Wood + Stain = Beauty

Our old world oven took another step toward the finish line today on this beautiful Saturday morning.  The cedar was put in place, and then we stained and stained and stained some more.

Although I am biased, the results are pretty spectacular.

The next step is shingles, then scrubbing the brick until it's clean.  The last step is to stucco the gray cinder-block.

Almost there...

The chimney was completed. The cedar went on, and the last brick was laid.  We are getting close to the finish line.  Tomorrow we will stain the cedar, shingle, and then stucco the concrete block.

Lookin' good.

We Gotta Roof

Today was the first day of no rain in quite some time. So, we took full advantage of it.  We packed the space between the walls with vermiculite and insulation.

Then we cleaned up the work-site, filling our dumpster with all sorts of stuff.

Then we got started on the roof.  The key was getting the insulation covered and then getting that tar paper on top to waterproof it.  By the end, our oven started to look like are initial drawings.  I can almost picture it being done...just a couple more weeks.

The End of Concrete

I lost track of the number of wheelbarrows of concrete that were mixed and poured into this oven.  I had always assumed that core-filled had something to do with a Hostess Twinkie. Nope. It is much less delicious. It refers to filling the holes in our dry-stacked concrete block.

So, over the past month, we poured concrete for the base pad. We mixed and poured concrete to core-fill the concrete block. We mixed and poured high temperature concrete and vermiculite for the bottom of our cooking chamber, and then core filled again.

Now, today, I was told that we have no more concrete to mix.  I will no longer dream of 3,2,1 chants in my sleep (referring to three shovels of rock, two shovels of sand, and one shovel of concrete mix...just add water).  Today, June 19th, was the end of concrete.

To commemorate this day. Here is a shot of the last core-filled concrete block goodness as I ride this shovel off into the heavens (at least until it has to mix mortar):

In other news, we are ready to start serious work on the roof.  We need to set the trusses. We need to pack oven with insulation, and then we need to put down a roof and tar paper.  When that is done, we will finish the brick corners and add a little more height to our chimney. Then we'll clad the beams in cedar and then stucco....and then, and then, and then, and then, we may possibly light a fire and make a pizza.

Can you believe it?

Here's a few shots of the brick-laying today...

And here's where we're at today, please note that the front wall and back wall are now complete:

The roof and chimney are rising...

So we reached a point where our initial chimney was in and the concrete block was high enough to get a beam across.

Once the beams were across, we figured out the angle and started building the frame for the roof.

Then started to put it all together.

Not too shabby...

First Fire

Work continued on the walls today, and Mike laid-out the oven's side table.  Most importantly, however, I got to see the oven's first fire.  This is part of the curing process. There was a lot of wet concrete poured, and the fire will push the moisture out and dry it up.

Chimney Rising!

A little something poked it's head above our arches today....it was our chimney!  What you see below is the very bottom of the chimney, which you will ultimately not be able to see because cinder block and stucco will cover it up.  But, hopefully, on Saturday the walls will rise higher and next week the chimney will rise even higher.

In the meantime, we are also working on the bottom "edge" and over the next few days we will raise the walls higher and fill the area around the oven with our vermiculite slurry and insulation.

Building the Entrance and Chimney, Part Three

We made some nice progress on the oven over the past several days.  The front of the oven has been built up, and now we are starting to bring the chimney in and up.

Here's a recap of our progress:

And of course there were happy worker bees:

Pizza Party

As part of our community oven training, Mike hosted a pizza party in his backyard (our oven isn't done yet).  We got to see what it felt like to make pizzas for about 50 people.  It was a good experience, and it taught us that there is going to be a lot of planning and preparation before we host that big pizza event for the neighborhood.

Here are a few shots of Mike talking about preparing the oven for cooking pizza:

 
Then it was our turn to make a pizza:

And into the oven it went...

Here are some more shots of the party:

Building the Entrance and Chimney, Part Two

Over the past few days, we've made some great progress. The walls are higher. The front arch is built, and the stone has been laid at the front entrance.  Tomorrow and over the next few days we will build the entrance and chimney, as well as keep raising the walls.

Stay tuned.

In the meantime, here are some shots of the fun.

Once the wall was up to the correct height, it was time to pour some concrete to create a foundation for the stone.

Then the stone was laid.