Why I Oughta...

So far in my diy backyard wood-fired pizza oven build, all that I've talked about/posted about is what I'll call infrastructure.  That's the foundation slab (reinforced), the block stand (cores filled) and the suspended hearth (reinforced).  But, once all that is out of the way, it quickly becomes a brick-cutting exercise.  Medium-duty firebricks are 2.5" thick, 4.5" wide and 9" long.  They're beefy.   Each of those bricks require 4 (or so) cuts to make them useable in the dome.  In order to cut those big firebricks, one needs a saw that is both ready to cut brick (wet saw) and has a big throat (cut depth), so you don't have to cut one-side, then flip, and cut the other. After bouncing around Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist for months, I decided to take the plunge with a new saw from Harbor Freight.  Between their Memorial Day sale, another discount (membership) and a gift card that I was given for my birthday earlier this year, the new 10" D...

After excavation, the first step of building my backyard pizza oven is framing and pouring a solid foundation for the oven to sit-on.  This foundation is going to be a 5.5" thick, reinforced concrete slab.  I've been probing for the boundaries of the in-ground drywell in our backyard ( post with photos here ) and have to decide on final location in the coming weeks.   Once that location is set, I can begin excavation.  Then, my brain will switch to construction material ordering - starting with bags of concrete/cement and concrete block for the foundation. The first consideration in that process is how I'll go about making/mixing the concrete.  One of the recommendations from the builder community on the Forno Bravo forums is to buy a 3.5 cubic foot cement mixer from Harbor Freight.  I went over to the local HF store this past weekend and sized the machine up.  Here, below is a photo of the cement mixer below: Here's the product page - shows the s...