Fire Clay - technical

for the technical minded heres a good explaination of fire clay

http://www.mineralszone.com/minerals/fire-clay.html

pizza oven FAST

heres a QUICK vid on a "tunnel" oven prefab, but its got a few good ideas.

http://www.cyanweb.info/diy/video/

pizza oven forums

this seems to be one of the best and most OPEN forums about pizza ovens, there is loads of ideas if you have the time to sift through them.

http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/

My blog is designed to have done all that work for you.

Concrete slab recipe

Been down to my local garden center and he says the mix is 4:2:1 , thts 4 sand to 2 aggregrate to 1 cement.

I got a quote from a "mini-mix" delivery and its was $226 for my .4Msq , the cost of the sand/aggregate/cement from the local bloke is $129 !!! why the difference, WELL he tells me you can order what you want of the mini-mix but they just charge you a MIN 1Msq.

It doesn't matter when or where you are reading this but almost double is a BIG difference, especially when you can find sand and rocks everywhere yourself !

Everything I read still says "portland cement" is an ingredient you need, portland NOT becuase its from portland its just the brand/type name.

it has certain attributes and probably best just buying the stuff ! but if you want to spend time researching then "portland cement" is where to start.

Gonna go do me some sand hunting LOL

READY to start

Well today I delivered the last of the big items to granma's to start building the project, it was the last of the solid bricks, some wood to make the surrounds for the slabs, the angled bricks i got cut and a few pieces of "metal cross reinforcing" for the extension to the roof above the oven.

We are heading into winter so as expected this will slow up the project but at least no more "hunting and gathering" and "delivering" .

except now the concrete and mortars !

how to lay the concrete slab

here it is

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQafafOwBT0

brick laying WHOLLLEY DOOLLLEY

well this vid is something to be seen, .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMu-HFPk7UQ&NR=1

i like the way he uses the scrap mortar to create the next brick placement.

I can't remember if i've given you this vid link before : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf18CbVJzFo but if i have then have a look again at the 18sec mark, you will see him holding a red plastic tool and he will use it throughout the video. From 8.20mins is all good info, 8.43mins is a great shot of what it does. The VERY LAST second you can REALLY see how this tool could help you/me. The problem with this product is that it is SOOO brilliant and sooo simple that you can build it yourself !

STAY tuned as I have built my own for FREE from items i have got from building sites, i'll post it a bit later WITH images and update this blog with the link.

Its a GREAT tool for the novice so watch the vid.

Baking tutorial

This vid is a must see, its long and slow but heaps of good info if you stick with it. From starting up the oven to finished bread fully explained.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpnT8YZ9CVk

Clay paver base

Well been over to the Aunties who has close to 200 clay pavers sitting beside her house but unfortunately I can use them, the sides are beveled or chipped which is fine for walking on but you really need a QUALITY floor to your oven, so I think I'm going to have to buy pavers, bugger ! but when you think about it.... that is your cooking surface and its gotta be right.

another great video showing details (although its a dome oven) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smOPvGZKQHk

but 59secs in you see they have made a nice paver pattern for the floor. Not really sure if i'm keen on that myself even though it looks good, I'm thinking of having much larger pavers and thus less off them . maybe 200mm x 200mm each or even 400's ? .

My thinking is having less pavers will help greatly with less ash retention in all those cracks? who knows?

you will see the maker gives shots of cement and lime as their mortar (oh god not mortar AGAIN, but yes ..i think it is a major key to the success so i will keep going on about it and much to your benefit i hope in the end) so I have blogged him and asked for his recipe and will post it if I get a reply...IF i agree with it!)

See at 1.47mins how much mortar is on the inside of the oven. THEN see at 1.58 how all that mortar has gone !!!!!, well if you have burned it off again and again and again and again BEFORE cooking you would be ok but i think its been a bit crunchy in the food for a while?

THEN NOTE: at the end (2.02mins) he is cooking his pizzas in a cask iron pan and NOT on the base of the oven. No wonder look at the mess all around the area !

and the answer is at 2.12mins, a bunch of blokes all around the fire hav'n a few beers, well ya can't knock that but lets get it right in the first place.

Middle drop with images

Here is a mock-up of my "drop" , the cream bricks are the frontfront, you can see that the drop section is 2 bricks deep and I have the chimney before the frontfront-arch.

note the off cuts of the angle cuts will fill alot of the gaps to reduce mortar use.

i was lucky enought to find brick already cut in half lenghtways so that is enabling me to do this drop.

Top View, you can see how this is going to work, i'll put the chimney into that gap and surround it with bits of brick and mortar, use of mortar isn't so worrying here as a pizza will only spend a few seconds under this area. Whats best is to have a GOOD SEAL to close off the oven area.

On that note I may need to slightly revise this structure to accommodate my oven door. Hmmm, will have to think about that.

I did some quick photoshop on this image to get my idea across, here is the tunnel into the oven without the frontfront-arch.

NOTE: this is not my oven width, i just used 1 brick width as an example, see the use of another off-cut on the front right brick to push up against the frontfront-arch, all helping to ensure a SEAL.

I think you can imagine how this small drop will facilitate the "draw" of smoke.

All this will come together once I start putting it together and marry up these posts with youtube vids by me.

Brick cutting 2

Well here are some images to explain why i wanted bricks pro cut.

Here the stack of brick now cut on an angle, you can see at the front all the bits that are cut off, i will use them to fill in the gaps when i create the drop down for the chimney.

Refactory cement recipe

Well its not actually it is an alternative given to me by a guy who has built 3 wood fired ovens so far so i'll go with his idea as refactory cement can be quite expensive.

this is what he sent me. quote:" i did not use any refractory cement i used fireclay with a ratio of 5.1.2.1 five sand. 1 cement. 2 fireclay 1 hydrated lime."

Chimney

I made a comment earlier about the chimney being on the inside of the oven and I thought it would loose alot of the heat. Well i can understand the theory of its heating the bricks that matters and the smoke doesn't, some ovens even have the chimney at the back so the smoke just rushes out, my thinking is of course you do not want a smoked filled oven but if you can keep a "ball of heat" at the top for as long as possible then that has to add to the radiated heat from the bricks? without ending up with smoky food.

For this reason the middle/front drop technique seems to be the best way to go.

The chimney just before the front arch means you should not get that "dirty front" from the smoke coming out over time.

I haven't decided on a brick or pipe chimney yet, there will be a pipe because of the place the oven is in but there may be a small brick chimney ontop of the front arch.

Brick cutting

To set up your arch properly you will need to get some bricks cut, I just searched the internet/phonebook for a local guy that is mobile and goes to building sites. He said he normally charges $90 "flag fall" but I only have a dozen to do so I gave him my address and mobile number, told him I wasn't in a hurry and if he could fit me in only when he was passing by.

I paid $25 CASH and it was a win win, even so $2 a cut was step but what are you going to do? least its done right.

The bonus for me was I got him to also cut the bricks I need for the middle drop section.

Another Idea i had was to find a brickie that had his own cutter but for $25 it was worth it but you might get lucky.

WARNING: the guy didn't really cut the bricks perfect to my template, its not a big deal for me but i would suggest you make sure you pay attention when they are cutting as i wasted 3 bricks and i need every one really, i'll get around it though, just need to slightly adjust the arch template now.

Maybe I would suggest you get all your bricks cut before building your arch template!

SEE brick cutting 2......

Dome red brick vid

This vid shows them using bricks with holes, but red bricks, they make it into a dome structure.

note how they create an insulating layer on the bottom then add the base layer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHRrkDm3_ZA

Ash Dump vid

heres a good vid on the ash dump, also good info for once you are ready to cook.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTWGeyew5oI

Fire bricks vid

This one shows firebricks, it also shows a nice arch template assembly.

3.33mins in is a great shot of the arch and mortar work, 4.19min is a good shot of how little mortar has actually come into the oven. this brings forward the poin that the striaghter your bricks the better the seal.

you may also notice a slight brick indent on the arch.

4.47min you can see here they have just done a straight across "drop", they have also put the chimmeny before the drop, that doesn't make sense to me as they will loose loads of heat? unless they have a flu that they can block it off but i can't see one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zahPN-Hi3hY

Classic structure vid

Another good one, 11seconds, 28 and 44 seconds are good views of different parts of the structure.
Notice the angled brick to create the arches , also the "ash drop" at the oven opening.

They end up creating a very square structure at the back filled with insulation but i don't think that is neccessary, a think dome should surfice most ovens.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhE70a8HC6E

Middle section drop vid

This is a good one showing the progression of an oven, it also shows the middle section drop quite well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bL_d6vzk3Bg

Helpful software

During this blog I will suggest some youtube videos to watch and give you a review as to what features they have which will help you plan your oven.

I found this great FREE software that allows you to download youtube videos, WHY download them? well you probably will watch them many times and it will save time and bandwidth for you + it saves you sifting through other ones to find them again incase you forget or don't mark them properly (like i did).

so heres the link: http://nuclear-coffee.com/VideoGet

Bottom insulation layer

Most info says to lay a concrete slab, build a brick base and then lay another concrete slab ontop to then build your oven ontop. this is consistant but has variations.

the top slab has many variations you just need to pick the one right for you, some/most lay pavers or firebricks ontop of the concrete slab but my research suggests that laying pavers directly onto concrete won't give you as much bottom insulation as you need. If you use fire bricks as your base then you should be ok.

What I am doing is laying the top slab and then adding a layer of Hebel on top and then clay pavers, the Hebel is the same height as a brick so it will all even out....i hope.

Hebel is apparently a good insulator, the website official says and so do many posts.

note: you will need to use the proper hebel glue/cement to join the Hebel, but guess what ? the guy who gave me the Hebel also gave me the glue ! ....you just gotta ask and you will receive.

"Reuse BEFORE recycle" , this is a much better eco way for this world, we disgard so much and I have found when I have said this to people they have responded positively.

The better designs I have seen all have an insulating bottom layer.

Variations I have seen that I would consider ok are "childrens play sand" and clay, investigate natural clay oven bases on youtube as there is some interesting stuff on that, eg: clay with wine bottles and crushed bricks as the base to the oven.

There seems to be a consistant view that there needs to be a bottom insulation layer.

Front walls Part 3

This is actually the middle walls, the walls between the tunnel and the FRONT FRONT arch.

This i think is one of the most important parts of the structure, it needs to come down to retain heat but also let smoke out, and make the smoke FLOW into the chimney.

I'll post later about how I end up solving this issue, i pretty much have it sorted but would actually like to "do it" before posting.

Fronts walls Part 2

Now we have the fundamentals/reasons for the front walls there are a million ways to do it.

My MAIN consideration is that I want a door on my oven, hinged, and I want it BEFORE the chimney to maximise the heat retention in the oven. what this means to me is that YES i will get a build up of smoke inside intially but the bricks will reach a good high temperature and its this residual heat will stay long after the smoke is gone. building the heat into the bricks seems to be the most important thing in most things i read/view.

So my design is built around having a door, once I get the door then i will complete my front design.

I got an old cast iron gate yesterday (it's a frame not solid), its about hip high, cost me $5 from the rubbish tip where they have a recyced section. I will be using it as not only the base for the oven door but for the smoker door as well as I will cut it up and put metal across it to close it off.

My plan is to have the front arch the same as the internal arch thus not having to do a different template, you won't see the internal from the outside as it will have layers of insulation over it.

The front walls

Well there are SOOOOOOOO many ways to do the front walls and I haven't finalised how I will but i will let you know my considerations so far.

The first is that now we have decided on the tunnel height and depth we need to decide on how to get rid of the smoke from the fire, and thats basically IT, everything you do at the front is smoke rid and prevention of heat loss.

90% of things i have seen have an oven spacethen it drops down at the front so that the heat is kept in the oven but then it opens up again generally with a chimney that "draws" the smoke away. The process of wind passing over the chimney top creates the "pull" to "draw" the smoke away.

Some ovens don't have a chimney and let the smoke come out the front, i find this creates a dirty front to your oven , if you create a chimney you can do some nice brickwork at the front and it should not degrade over time.

In a nutshell, you need a front that is smaller then the tunnell and then goes back out to wide again so you keep the heat but get rid of the smoke.

The back wall

pretty simple, just brick laying but with the solids.

This doesn't have to be neat on the outside as its going to get covered with insulation and clay which will smooth it all out.

just make sure once again that you do not leave any mortar on the inside.

I need 28 bricks for my back wall.

Creating the arch

NOTE: please read "brick cutting" before creating a template.


what you need is a simple wooden template to place your bricks on as you build the internal arch, there's no plan its just what your own specs are, mine is 3 1/3 brick deep, WHY ! because thats the solid brick i gathered so thus thats my design. the 1/3 i think is important, not that its a 1/3 but that its NOT a whole, so I can create my arch like bricklaying where it itersects.



I've chosen to do an arch that is pretty flat, aca less mortar is used. the internal height is mostly acheived from upright bricks as the first layer (uses less mortar) and then 1 brick layer horizontal before the angled brick before the arch bricks.

This is a good way to define your arch, just lay it out on the pavement, you see here I intend to use uprght bricks, then a flat brick then the angle brick beofre the arch , you will also notice I am using a thin brick at the top of the arch, some call it a "keystone" but fo r me its simply that I found these cut bricks and feel that having a thinner brick at the top will create a stronger arch and less mortar. I haven't used my red bricks for this image as I don't want to damage them.







You can see I have achieve a good sized height within the oven using the setup shown. I don't think you need excessive height but proportional height to width whilst considering the middle/front drop aspect for smoke escape.









using upright bricks to create height is also better ( in my opinion) then a complete arch from the base up as the vertical walls will also reduce the chance of mortar falling into your food.



(mortar mortar mortar, you can see this is a recuring word, the reason is....for me.... is that because i am doing this on the cheap i need to implement as many techniques as possible to make it function like a "bought one". I did consider doing a clay arch with vermiculite but as i got the solids for free that swayed me, + vermiculite isn't cheap. I will be using clay as an insulating layer later on but it will be mixed with sand and i have some interesting info about that process as well. )


you simply prop the arch template up on loose bricks and once the mortar has set you remove the bricks and the template falls away leaving you with the "tunnell" of bricks which forms the main oven chamber.


any left over mortar can be spread over the outside of the oven which will add strenght.

Once the template is removed we build the back wall and start on the front slops, chimmeny "draw" and the front facade.







Here you see me mapping out the cardboard template that I will then cut the wood form from.





NOTEEEEEE: you may have to do this a few times as i STRONGLY suggest once you have cut the cardboard fold it in half and see if it is lopsided or not BEFORE cutting your wood, i made this mistake ! so you don;t have to LOL.








But you can see here already how nice an arch it will be.



See here how I have marked the bricks placement but also the middle and edges, this will help you later if you use wooden slates, if you use bent board you won't need this.

the other line you see is me marking the placement of the wooden slates i will be using, i just placed the slat up against the brick and marked it, mine are slightly smaller in width to the brick which helps greatly on getting the angle correct.

Having said all that you don't need to make it PERFECT but if you can great.

You will also notice the small gaps in the bricks, this is where and WHY you need as straight an edge brick you can get as I will need to fill that with mortar.

Mortar Explained

Lets skip past normal everyday mortar as you can find that info everywhere. What i'm talking about is 'refactory mortar" , this mortar is specifically designed for heat.

I'll give you the recipe a little later.

The secret and problem is that you want to use as little mortar as possible as the mortar may break down over time and you'll end up with mortar in your pizza ! crunch!!!!!!

The object is to create an arch at teh top of your oven that is almost self supporting, kind of like a dam wall arch, the weight above pushes down and to the sides, the mortar is just filling the gaps as your bricks are rectangles.

As I said earlier you can buy specifically cut angle bricks but you would be very lucky to find enough leftovers on a building site.

How I have got around using alot of mortar is to put in 1 angled brick at the start of the arch, I found a few but do need to pay to get some more cut. By placing this angle brick allows for the bricks to have a shallower angle and thus less gaps and thus less mortar.

this is a good link with lots of good links: http://www.ovencrafters.net/

Bricks explained

Your everyday house brick is fine for the base structure of the oven and you should find them very easy to come by. The bricks you actually use to form the oven are going to be much harder to get.

Firstly any professional will tell you to use "fire bricks" , these are impossible to get for free and cost @ $2.50+AUD each and you are going to need @ 100 of them !!

But my research has shown that MOST people don't use them, what they do use is "solids" these are bricks without the hole through them, I got REAL lucky and a house around the corner was being built from them so I got brand new ones never used for free !! , these solids are @ $1.10AUD at bunnings , they have a small indent in one side but no holes.

A guy in Brisbane kindly emailed me a reply to a few of my questions and also said that he has built 3 ovens so far and never used fire-bricks.

I was repeatly told in my research to use this type and NOT "wire cuts" these are solids that have no indent. I'm not sure why but I came across this advice alot so there must be some reason for it.

I saw heaps of ovens being built with bricks that had holes through them but they were all red in colour so they must be clay based, my belief is "solids" is the way to go on the cheap.

one reason they use fire bricks is they have a VERY straight edge and you can buy them angled so you can actually use no mortar (more on mortar later) .

Many people used fire bricks for the base as well but I will be using clay pavers like many others, i'll also be using Hebel http://www.hebelaustralia.com.au/ as an insulating layer under the pavers but ontop of the top slab of concrete. Once again I got the Hebel for free from a building site, hebel can be cut with a hand saw so its easy to work with.

Bricks Bricks Bricks

Well its all about bricks, I'm actaully constructing a Pizza oven as well as putting the present 4 burner gas bbq into a brick structure AND building a Smoker oven next to that ! it will all make sense once i post a video on youtube.

the smoker oven blog is here: http://free-gas-fired-smoker-oven.blogspot.com/

Anyways, i need LOADS of bricks, i'll split up the numbers later but i have got @800 bricks ready.....and ALL FREE. All the bricks are slightly marked but noting wrong with them, its just that the owners want it to look good so there is ALWAYS left over.

All i did was go into a new estate near me and ask the brickie if I could have his leftover once he finished, i didn't get a single no as they generally just go to landfill, i've got for about 7 different houses but I'm going to paint the bricks anyway so it doesn't matter.

NOW, there is bricks for the foundations and different bricks for the actual oven, i'll get onto that next.

Getting Started

Well its been 2 months now since I decided to build the oven and I have done ALOTTTTTTT of research so there is a mountain of helpful hints I will be giving out as we go along.

I'll be uploading to youtube once I get started but for now heres the groundwork.

I'd like to thank everyone that has posted articles on the web and also videos on youtube, my design is a combo of all that info.

First thing you need is a PLAN, well any plan will do as you will end up modifying it anyway.

My Oven is going to have a Brick inside as oppposed to a clay structure. if you want to do a clay oven then here is a good link: http://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/b/better-homes-gardens/7450/episode-1813-june/ and you can stop reading, i suggest you go to youtube as this is all about bricks inside.

My design is kinda a combo of this plan: http://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/b/better-homes-gardens/508/pizza-oven/ and this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qnMOf9zlrs

BUT with a fair few variations as the space available to me is smaller and i've done alot of cheating.

stay tuned.

Free wood fired pizza oven

Hi
In this blog I will detail how to build your own wood fired pizza oven for FREE ! , well it was almost free for me as there are some things that i couldn't find for free BUT you may well be better then me so keep reading.