Pantyhose needed for Pizza oven!!!

Yes, sounds strange I know but I need some pantyhose to do the next section of the oven. The next thing I need to do is cover the oven in a layer of vermiculite, it comes in granules which makes it hard to cover a circular surface. So the idea is to fill the legs of pantyhose with vermiculite and then wrap them around the oven before covering it all with a layer of plaster.

So are there any ladies (or wanna be ladies) in the Auckland region who can help me, I need about 10 pairs. If you can you can email me jim@west.net.nz, or leave a message on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/Jimboeri

Thanks

Jim

Pizza oven #9

The first part of the oven dome is now complete. The first couple of courses are quite easy, the bricks are split and then laid with the mud/clay/mortar mix using a piece of plywood cut in a quarter circle with a 420-mm radius as a guide. You can get about 2 courses done a day, then let the mortar cure before starting again.

Eventually the angle of the bricks is such that gravity takes over and you need something else to continue laying the bricks. A swiss ball is used for this, I thought I might need some bricks to lift it up a bit, but the ball I was using was big enough on it's own.

I still carried on at 2 courses a day, it wasn't hard work but it was a bit tricky. I gave up with using a trowel early on, I put on some thick rubber gloves and picked up the mortar with my hands and poked it where it was needed with my fingers.

Quite satisfying to have completed the dome so far.





The next bit was really easy, a layer of the mud/clay/mortar over everything for a covering of about 5cm. This links it all together, and adds more bulk to retain heat when cooking.










I understand that the most important part of getting pizzas right is getting the oven temperature right. So I have been fortunate in getting a thermocouple from my swimming friend Geoff, thanks Geoff. It's inserted in the oven wall, we'll have to see how it works when the oven gets fired up!

Pizza oven #8

Some progress to report. While waiting for the fire bricks I did do some work on the BBQ side as you can see, I am going to make a back wall for the BBQ but that will happen when the oven is complete.

I picked up the fire bricks and pizza hearth tiles on the weekend. Took a while to cut the pizza tiles (a thin fire brick) to size but got it done, then a thin layer of sand & cement on the base bricks so they lie flat and then the tiles go down. Once that was done I started on the oven dome which means that all my firebricks need to be cut in half, not too difficult though.

My main conumdrum was what to use for the mortar. Andrew next door use refractory concrete/mortar, but that costs $100 for a small bucket and he went through 2.5 of these and I didn't want to spend that sort of money. Robin in his article uses clay from the garden mixed with sand and cement, but the guy from the place I bought the fire bricks recommended using Lawsons Super, a cement admixture. These guys all know more than me!

So while Andrews option was obviously good, it was expensive, and Robin has done heaps of ovens so there is no reason to believe that the clay/cement mixture won't work. So I've gone with Robin's mixture, but added the Lawson Super to make the mixture more workable and for insurance. But I won't know if I've done it wrong until it's too late, bugger.

But at least it's starting to look like an oven.

Pizza oven #7

I haven't updated the blog in a while, the slab needed to cure for a few days and I needed to get more materials for the oven and BBQ.

I scored a great freebie and got around 200 second hand bricks from Jan Battaerd at the surf club, and I have ordered some firebricks too.

A layer of bricks goes on the slab, helps to retain the heat, and these are held in place with a line of mortar around the edge.

The oven and inner arch are made of half bricks held together with a 'mud' mortar. Robin Overall's design uses a mixture of cement, sand and clay/subsoil. I was a little concerned about this and was considering getting some commercial fireclay. Bit a bit of reading in the 'net and I found that the grey clay that is the bane of east coast bay gardeners is basically fireclay so I decided to stay with Robins method.

I'll carry on when the firebricks arrive.