We've begun the big patio/pizza oven project!

Ok here ya go. Been busy cleaning up and doing some blacksmithing this evening.....

The "re-start" of the firebox (I had to tear out my first attempt at the firebox) with proper back and side spacing, and sloped rear wall. I originally had the firebrick adhered directly to the cinderblock, that's a no-no for longevity.

We rebuilt it with a Rumford firebox.....still was able to use the crane mounts I forged, but I had to extend them by 4"....




Steel beam lentil installed to support the oven pad


Oven pad poured. We put lots of steel in it, as well as 1/2" all-thread DOWN into the firebox so I can install 1" ceramic blanket AND 1" ceramic board to the ceiling of the firebox to protect the concrete pad from direct heat off of the fire underneath. Yes, it's OVERKILL, but that's what I do......lol


Pizza oven floor installed on the pad, all firebrick was installed using Heatstop 50 mortar, and at 70 clams per bag, it was salty.




The first layer of the dome going together! You can see Paul and his helper Cory working in the pic, to give yiu a size reference......this thing is huge!

We designed a "sideways arch" with a door coming into the side to maximize the space for my application. At this stage, it was a gamble as I looked everywhere and couldn't find another quite built like this one, ANYWHERE. Tim would tell if the design would work, but in theory, it should work....

You can see the wooden forms we made to construct the dome and door.






Doorway form is out, oven flue exit and door came out splendidly....



stick around for more pics soon! This is gonna be epic!

 

Great progress Scotty Overkill

I see you’ve also got an overkill amount of fuel waiting just behind the oven…

 

Ok, another photo dump....thanks for the kind words, everyone! It feels.so good to finally be at this stage of this ridiculous project! And YES, next year's Hog Dayz GTG will include a trip down here to have pizza, maybe on Friday evening?

Here's a view of the sideways arch oven, it is one single layer of firebrick here...


Here it is with the second full layer of firebrick on the top and both ends are also closed in with two layers of firebrick. I'll tell ya, this thing is amazing.....over 750 firebricks in the firebox and oven! The stove is about 40" wide inside, and around 30" deep at the door, 18" deep inside both ends and 16" high in the dome. The door is 18" wide.....


View of the sides of the oven


View of the back, it will be getting two layers of 1" thick ceramic blanket before we close it up.

You can also see the smokebox/flue exit for the fireplace in the pic. Its 8" × 24".






A view of rhe back from the other side




First curing fire!! Built a small curing fire to start, and for the following consecutive 5 evenings we built slightly larger fires to gradually bring the temp of the oven up to cure off the brick and mortar slowly.


The cool thing about this sideways arch design is you can split the fire in half, shove it to either side and really have an even heat!


3rd curing fire......


Cool pic of one of the curing fires the other evening! Final verdict is this thing will build and store heat quickly and amazingly well! Still was piping hot inside the oven the next morning and I don't even have a door built for it yet!


blacksmith and his family, his cousin Tony and his wife, and me, my wife and kids are all going to be test dummies this evening, we're gonna see how it performs tonight!

 

Here's the antique 18th century 1750-1770 era andirons I restored for the fireplace. One was in really rough shape, but they came out really well for the shape they were in. I'll do a thread on the restoration later.....they fit in the fireplace perfectly, with the 1700s crane that's in there!

Check out the spit hooks on the uprights!










Here's where the fireplace is now. The stone hearth is in, and the stonework has commenced on the fireplace! Mrs. Overkill is pretty darned excited! I'd be lying if I said I wasn't also....

 

Yes the oven flue is slanted back, and the fireplace flue will be slanted forward, so the two flues will be side by side when done, for a clean exit out the top later. This also made room for the lentil that will go above the oven to support the masonry load from above, so there will be no weight on the oven from above. The rear will also get a lentil. The final product will look something like this.....

 

I imagine you could, as it's a kiln. It burns amazingly clean.