Wood Fired Oven Build

[speers90]

Are your neighbors placing orders for food they'd like you too cook?

Not yet but I am sure there will be many pizza parties in the not too distant future.

 

[food4thot]

Without any brick there isn't much to do so I took the opportunity to get my inner & outer arch forms built.

Inner Arch

Outer Arch

Arch comparison showing that the outer arch is 3/4" bigger on left, right and top; to make it easier to insert a door for baking.

The more pics you post, the more interesting this project becomes. Really cool

 

[mikemci]

The more pics you post, the more interesting this project becomes. Really cool

Yep, starting to visualize the finished project now. Looking really good. I'll bet you can't wait!!:-D I would already be tasting the future pizzas.

 

[Gulf]

Great looking start there Ryan,

The IT should do it. It's not a problem now, and easy to fix later. But as you get to the higher courses, you may have to adjust the width of the IT. The lower courses are usually done with 1/2 bricks. The middle courses are usually 1/3rd bricks, And the extreme upper courses are usually done with 1/4 bricks. From the pic, it looks like your IT is just about right for the 1/2 bricks.

Will you be including a heatbreak between your arches and on the floor?

 

[speers90]

Great looking start there Ryan,

The IT should do it. It's not a problem now, and easy to fix later. But as you get to the higher courses, you may have to adjust the width of the IT. The lower courses are usually done with 1/2 bricks. The middle courses are usually 1/3rd bricks, And the extreme upper courses are usually done with 1/4 bricks. From the pic, it looks like your IT is just about right for the 1/2 bricks.

Will you be including a heatbreak between your arches and on the floor?

Yeah I will need to switch to a narrower end piece on my IT as I get higher. No I wasn't planning on incorporating the heatbreak.

 

[popo1984]

Looks Bada$$

 

[Bob in St. Louis]

What is a heatbreak, please.

 

[speers90]

What is a heatbreak, please.

A thermal break, a way to stop heat transfer. My inner arch and floor, which will get heat from the fire, can transfer heat through the brick to my outer arch and floor landing.

Not something I am to concerned about it, I am sure Gulf can explain it better.

 

[Gulf]

What is a heatbreak, please.

Bob,

A heatbreak (thermal break) is a small gap separating the cooking chamber of the oven from the entry and flu. Like Ryan said "My inner arch and floor, which will get heat from the fire, can transfer heat through the brick to my outer arch and floor landing." The gap between them is packed with insulation. It can help stop some of the heat loss from the oven, same as the under floor and dome insulation. Since it is not as thick those insulated layers, a thermal break's importance can be debatable.

Their importance depends a lot on what someone wants out of their WFO. Will it be fired only occasionaly, weekly, or used several days a week?

If it is mostly pizza, a heatbreak is not necessary. For pizza, a live fire is going all the time. The insulated door is left off, radiational heat is escaping, and will heat up those areas anyway.

If someone is mostly interested in baking bread, and wanting to retain that heat for multiple batches. Then a heatbreak may become a little more important.

If someome is interested in baking mostly, and they live in an area where wood is expensive, then a heatbreak may become a lot more important. More/better insulation translates in to a more efficeint oven (less wood and longer heat retention for more cooking on a single firing).

It all boils down to what the oven will be used for mostly and the availabilty of wood. You also might want to consider the availabilty of wood in the near future. IE: I'm young, I can easily gather it now but, what about when I get a few years older? And, I can easily afford to buy a load of wood now, but what about a few years later when I am on a fixed income?

Having said all that: A heatbreak adds a little more difficulty to the build. They are only a recent addition to a thousands of years old technology, that has worked great for all those years without them. For the average owner, a WFO without heatbreaks, that is moderately insulated under the floor and over the dome will be enough.............. For now :smile:

Oven insulation and heatbreaks are too difficult to retrofit later, though. So, the time to decide is in when you are researching your build. I hope that my post doesn't scare anyone off. WFO' s are hell of a lot of fun to build and even more fun to cook in afterward.

Keep up the good work Ryan, You will have a great time building it, and even much better times enjoying it.

 

[speers90]

Thanks Gulf, the info you just shared is exactly why I decided to leave it out. Built for thousands of years without a heatbreak, primarily pizzas with a little baking/roasting, and a readily available source of wood.

 

[Bob in St. Louis]

Thanks guys, that's fantastic information!

 

[Carbon]

Yeah I will need to switch to a narrower end piece on my IT as I get higher.

This is where the real fun begins.

Are you planning on keeping the IT length constant up to the dome ceiling?

 

[Mr.OiSat]

Great build and a lot of information on WFOs in this thread, thatsounds how I like it. Keep it going.

 

[speers90]

This is where the real fun begins.

Are you planning on keeping the IT length constant up to the dome ceiling?

Yep, planning to keep it constant so I have a 21" high dome (interior height).

 

[Carbon]

Yep, planning to keep it constant so I have a 21" high dome (interior height).

Good decision. The dome build will be less complicated (and stronger too) by keeping the radius constant throughout the build.

 

[speers90]

Took an extended lunch break to pickup another load of fire brick and refractory mortar. Running total so far is 180 firebrick and 150lbs mortar. I haven't actually used any mortar yet but all the info I have seen says I will need 150-200lbs so I figured I might as well have the minimum amount on hand.

67 of the brick

33 full brick cut into halves and soaking, ready to be placed and mortared. That will have to wait until tomorrow after work.

I figured why mess around with a 5 gallon bucket when I could just load up the wheel barrow. Hoping to get 3 courses installed tomorrow, which is the height I want to get to before I build my arches. Friday I hope to get the arches built and then Saturday & Sunday afternoons see how much I can get done.

 

[speers90]

I didn't get quite as much done as I wanted to tonight, but that's just how things go sometimes! I did get my process figured out though so that will save time going forward. I am working with small batches of mortar, mixing 5lbs of refractory mortar with 2.5-2.75 cups of water, then placing inside of a grout bag. Then I just squeeze the mortar into place. I should mention that I enlarged the hole on the grout bag a little bit. If anyone else decides to try this method, make sure you wet the inside of the grout bag before putting the mortar in, makes it much easier to squeeze it out.

I like the grout bag method, cleaner and keeps the mortar from drying out since it isn't exposed to air, plus the batches are small enough that you use it up. This also allows me to forego the need for shims, I squeeze a good bit of mortar where I am about to lay my brick and then press it down to the correct height/angle with the help of my indispensable tool. Then I squeeze mortar into the gap between the brick and move onto the next one! I will try to remember to get a few pics of that process tomorrow.

I just noticed that I put two of the brick in backwards in my second course, I try to keep the cut side facing out. Shouldn't be a big deal I just hope they will clean up ok so it looks nice.

Not the cleanest look from the outside but it's going to be hidden at the end so I just need it to be functional.

 

[longwayfromhome]

Terrific stuff Ryan. The IT (great name)... just wanting to be sure I have this process clear in my head...I assume the end in the centre is hinged to cater for the increasing angle, while the other end is fixed to enforce the correct angle by making the bricks conform to its angle - correct? I assume you overfill the angle/gap beneath the new brick and then tap down the back until it is flush with the flat steel of the IT - right? I assume also that as the angle increases the bricks actually rest against the vertical part of the IT which stops them falling in - if this is so, wouldn't the progress slow because you'd have to wait a while for each brick to set somewhat? What is this end process? How about I just wait and see , that is more exciting!

 

[speers90]

Terrific stuff Ryan. The IT (great name)... just wanting to be sure I have this process clear in my head...I assume the end in the centre is hinged to cater for the increasing angle, while the other end is fixed to enforce the correct angle by making the bricks conform to its angle - correct? I assume you overfill the angle/gap beneath the new brick and then tap down the back until it is flush with the flat steel of the IT - right? I assume also that as the angle increases the bricks actually rest against the vertical part of the IT which stops them falling in - if this is so, wouldn't the progress slow because you'd have to wait a while for each brick to set somewhat? What is this end process? How about I just wait and see , that is more exciting!

Correct on all accounts, TBD when I get to the upper courses.

 

[Uncle JJ]

fascinating!