8th Level, Going Up!

Another good weekend of brick laying. The bricks are now up to the 8th level and there are about 4 to 5 more to go. The going should get easier since there are less bricks as it goes higher.



I need to do a lot more brick cutting now to fit the odd spaces. There is a lot of dust and debris flying around so I now wear safety goggles when cutting or grinding. Safety first!



And work has finally started on the opening. This part is a bit tricky. Its not the same work as just putting the bricks down and moving on to the next brick. Figuring out how to frame the opening and how the bricks are going to go in place using the angle iron to support it over the opening took some thinking. I'll spend more time on this next week and hope to complete a level of bricks across the opening.



Getting closer to pizza time!

Rome Wasn't Built In A Day . . .

. . . and neither were the pizza ovens in Pompeii.

I've been asked about when there is actually going to be pizza coming out of the oven and the truth is I really don't know. While I do want to be baking pizza and bread right away, the oven project is not something that can be rushed. Some of the limitations (aside from the lack of experience and skill of the mason) that I need to deal with are:

• I have a day job (thank God!) and I can only work on the oven on weekends.
• The weather needs to cooperate. If it rains hard, I can't work because the mortar will get soggy and won't set. If it is overcast and gloomy, the mortar takes longer to set, so the work goes slower.
• I need to figure out what I am doing as I go along. While I have plans, they are not detailed about every aspect of the oven. There are still some design issues I have not settled in my mind yet (vent and opening of the oven, exterior appearance to be more specific).

Having said all of that, the rough time line in my head is:

• Dome construction - 2 more weeks
• Vent and opening - 1 week
• Exterior insulation and housing - 2 weeks
• Firing (the oven needs to be slowly broken in before it can hit the 900 degrees target temp) - 1 week
• Recipe testing / fine tuning - 2 weeks

If you add it all up (this is a sequential project time line, no parallel tracks) it is about 8 weeks, assuming the weather holds up.

Halloween Pizza anyone?

Power Tools and Progress Update

One really cool aspect about this project is that I am enjoying it on so many levels: there is the DIY part of me (power tools and fix it projects) and then there is the techy nerd part of me, too.

The DIY part is pretty obvious. Even more fun than getting new power tools, is actually using them! This is me cutting up bricks with my angle grinder. On every level of bricks I need to cut a keystone brick to fit in the odd space left and the angle grinder takes care of this job very nicely.




Now for the nerd part. When I finally get to fire up the oven, I'll want to keep track of the temperature inside. For the surface temp of the oven floor I have an infrared thermometer that I can use to check temps.



But I'll also need to keep track of the temp of the bricks so that I know when they are heat saturated. When the bricks are at the correct temp, then the oven will stay hot for a few hours and the fires can be banked. For that, I am installing thermocouples. These are wires that are embedded in the brick and then they connect back to the thermometer for a read out. So far I have one for the oven floor and one located halfway up the dome.










To install these, I drill a hole in the brick and put a special thermally sensitive wire inside.



And, of course, drilling holes means getting to use power tools!






Lastly, a progress update. The weather has been cooperative this weekend, not too much rain and nice cloudy skies so not hot at all. The only drawback was that the work was a little slow because the mortar would take longer to dry and set. I am now up to the 5th level of bricks and it is getting more challenging to keep the bricks at the right angle. The picture on the right shows a close up of the wood inserts that I use to hold the bricks at the right angle while the mortar dries. After it sets, the inserts can be removed and the space is mortared up.

Getting closer to fire up date!

Last Weekend's Work

Got a lot of work done last long weekend.

Went up to three levels of bricks.

This is the first level, relatively easy to get started on building the dome.



This is the front view and side view.












The challenge as I build the higher levels is getting the angle of the bricks tilted correctly. This is the main reason for the styrofoam center, it helps align the tilt.

When it is all done, there will be about 10 to 11 levels of bricks, so I still have a lot of building to go.

The Zen of Bricklaying

Maybe it was because it was Sunday and you're supposed to be contemplative on Sunday. Or maybe it was just the heat of the morning sun bearing down on me as I worked on the oven. But it was just like Buddha's enlightenment. Well, sort of . . .

The process of laying bricks is very peaceful and soothing. It takes full concentration to apply the mortar on the brick, then carefully align the brick into position with the rest. A quick check to see if everything is in place, then move on to the next brick. Even the sound of the mortar in the pail as you mix it has a rhythmic quality to it: mix, ground, slap on the mortar - mix, ground, slap on the mortar.

All sense of time slips away. Only the bricks and the mortar matter. Even awareness of the mosquitoes and flies buzzing about comes to mind only after work is done for the day.

And after the day is done, the bricks stand in testament to the labor they have absorbed.

Or then again, maybe it was the combination of the dust from the ground up bricks, the shavings from the wood and the fumes from the cement drying that went to my head.

Until next weekend . . .

Glorious Sunshine!

Living in a tropical country I've taken sunshine for granted, but today it was just great. After a whole week of rain we finally get a full day of sun, which meant time to work on the oven. I put in a whole day (morning and afternoon) working on the oven and made the most of the good weather. Made great progress and things are finally starting to take shape. Even better, I got to use the power tools!



The day started with finishing the oven floor, which is pretty much the foundation for the whole oven. After double checking dimensions I needed to add a few more rows of bricks from the past weeks work. That took most of the morning.



There were some ridges that would get in the way of the pizzas on the floor so I whipped out the angle grinder to smoothen out the bricks. A wonderful tool, the angle grinder. So versatile and handy. I used it grind bricks on the floor. Later in the afternoon, I would use it cut up bricks.

The first chain of bricks which forms the base of the dome was also laid out today. I stacked them up first to check the fit and put in the styrofoam forms that were cut last week. Things were really starting to take shape.











And finally, it was time to actually mortar the bricks. That's masonry speak for cementing the bricks together. It was slow going at first, but after a few bricks I started to get the hang of it and finished the whole first chain by the end of the day.



And let's not forget my ever faithful helper, Cristina. She helped keep the bricks by replenishing the supply in the pail after I would pull them out. Couldn't have made as much progress today without her.

Rain! Rain! Rain!

The rain really messed up construction this weekend. I had hoped to complete the oven floor layout and mark out the walls of the oven dome in preparation of laying the bricks for the dome. But the weather did not cooperate at all. Rain, rain and more rain.

I did get some work done in between torrential downpours but nowhere near completing my goal for the weekend. So I settled on doing some indoor work. I needed to cut up styrofoam semi circles, which will act as a guide while the bricks are being laid. This will ensure that the dome stays in the right shape. So I worked on measuring and cutting while it was raining. My little helper, Cristina, was on hand to help cut, too.




I also purchased another power tool! Can never have too many tools! I picked up a jigsaw from my favorite hardware store - Handyman at Robinson's Pioneer. This makes it really easy to cut up the plywood, 2" x 4", etc. I used it this weekend to cut the plywood semi-circular shape I use to check the oven dimensions and brick layout. What would have taken 10 minutes using a manual saw, I did in 2 minutes. Great fun!



So I am now hoping for a rain free weekend so I can continue working. I am also thinking about doing work at night just to catch up, but the prospect of giving the mosquitoes a free meal is not that appealing.