Why I Oughta...

My last check-in on the oven showed the 4th chain of dome bricks rising up.  I call it the 4th, but some call it the 'soldier plus three'.  Whatever.  There are 12 or 13 total chains that are needed to close the dome, so four is about 1/3rd of the way.  Today, I'm showing off the sixth (or 'soldier plus five') chain installed.  Along with the 'anchor brick' for the next chain up. We're starting to get a real pitch on the bricks - see below: And, we're starting to see some curvature to the dome, too.  See below: Lots more to go - including the inner arch.  

Despite my best (pinching) efforts, the Large Leaf Italian Basil is nearing the end of its run for the season.  Between bolting and the stalks browning-out, this herb is facing imminent decline.  Will I buy it again?  Of course.  I really like this variety.  Will it bolt in early September again?  Of course.  It always does.   See below for current state of our annual Large Leaf Basil: Next year - with the pizza oven in operation (knock wood) - our basil production will necessarily have to increase, won't it?   What's that you say?  We need a pizza farm?  

Last week, I posted the first few photos of the dome 'going vertical' with the second and third (or first and second if you count the solider course as separate) being mortar'd in with high heat refractory mortar.  Today, I'm showing the next chain (the 4th - or 3rd if you similarly call the solider NOT part of the numbering sequence) going in - where we're starting to see the slightest bit of dome starting to appear with each chain of the dome hanging *over* the previous one oh-so-slightly. Below are a couple of photos showing chain four.  (or three plus the soldier....) I've been cutting the bricks with side angles to get a tight fit and that's been working well.  This chain is the first one where I needed to use wedges under the bricks to get the right top angle. Just eight or nine more to go.  With each chain getting a little bit more difficult. 

Last week, the pizza oven dome went vertical with the first chain rising above the solider course .  Today, I'm showing a few more photos of even more vertical construction.  First, I've learned from the FornoBravo community that part of mortar'ing in a chain of bricks on the dome *should* include the placing and mortar'ing of an 'anchor brick' for the next course/chain.  You can see that below - in the first photo.  I set the first brick of the second chain (soldier + 2) in the middle of the back of the dome.  I did this one evening, then let it set.  I came back the next night and was able to mortar in the bricks to the side while using this fixed brick as an anchor. Below you can see that anchor brick with the rest of the chain: From there, the dome keeps rising: Below you can see the pitch starting to be created by the IT / dome gauge.   Below is the solider + three chains.  Four in total - from the outside of the dome.   And he...

Back a couple weeks ago, I shared the latest pizza oven build project update:  I set the floor and the first chain of the dome .  I went with an isolated floor, so the first 'chain' of the dome is set at the same height as the floor.  But, instead of being set on a 50/50 blend of mason's sand and fireclay, I set the dome chain with refractory mortar - BETWEEN - the joints.   Today, I'm sharing how the dome is going vertical.  Thanks to my brother-in-law (not Equation Boy/Man, rather on Nat's side), I have an indispensable tool (IT) or dome gauge that allows me to easily set each brick of the dome at the right distance and angle.  You can see it in the first photo below.   The other thing that I did was to cut-down the Masonite template that I used to create the floor and placed it *inside* the dome to keep the floor clean from errant mortar and what-have-you.  I'll pull it out when the dome is complete.   The first photo shows ...

Moving on to building the ACTUAL oven - starting with setting the floor.  The last time I checked in, I showed how I used a 50/50 blend of Masons sand and Fireclay to create a bed for the floor to sit-on that allows for a smooth, even floor surface.  And, just a few days ago, I showed how I experimented with the medium-duty refractory mortar to learn how to set the joints and work with the stuff .   As I've talked about, I'm going with an isolated floor and dome.  That means that I've cut the floor bricks to sit *inside* the dome.  It required a few more cuts, but it is the right move, imho.  My first job was setting the oven floor and landing.  You can see that layout below.  I aimed to have the herringbone pattern hit dead center and I tried to keep larger cuts near the entry to avoid having my peel 'catch' on them: This is a BIG MOMENT for me.  20 years ago, I thought about an oven.  Six months ago, I started the project.  ...

While I still need to set the floor, I decided to see if I could figure out how to make Refractory Mortar work by sticking a couple of bricks together.  I've never done ANY masonry work before this project, so I've quickly upgraded my masonry skills over the past few months.  Starting with pouring the concrete slab and then moving on to using (for the first time) Type S mortar to stick the first blocks into place in the stand, I've used different tools and techniques in elementary ways.    For the dome, I'm going to use Akona Medium-Duty Refractory Mortar that comes in 50# bags - because it is available and affordable.  Some folks use a homebrew of fireclay, portland cement and mason sand, but the guy at the brick distributor talked me out of that - by saying that fireclay was out of code around here.  So, he suggested two products - Firestop 50 or this Akona Refractory Mortar .   I mixed up a tiny batch and grabbed a few cut-offs to see if I cou...

The oven project is continuing to move head.  Last time I posted about it was the cutting and installation of the CalSil insulation board that I mounted on top of a pattern of mosiac tile .  That 4" of CalSil insulation is the base for the firebrick floor.  So, laying that insulation was the last big piece towards building the actual oven.    To get the floor in place and level, I opted to lay down a base of mason's sand (which has no rocks) and fireclay (the dried-up dust from cutting the firebricks that comes off the saw) that I combined 50/50 and wet to make a paste.  You can see this process in a few photos below.  I used a notched trowel to smooth out the paste.  Then....I began to lay the brick floor down like tile.   Next up - laying the full floor and the first layer of the dome.  As a reminder, I opted to isolate the floor from the dome with the dome bricks cut separately from the floor . 

As part of an earlier 'garden edit', I moved a bunch of stuff around near the tree swing tree and pulled four Hakonechloa Macra (the green ones) Japanese Forest Grasses that were planted in the back of this bed to the front border.  That was in late April .  Today?  The four are still hanging on.  But, are clearly struggling.    Below is a look at them: These have been getting A LOT less water than they would normally get - but that's because they are now near the pizza oven site.  So, I've been holding off on watering anything that well over there.  With the heat of August bearing down on us, I'm going to try to keep them watered-in.

The basil that I've been growing for the past few seasons is named Italian Large Leaf Basil.  I've picked it up at the Morton Arboretum annual Arbor Day Plant Sale and have - for the past few years - tucked it into a raised bed along with some bush tomatoes.   Between summer vacations and improper pruning, my success with basil has always been middling.  I'd get plenty of leaves, but it always would bolt.  This year, I tried to be deliberate with pruning and taking it down to spots where it could 'bush out' a little bit.  And, when I see seed heads (those little clusters of basil) growing, I've either pinched them off or cut-off the plant BELOW that part.  That's lead to a good-sized basil plant this year.  And one that is producing a lot of, well...'large leaves'.   Here, below, is a look at the Italian basil plant at the beginning of August: It is healthy and happy and still producing a lot of leaves to use in the kitchen this Summer a...

A couple days ago, I posted details of how I am using sheets of tile (flipped upside down) to create a little drainage pattern that sits on top of the poured concrete hearth of our wood-fired pizza oven .  On top of that tile goes - first - insulation.  Then, the floor and dome.  There are a number of ways to do insulation, but over the past few years, the FornoBravo community has seemed to coalesce around the use of Calcium Silicate Insulation Boards as the *best* insulation.  I found some online - sold locally in Southeast Wisconsin - at a decent price.  I bought 54 square feet of 2" thick boards.  I've opted to go with a double layer - 4" of CalSil boards.  That's the recommendation for the 'best insulation' you can use.  Why insulation? To keep the heat *in* the oven.  In this case, it is about creating a barrier between the cooking floor and the concrete hearth.  From what I understand...if NOT for the insulation, the concrete hear...

With the foundation and stand complete for our diy'd wood-fired pizza oven, I recently started turning to building the *actual* oven by cutting bricks last week.   The process of starting the actual oven begins with prepping the top of the hearth to accept the calcium silicate insulation boards.  Cal Sil boards are water-resistant, but you want to keep it as dry as possible so the mass of insulation works as ACTUAL insulation under the oven floor.   The latest innovation for dealing with water penetration that has been driven through the community over at Forno Bravo is the addition of mats of mosiac tiles - set upside down - on top of the reinforced hearth and under the insulation boards.  The idea is that by setting the mosiac tile upside (with the mesh/glue pieces facing up), you create little channels that any surface water that hits the hearth can find its way to the drain holes. I went up to a closeout flooring store on North Avenue in Northlake recently a...

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...

Yesterday, I shared the details of a template that I cut out of Masonite and a circumference tool that will shape the form of the floor of my wood-fired oven.  In order to get the inner arch opening correct, I opted to create a second drawing jig - one that is 20.25" wide that will set the width of that opening.   The goal was to draw the outline of the oven floor, but it proved harder (for me) than I thought it might be when I started. Before I get into the process of getting the oven floor drawn, a quick mention on firebricks.  The community on FornoBravo spec's "Medium-Duty Firebricks" for the floor and dome.  After poking around online, I've come to discover that Illinois is home to the Alsey Refractory - in Alsey, Illinois.  Somewhere between Springfield and St. Louis is the Alsey Refractory ; where they've been making firebricks in the USA for more than 100 years.  A few towns over, a materials dealer - LaGrange Materials - sells Alsey firebrick...