Cutting and Bending Rebar for Flow-Thru Bond Beam Blocks in Pizza Oven Stand - June 2024

Earlier this week, I updated my wood-fired pizza oven build progress with some photos showing the bottom trays and their supports/bracing cut to size.  I have a couple of things that I need to do (I lifted eight steps - bracing for trays shimmed, rebar to bond beam blocks, fill gaps, cut rebar for grid, set up 2x8 forms, wire them, add drainage pipes and fill remaining cores with sand) and most of those can go in any order.    Once I had the trays in place, I decided to see if I had enough rebar on hand to complete the job.  That started with bending some of the 1/2" steel rebar for around the bond beam blocks.  Then, I cut the rest for across the top in a grid pattern.

Below is a photo showing the rebar bent and laid into the bond-beam blocks.  I'm doing curved rebar at every corner and doubling-it-up with 90-degree corners on top of those curves.   On top of this will be a 4.5" thick hearth, so the rebar you see running across the top of the stand will be stood-up with 2" rebar chairs.  

Turns out, I'm a few pieces short, so I'll go buy more 1/2" rebar.  

Then...move on to the remaining steps - like creating the forms and filling the cores.