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[scotsoven]

Ok thanks for the advice

[scotsoven]

Got most of the sand out yesterday then put two candles in tonight to heat it up for 10 minutes to help the paper come off.


Happy with the oven floor but noticed one side of the tunnel mould must of bent in! Will need to mix a small amount and try to square off. Also noticed the mould at the top section has a line from the handful of mix i have been patting on. It is still 75mm thick but think i was not patting hard enough on the top dosent look like a crack and fine on the outside. Should i leave well alone or am i better filling this when a make a little mix for the tunnel?
Any advice appreciated

[downunderdave]

Filling any voids from the inside should be done before any drying, while there is still moisture in the casting. Remove the newspaper to inspect the surface. A stiff scrubbing brush should work if it doesn’t come away easily. You need to force the home brew mix, peanut butter consistency, hard into the voids. Something like a butter knife is a good tool for this operation.

[scotsoven]

Ok thanks for the advice will do this tomorrow

[scotsoven]

How time flys specially when it rains! Had a few dry nights this week so once home from work straight out to work on the WFO. Have got the front arch done and had a three small fires lasting less than two hours. Have the rest of the materials to complete just need a good dry spell. Tonight I layed the first layer of a 10 to 1 vermiculite mix around the bottom. Dry all weekend so my plan is to fix the ceramic blanket tomorrow and cover over with vermiculite mix, hoping the bottom section is dry to help give me something to work from. I am only covering down to just past the fire brick harth line with the blanket as this was quite expensive, hope this isn't a mistake??? See attached pics, will give a update on how I get on. Question for the more experienced I am thinking about shutering the front of the oven from the end of the fire brick harth to the front of my concrete base, the same width as the arch / entrance. Thinking if a raise this area up then tile over in line it will give me area to lift food / pizza out to check. Does this seam a reasonable idea or will the front get to hot and crack the tiles??? Any advice or opinions would be appreciated.

[scotsoven]

Can see the finish line. Got all the insulation done today, will leave for a week or two till it drys out. Will have some more curing fires then render the dome and the brickwork base.

[oblertone]

Excellent progress, hope the weather holds for you. As to the hearth exit, it's certainly easier if the surround is level with the cooking floor as it makes moving things about a lot easier. Personally I'd level it all the way around purely for aesthetic reasons, but the front is a definite. Remember that you'll be cooking on retained heat the day after a pizza session so moving casseroles and bread tins about is easier on a level surface. If using tiles, try and use waterproof render and exterior grade tiles. It might be worth sealing the under oven insulation before casting a further plinth, silicone will do the job and it'll prevent damp transfer into the oven vase.

[scotsoven]

Thanks for the advice oblertone, ye though i would just go for it so this morning took advantage of the dry weather.



Plan is to get some of the red terracotta tiles and bring up to the same level as the harth. Will tile the rest of the flat area around the dome with the same tiles once i get dried out in a few weeeks and get the render on. Was thinking about mosaic tiles for the front edge but will have to see what i can get on the cheap. Still it two minds about putting a roof over the whole lot?

[oblertone]

Mosaic tiles don't have to be expensive; I used standard plain tiles and waterproof adhesive on mine. It took a while as I covered the entire dome (see build thread below) but the effect is pretty good.

[scotsoven]

Obletone, thanks looked at your post that is one impressive oven👍 lovely tile work, like the idea it is movalble. I was only thinking of tiling around the flat area round the dome with red terracotta tiles then doing the front edge of this with mosaic tiles. Have seen some people online using broken tiles to create paterns cheep and good looking.

I have now got the render done on the base walls, this is harder than it looks on utube videos but a wet sponge does wonders 😁. Will render the dome tomorrow ✊🤞I have had 14 curing fires tonights got up to 312 deg C think i have got most of the moisture out but from what i have read there will still be some present as i only put the vermiculite layer on two weeks ago, however i need to make the best of the unusually good weather. Still haven't noticed any cracks sure i will get them when i go for the BIG fire but apparently every oven gets them?

I have fitted the chimney (single wall stainless pipe i got free from work) but removed as i am going to put a roof over the dome. As the chimney pipe comes through the apex ridge my thought was to weld a angled sheet to match the roof angle around the chimney with a 200mm overlap. Hope this will solve the issue of heat transfer and keep the water out🤞 will post some pics once i get to this stage to better explain. Thanks to everyone who takes the time to post on the forum, without your advice and experiences i wouldn't of got this far, or maybe i would have but with a oven that didnt perform or last considering i was originally think of gym ball with vermiculite cast dome😱.

[scotsoven]

Got the dome rendered and now need to tile and wait for the render to dry before painting in a few weeks time. Going to have pizza tomorrow if it stays dry.




Need to make a pizza peel tonight from some material i got from work will post up pics once done.

[oblertone]

Have you done a series of progressively larger curing fires ? Without rereading the whole thread I'm not sure; however, firing a wet oven up to pizza temp (soot free) will not only take ages but be potentially damaging to the structure.

[scotsoven]

Yes done a load of small fires getting gradually upto over 300 degC before rendering last Saturday. Have kept it under cover all week so hoping if a light a small fire tomorrow morning then gradually build up in the afternoon hope it will be ok🤞🤞🤞 have two small cracks in the render maybe about a inch long so plan to touch up but thought i would wait till after i fire as it gives somewhere for the moisture to go and if i get any more its easier to patch up at the same time.

Do you think this is to soon???

[oblertone]

If you're happy you've done enough firings then go for it, the worst that can happen is that you'll get some cracking, and there aren't many WFO's without.

[scotsoven]

Well first pizzas tonight and i must say wow, done 4 in total first one cooked in 2 mins the rest were about 3 minutes. Posted a link to a youtube video, hope this works first time doing this.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=tjmA5FdDBZs

Some pics incase the link doesn't work
















Think i might of made my pizza peel to big? Made in a rush to use this weekend will make a smaller one and a small circular one for turning. Was also going to make a stand for the logs and a heat sheild but i am happy just to get to use the oven after all the work.