9) Building the arch - II

Finally got around to building the arch.....

Decided to use insulations board as its easy to cut & shape

Built up side colums to take the weight of the arch, as its slightly parabolic it wanst to spread!

Inserted springer bricks.

Time for another beer!

8) Firing the oven

First Fire of the oven...... woried.

 Imogen & Dom witness the first firing.....

 

 Looks ok but a lot of smoke!

 

 

http://vimeo.com/40729071

7) Building the front Arch

Building the front Arch.....setting out & planning.....

Created hardboard template for planned double arch. I'm using double bull nose blue black bricks.
Aim is to cut as few bricks as possible so plan is to build 2 small columns to create spring line then have a cut brick at each side to act as the 'springer' which will create the shallow angle of the arch to match profile of the door.

Because its more of a segmental arch there will be quite a lot of pressure pushing outwards.

Cutting the double bull nose bricks was a bit tricky.... used a 9inch angle grinder with a diamond blade. Not for the faint hearted!

Setting out the springer with 1cm space for mortar. Use 2inch insulation board as a former because its easy to cut. I doubled up to get a 4inch form to fully support the bricks.

Unfortunately I realised to get a snug fit against the oven dome I had to cut all the bricks down to remove on e of the 'bullnose' ends which shortened the bricks. 

 

Setting out the outer arch of the brick oven.

I will again have to cut another 'springer' brick for the outer arch.
Plan to build the pillars or columns first to ensure the arch doesn't push the columns out before the mortar goes off.....

 

6) Building the Dome Continues

Building the Dome continues.....

Tiem to stick the dome together with the fireclay which took some mixing....

Bedded the dome doan & filled any joints. Chimney was also bedded in with fireclay.

Insulation layer wrapped in chicken wire.

Not quite enough to go round which was a shame.

Rendered the outside of the oven with a fairly strong mix of sharp sand & cement.

 

 

5) Building the Dome

Building the Dome - Setting out.

Now the base and hearth are in I've started to set out the oven dome.
I decided to go for a precast dome which I bought from EBay from a guy in Derby..

It comes in 5 sections that are bonded together with fire clay. I chose this over building with firebrick due to time, cost & reliability. Although the oven dome is a self supporting structure I wasnt that confident on my brick laying skills, and cutting 200 firebricks in half didnt appeal to me either.

 

The flue....... which doesnt look big enough to me!

Back sections fit quite well.

Top view

Looks quite neat on the inside.....

From the inside of the dome!

Beer bottle test passed !

Setting out the bricks for the front arch - decided on double bull-nose specials in the blue black which matches the limestone flags.

 

I Caculated it'll take 24 half bricks for the bottom course of bricks for the dome.

 

 Setting out the arch - I think i'm going to have to make a few cuts to get the exact curve of the arch.

 

 Placing chimley - the stainless steel chimneyis