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Post by cannyfradock on Oct 20, 2012 9:03:41 GMT
Progress is progress however slow in our unkind climate.
Love the phrase "devil's porridge" .....
Terry
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Post by spinal on Oct 22, 2012 12:17:47 GMT
A few pictures finally! Fire drying "fire" - a large candle (Thursday night)! This burnt for almost 24 hours, then I added some corn oil and let it burn a few more hours.  I then lit some paper (a Symantec manual for deepsight if anyone cares  ) and burnt that for a few minutes.  Then, re-introduced the candle and a little cardboard:  Finally, on Sunday I got a nice wood fire going. I used the scrap wood that I had used for the concrete forms when making the base, so not exactly hardwood... but they burn well  I even had steam coming off the outside of the dome (and no cracks, whoop!)  My last two rows weren't that neat... I may crawl in a do some grinding/pointing when I have more time... the other rows I'm pretty happy with all things considered! Here's a video of the fourth drying fire. You can also see I've put the front arch in, the middle arch out of insulating bricks and the flue. I've started the outer shell out of bricks as well... I'll get some better pictures of the flue transition, but it was dead simple to be honest. I basically made it out of insulating bricks, then took a file and made a circular hole and angled it so there are no rough edges and it smoothly converts to the flue size. www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg61G36Pz-4M |
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Post by reburner on Oct 22, 2012 15:54:13 GMT
Very Nice. Progress on my modular oven has stalled dues to the weather and it doesn't look like it is getting better soon.
Looking forward to the first food pics.
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petec
WFO Team Player
Posts: 232
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Post by petec on Oct 22, 2012 17:09:50 GMT
Brilliant progress Spinal !! - this oven has moved really fast !
looking forward to seeing some cooking pics soon.
Rgds
PeteC
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Post by cannyfradock on Oct 22, 2012 17:11:16 GMT
Spinal
Love those images. It's always special when you start seeing the top of the dome turning white then gradually creeping down the dome.
That's some serious drying fires in the video clip.......brilliant.
Terry
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Post by spinal on Oct 22, 2012 19:20:05 GMT
It has moved very fast! It was very quiet for a month or so, and once the fire bricks arrived it took 2 weekends to build the dome and then 3 days before the first fire went in. Quite glad I used CAC/HAC instead of portland now. This weekend I have a party - so will need to get the blanket up before then... At least I can bake a pizza. I must confess - I did cook a piadina (kind of like a naan) - as I was too impatient. The results were less than splendid... edible, but less than splendid. First I crumpled it up trying to get it off the peel, then, after getting it out and back in undercooked it. Third time into the oven (always the same poor wretched piece of dough) I accidentally pushed it into the coals trying to get it back on the peel. That said, it did taste quite nice (albeit a bit ashy as I don't have a brush/mop yet).... I also started cutting out some plates/cutting boards for the pizzas:  I've got one made, and oiled in the kitchen... once the others are cut/sanded/oiled I'll post some pics M. |
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Post by faz on Oct 22, 2012 21:47:29 GMT
Good progress spinal, and nice looking peel. I should pull my figer out and make a few too. Maybe thats a job for the winter |
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Post by turkey on Oct 23, 2012 13:42:54 GMT
good to see suitable materials being burnt, how did you find Symantec's service in this regard?  |
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Post by spinal on Oct 23, 2012 17:48:53 GMT
good to see suitable materials being burnt, how did you find Symantec's service in this regard? Considering I used to work for them (UK Consulting department) I usually don't have too much trouble with their tech support... I bypass all the malarkey of 1st line support and call straight to 3rd line. That said, it's been a while I haven't called them... been spending time with PGP, which is reasonably well coded - so it's quick jobs with my clients these days! M. |
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Post by spinal on Oct 25, 2012 16:52:39 GMT
Busy day today - and this stupid apple piece of crock's keyboard has broken y period key and "the letter before n" don't work - grrr Anyhow - fre blanket s now up, and 've started buldng the outer wall as well F*ck - even the eye key s broken now,,, gah!  (had to copy and paste letters to buld that tag - ugh |
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Post by spinal on Oct 28, 2012 21:40:39 GMT
I'm afraid I don't have pictures... I didn't take a single picture all weekend! The oven's been fired for the entire weekend! I started a fire with the last pallet on Saturday morning, and got my delivery of wood at 3 on Saturday... it has had a live fire ever since! The first pizza was a resounding success, and goaded by the ease of which it was done, I promptly tossed the next pizza straight into the embers. That said, we had a great weekend, and had a good few pizzas - only killing 2 or 3 of them. To be honest, I lost count of the numbers made as I had friends trying their hand at the various stages - but we did end up using about 3kg of flour... I'll update this thread as I finish building the oven... which may be a while now that it's operational M. |
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Post by cannyfradock on Oct 29, 2012 7:11:51 GMT
Congratulations....sounds like your first pizza party was a great success. I'm sure the more you use the peel the less the pizzas will end up on the embers. (we'll all been there. Banana and nutella calzones burn really well when accidentally shuffled into the flames).
Terry
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Post by spinal on May 12, 2013 18:50:10 GMT
I need to finish the oven, and am almost at the point where I do the roof/chimney... today I did a ring, so I'm posting a picture in the hope that it gets me to do some more this week...  |
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Post by stefan on May 16, 2013 8:03:27 GMT
Sorry if I missed it but can you explain what CAC/HAC is and how you used it?
Can you tell us your quantities for the mortar mix used for the dome?
Cheers
Stefan
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Post by spinal on May 16, 2013 9:57:31 GMT
CAC = calcium aluminate cement
HAC= high alumina cement
Basically, instead of using Portland cement, I used a cement which has a very high content of alumina, which is thermally conductive. For comparison, firebricks are "rated" by their alumina content (e.g. 42U is 42% alumina). The higher the conductive content in the dome (i.e. the higher the alumina %age) the faster it heats up. (from my reading last year).
The mix I used was CAC/HAC, fireclay, grog and sand. I can't remember the ratios, but have them somewhere. (IIRC, 1:1:1:3) The grog I bought was 42% or higher alumina, but I also mixed in the dust from cutting the bricks. For buttering the bricks, I used the finer grog, while for the thermal bank I used the coarse grog.
(Thermal bank - to make the oven stay hotter, longer, I coated the entire oven in a fireclay/grog/HAC mix; adding about 1" of thickness all around. This means that when I open the door, the oven has more thermal mass to stay hot.)
The idea behind the fireclay (stolen from fornobravo) is that once you run the oven at full temperature for a few hours, it cures. Not sure if it did any difference, but I had the clay so threw it in.
Hoping to put the last "ring" of bricks tonight, before starting the triangles to support the roof.
This is the point where my clear lack of bricklaying skills is evident, as the left and right sides of the rings don't line up. I'm playing with joint thickness to try to hide it...
M.
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) and burnt that for a few minutes.
I even had steam coming off the outside of the dome (and no cracks, whoop!)
