Wanted to start this weeks ago, but life interupted the plans. Couple of old cell phone pics here. I will use a real camera for progess reports.
Tell me what you are building. Is it going to be a wood burning oven? Got a drawing you could post of what you are planning it to look like and used for?
Outdoor fireplace to burn wood and watch fire. Might enjoy a beverage or ten while doing that. I do have a sketch, but it is a basic fireplace form; mantle, shouldered body and chimney. Real stone veneer using flat river stone.
Subscribed!! Love watching builds like this. You sir, work with stone/rock very well Looking forward to your finished product.
Thanks DD. Guess you are recalling the wall thread. That has a finale too. Not too soon though. Plan is to finish this by this time next week. Fingers crossed.
Two late work days have me laying block with a flashlight in my teeth. Doesn't taste bad until it falls a couple times into the cement and mud. Have the courses up to hearth hieght now, so the next step will be the hearth level; natural stone outside and a poured slab to build the firebox on top of. Pics after that step, hopefully on Friday......
Had topsoil down to 20 inches or so. Clay below. Nice and easy with the machine. May salvage the clay for a horseshoe pit.
very grainy cell pic, taken after dark. Cinder block on the top left is to be cut. It was too late to make that kind of racket, but I had mortar and refused to waste it. I make certain to use all the firebrick mortar as well, but that is strictly based on cost. I was quite surprised at the cost of that stuff; 80 bucks for 50 lbs. Nearly at the top of the firebox and looking forward to stone work again. I did a little just to see how it was going to appear and to get a feel for the operation of laying that stuff. Biggest hurdle of recent was to secure that hearth stone. It is man-made cement for steps, I believe. Color was right, size was right, shape was perfect, so I went with it. Pipe at the top right is conduit for wire. Gotta light this thing up!
Heck I've been so busy I missed this post!! And you know how I feel about building things with rocks, MWN...... Looking great already, I can't wait to see a fire cracklin' in that bad boy!! I'm going to build a stone pizza oven for sure next summer......( I think I said that last fall, too.....)....
naw....you're a hard worker too.... trust me, I'd LOVE to have a little free time, but man oh man did the tree work come in late this year.....we're SLAMMED with jobs, gonna go right through the winter if the weather cooperates.... I'm going to need a piece of land soon, to store equipment and firewood!! I DO have a little stonework I'd like to get done before the snow flies....some natural veneer around my sliding glass door on the deck. I may try to tackle that in a week or two. A couple evenings and a Sunday morning should be enough to get it done...
Right on MWN, really looking forward to watching this one come together. I guess it's too late to suggest Rumford? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumford_fireplace
As you can see in the pics, there is quite a lot of firebrick left over. May be able to make radiused walls. Not sure if the big logs will work with that design change though. One thing I liked was the general idea of choking and funneling the chamber. I am at the top of the main viewable body now, so here on it is all about flow and reduction to flue size. Got plenty to think about with that link. Thanks!
Ideally you would make those bevels inside what you already have and backfill the gap with perlite or vermiculite insulation, that way you'd push a TON of heat out to the seating area. Not necessary of course, but it's a good trick. Also, make those back walls light in color, like firebrick already is, to help with that radiation. Even if you don't end up following this design, you are going to have an awesome outdoor fire space. Great project! Oh, as for the big logs, typical wood configuration in a Rumford is logs vertical, on end, so they can still take pretty large fuel. Like so:
