Arches

 A larger arch temple for the cook chamber and a smaller one for the access opening.   Four arch supports were cut using the paper template. Each brick arch rests on the wooden support 

They're fit in snug on the inside curve and the gaps were filled with refractory mortar.    Three arches make up the oven chamber. One more smaller arch will finish off the cook chamber and hold the chimney. 

More custom cuts

Planning can take you so far. 

Some decisions have to be made along the way. 

 
   

Custom cut

Mortar was mixed and bricks were marked, but the clunky look turned me off. I went ahead and cut all the bricks for this stage in half. 

Sections were spaced out with a block of wood.  

The sections were leveled in X & Z and then squared off in Y with a right angle.  

Basically eyed balled, but appears pretty precise.  

Air intake towers complete

It took a good 4 hours to lay 55 bricks.

For the first time laying bricks, I'm finding it a pretty easy process to do. Each brick gets roughly set into position for each row. After a few minutes they can be squared off and leveled. Once that step is done a damp rag can clean up the joints.  

Refractory mortar

   Everything checked out so I took it all apart and began mortaring them up. 

  The smell of the refractory mortar with fire clay brought back memories of the pottery making days. 

It's a very fine mortar and even a bit plastic. 

dry fitting

10 bricks marked for notch cutting.  Not Egyptian tomb level, but it'll suffice.   

 

Fill'n the gaps

 With the floor leveled and in place resting on a layer of refractory mortar it was time to fill in the gaps. A dusting of SK-32 mortar did the trick. 

sweep tap sweep tap...

 

Misted with water and wiped clean with a sponge. 

Cast concrete tabletop

 

8 bags of concrete. 

Now, time to remove all the stilts. It turned out well, but I decided I wanted to 

extend it out a bit more. 

So I built an extension.   Surprisingly it was easier than I imagined. 

Hand tied rebar

    

Wooden form

 

 Nice and flush.
 
 I added a couple dozen stilts to support the weight of the concrete.
After standing and jumping on it a few times I'm confident it'll hold.

 
 A leveled retainer is screwed into place.
Next step, creating the rebar support core that'll be suspended in the middle of the concrete. 

Block base done.

This bad boy cuts through blocks like butter.
   Had some assistance...

 The cinder block base is done.
Next will be the gravity defying casting of the concrete base that'll span across. 

9 bags

 

 Early morning workout: 9 bags or 225kgs worth of concrete. 

Foundation preparation

 The site: grass relocated and dirt leveled

Form and support structure in place. 

Refractory bricks

Thanks to Amazon, a variety of SK-32 & SK-34 bricks, refractory mortar as well as a refractory blanket were all easily purchased and delivered. 

Pizza oven

The design for the pizza oven/potential low fire kiln are complete. Construction begins mid February.