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Post by oblertone on Mar 2, 2015 14:27:29 GMT
I used storage heater bricks for my build, just be aware there are two main sorts and they are slightly different sizes so not easy to mix and match. The main difference is one has 'Three Dots' on the rear, the other has 'two grooves'. Despite being very dense they are pretty fragile and the corners regularly crumble; when in use the pits fill up with ash so it's not a problem.
I've a dozen two grooves outside my garage waiting for a new home should anyone need them ?
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Post by oblertone on Feb 25, 2015 23:17:05 GMT
I used 200yr old wire cut bricks from a chimney stack and cut with a bolster for my oven; works a treat so far !
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Post by oblertone on Feb 15, 2015 11:14:22 GMT
I need to get some more render on my oven but it's still pretty cool here in Devon; answer, fire up the beast ! Lit it late last night and got it up to soot free temp, then put the door on and mixed some bread dough which went straight in the fridge. Got up this morning only to find the thing was still alight, so I raked the coals out and put in a belly-pork joint for a 30 min sizzle. This came out and in went the bread, 30 mins later and that was done too; the pork will go back in when the temp comes down to about 125C and I'll leave it there until dinner this evening. Now off to do a bit of rendering !
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Post by oblertone on Jan 29, 2015 0:54:50 GMT
The fabricator charged me £30 for the tray; I thought that was expensive but it's my toy and it is beautifully finished. The handles were £8 posted for two pairs on eBay and the thermometer was less than a tenner. Vermiculite board is readily available anywhere they do stove installation or refurb because it's the stuff they cut fire brick for stove lining from. It is very friable and you cut it easily with a hand saw or jigsaw. I cut it roughly to size with a jigsaw then shaped it to give an interference fit with a surform. I caught the probe on the side of its hole while press fitting the board and a small 'cone' popped out. I may smooth out the cone to free the probe and pretend I did it on purpose. It is just mild steel and I was going to paint it with stove black, but they gave it a uniform finish which looks good so I've coated it with ACF50 to stop it rusting. When it does, I'll rub it down and paint it.
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Post by oblertone on Jan 27, 2015 12:54:08 GMT
Both posted yesterday
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Post by oblertone on Jan 21, 2015 18:03:54 GMT
... finally completed. I had a fabricator make a tray with a 25mm recess, fitted it with a pair of Aga handles off eBay along with a short probe thermometer and then carved a piece of vermiculite board to fit. I had it fitted with feet to help it stand and protect the probe but I'm aware there will be an air gap. I can always remove the feet if it becomes a problem. Bread making here I come !
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Post by oblertone on Jan 18, 2015 20:41:38 GMT
Handles claimed by Duncan.
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Post by oblertone on Jan 18, 2015 14:11:35 GMT
... I've a couple of bits that WFO builders may find useful, and that I can't be bothered to put on eBay. 1st up is a pair of insulated Aga handles; I bought these very cheaply on eBay without realising I was bidding on two pairs. I've kept a pair for my oven door (work in progress) but the others are just laying around doing nothing. 2nd is two tubes of Heat Resistant sealant, again bought as a job lot and not used. Good for plugging cracks and gaps. Items are in West Devon but will post at cost; they can also be in London or dropped at points inbetween as its my regular commute. Claim on here and let me have a postal address via Private Message. Paul
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Post by oblertone on Jan 17, 2015 10:03:18 GMT
I bought the board on-line from a guy in Shaftesbury who trades as Dorset stoves; you can get it locally (Elaine's Stoves - Okehampton) or presumably any stove installer would keep a stock.
I've got about 10 heater blocks spare if you run out, you're welcome to them for collection.
I assume the bottles are going in the base ?
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Hi
Jan 16, 2015 22:47:31 GMT
Post by oblertone on Jan 16, 2015 22:47:31 GMT
Old red bricks without indents, known as wire-cut are what I used, but any solid red brick should give an adequate result. Read through my build thread on the link at the bottom of my post and you'll see how I did it.
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Post by oblertone on Jan 15, 2015 20:09:57 GMT
Hello from moist wet Devon and welcome to the world of WFO's; as a relative newcomer myself I can appreciate the confusion but it really boils down to what you want to achieve. There are free plans available that will tell you exactly how many bricks you need for a given size of oven, what taper angle each needs to be cut at and superb instructions on how to ensure their perfect alignment using an 'indespensible tool'. On the other hand you can grab some bricks out of a skip, smack them in half using a bolster and create a perfectly good working WFO, the choice is yours. If you go down the latter route you'll need about 75 house bricks for a 32" internal diameter oven. The one common theme is insulation, particularly under the oven as it's difficult to install afterwards when you realise you've gone too light. A good layer 3"-4" of vermiculite mixed with cement powder (10-1) on top of your support slab seems about the minimum requirement. A common topping on this are heater blocks from night-storage heaters (see ebay) to form the oven floor. As to mortar, a lot of people including me use 'homebrew' which is sand/cement/fireclay/lime in the proportion 3-1-1-1. Some use up to 6 parts sand, but again it's your choice. Do a lot of reading, particularly build threads before you choose a course of action, adopt what seems sensible and disregard the rest, no two builds are the same. Good luck ... Paul
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Post by oblertone on Jan 12, 2015 15:45:01 GMT
Just been back to the fabricator who made the main stand and pestered him to make a free standing inner door; I'm sure he only agrees out of hope for free pizza some time in the future ! The pic below was taken on 27th Dec and was only fired up to help set the render layer, lots of neighbours thought otherwise and a good night was had by all.
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Post by oblertone on Jan 12, 2015 10:01:39 GMT
Bit of a latecomer as I've already built my WFO (on wheels) before discovering this forum ! I live in a rural part of West Devon (UK) where we have a church, a village hall, a telephone box (decommissioned), 4 street lights and about 30 houses. The hall doesn't get much use but in a drink fuelled discussion with the neighbours I rather foolishly agreed to provide pizza at an Italian Night in the hall to raise some maintenance funds. Now while I support the hall I didn't feel like donating an oven, so the answer was simple, make it mobile ! A road trailer was considered but as I only live next door a hand trolley was a much cheaper option, and so it was off to eBay where a 500kg rated trolley was snapped up. A second trawl of eBay secured 50 odd storage heater blocks for the princely sum of £4.12. Recovering these nearly killed my elderly Volvo estate as they weigh about 5kgs each. A few calculations later saw me off to a local fabricator who produced a tray & stand in short order; the rest as they say, is history. I fully documented my build process on another forum and there is a link on my signature line for the insomniacs. A basic tenet of my build was to use what was available at the lowest cost, preferably free; so the dome bricks came out of a neighbours skip, a length of flue pipe was a leftover from another neighbours stove installation. Coping stones for the arch and a pack of tiles were scavenged from yet another rubbish pile. To continue the free cycle ethos I've a few bits left over that others may find of use; could someone point me at the correct section or could I just start a Free Stuff thread ? The image hopefully shows the bare oven in use at the village Italian evening; it's had some refinements since then and is now insulated and has a flue. Next step is to finish the render and build a door to enable a bit of baking.
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