Cutting The Firebrick Floor - DIY Wood-Fired Pizza Oven Project

The oven construction process has been one focused on:  planning (the foundation), building (the foundation), planning (the stand), building (the stand).  And, then more planning (for the oven).  And...now comes the ACTUAL building of the oven.  That starts with learning how to handle the wetsaw and cut out the floor.  Thanks to my VERY HANDY brother-in-law, we went with an isolated floor.  That means, we cut the floor of the oven to be 40" diameter and *then* cut out the soldier course to lay NEXT to the floor.  

We started with cutting the oven entry: 

Then, thanks to the jig that my brother-in-law made, we quickly cut out the rest of the floor and the soliders:

We began to figure out the oven opening and how to make the transition pieces from opening arch to oven dome:

And, cut out the second layer of the dome - these only with side-cuts, no tilt cuts (yet):

We also built our indispensable tool (IT) or dome gauge - to help place the bricks of the dome:

We did ALL of the inital cutting up in Wisconsin - so when the weekend was over, I brought them home and re-assembled them like a jigsaw puzzle.  Here, below are the cut firebricks for the floor and first course laid out on the stand:

Before we left Wisconsin, we tested the jig to see if we can get the tilt angles cut properly.  Below are a few photos showing us test-fitting the third and fourth courses with wedges:

Next up - cutting the insulation and getting started laying these bricks.