Tuesday 28 August 2007

Two thirds of walls done

That's about two thirds of the walls done now - notice I've built a little brick 'box' into the top at the front to hold the thermometer I plan to install. I probably won't build the walls any higher than the top of these bricks - by my judgement this should place the hearth at about hip height.

The slab is there to help judge the height - the oven front will be inside the summer house, which will have a pebble mosaic floor, so the floor will be about 2-3" higher than the slab. I'm stopping for a rest now - hopefully I'll get some more done next weekend.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am following your progress with much interest. Very impressive. Have you decided which type of oven to build?
Ian

Wlodek said...

Hello there,

This looks good! And I like the "economico" theme. Same here. Using recycled is not only good for the pocket, but for the landfill sites ...

As for the fire bricks - have you tried Freecycle? I obtained quite a supply locally from nice people advertising there. Mainly the heavy, heat storing bricks, which will be good for a bread oven that needs a large thermal mass. They come from storage heaters.

I have also posted some UK suppliers' links on the Forno Bravo forum (do a search there under UK).

Finally, I asked the height question at Forno Bravo too and got some very strong feedback to the effect that if I can't see the far end of the oven floow without bending I'll soon need to find a good chiropractor.

Whereabouts are you anyway? We could exchange surplus materials for instance if it is "economico" enough.

Best wishes,

W.

Carl said...

Thanks for the kind words. I'm still deciding on what type of oven! I had originally planned on the Alan Scott style barrel oven, then found the Forno Bravo site, and then read the Kiko Denzer book. The decider for me will be how cheap I can get firebricks. I don't have any decent clay soil in the garden, so I'm also wondering about making my own mix using fireclay. I'm using my usual approach when I'm indecisive- plough on regardless until I have to make the decision, while trying to keep all the options open!