of times that I have the heat up time and constant attention keeping the fire going was a pain. Also having flames while cooking was harder to achieve as the fire was dying down as I was wanting to cook. The oven itself is longer that perhaps it seems on the pictures and the fire was only in about one third of the total length. I had just pushed all of the embers and wood to the back and piled it on top of each other, that of course allowed the flames to roll over the roof and maintain the heat throughout the cooking process.
I would rather have a bit too much heat than not enough, once the floor looses temperature it is a pain to heat up again.

Oh and the charcoal I made was used to cook steak and halloumi for supper tonight.

I am still learning, thanks as always for the compliments and feedback.

Dave

[paul]

I havn't been about for a while, got my New Years message via email and thought I must have a nose at the forum and find this thread. A big well done as it all looks fantastic!