Friday, September 17, 2010

Wood-Fired Oven ~ Oven Floor



We took a break for the entire month of June; I was busy gallivanting in Europe so we installed a makeshift tent to protect us, and the oven, from the harsh sun of July!
We did a mix of fireclay from Tucker's Pottery and some brick sand. We had to screen the sand to make sure it was free of small stones and to get rid of some weeds which grew in it over the past year. What should I expect: I had the sand delivered a year ago.....
The layer is rather thin and its purpose is to level the bricks; it's not really acting as a glue.
Once all the bricks were placed properly, I realized I miscalculated the void needed for the ash slot. Because I use 10" wide cement blocks to do the base, it made the hearth slab slightly narrower so I couldn't make the oven floor as wide as Alan Scott's plans were depicting. Not a real problem, we'll reshape the ash slot at a later step.
I selected the firebricks from Alphatherm and they are of medium duty, 9 X 4 1/2 X 2 1/2". Since then, I found some locally but they are much smaller; it would have made the project much longer: more bricks to level!

7 comments:

ĎāvĕΓħëβЯĂvė said...

oh dear another typo, and this one's naughty! makesh*t tent.

Annie said...

Maybe I'm just doing them to entertain you!!!

Anonymous said...

Looks great Annie!

Annie said...

Thanks Nikki! Maybe, maybe I'll be cooking in it before the winter.....

matt said...

Were you able to cook in it by winter? Have you finished it?

Annie said...

Thanks for stopping by Matt. It's not completely finished: the dome and its layers of insulation are done but I was not able to complete the outside walls before the winter. Hopefully, we will have some agreeable weather and it will be done before the end of the month. I will then fill in the air space with vermiculite (another insulator) before completing the roof. And THEN, we'll be ready to roll!!

Unknown said...

Hi Annie,

I'm fascinated by the wood oven story. Any chance you're going to update the progress or the final result? I'd like to do one of these ovens myself, and following the steps you took is inspiring me to get started.

I'm a weekend sourdough bread baker and I really want to bake in a wood oven!