Building the Cooking Chamber, Part 2

The rain threatened, again, but we were lucky....again.  A mist for a few minutes in the morning, and then it was clear.

Today our theme was concrete.  We laid some rebar in our forms for extra support.  Then hand-mixed via wheelbarrow about a dozen loads of concrete. While one group mixed, another group filled a bucket and poured it between the firebrick wall and the outside form.

The whole project took about two and half hours with five guys.  Next step, on Monday, will be building the arch.

Here are the pictures of today's adventure.

First it was a rebar bending contest between pairs of hulky dudes.

Then we needed to put the rebar in its place to keep the high temperature concrete in place.

Then it was time to mix cement and pour it into the forms.

Mission complete

Building the Cooking Chamber, Part 1

Although the rain threatened in the morning, it held off enough today to begin the cooking chamber.  This is a big day. We put down the firebrick that will be the cooking surface of our oven, built up the walls, and then built the wooden form for us to pour the high termperature concrete (that'll hold it all in place).

Tomorrow we'll fill the forms with concrete, and then on Monday start building the arches of the cooking chamber.  Pretty darn cool.

Here's some photos of the work.  First, there was the laying of firebrick on a bed of Hawthorne Fireclay 35 mesh.

Then we have to get it all level and build up the walls.

Then we built an internal brace to keep the firebrick in place while the high temperature concrete is poured. In the picture below you can see the 2x4 brace across the middle of the cooking surface.

Then we stacked some more bricks along our wall (these will be the base of our arches).

Then we finish the outside forms.

Tomorrow we'll pour the concrete in the space between the firebrick wall and the outside form.

The last layer before the firebrick

It was another great Saturday morning with a crew of church folks, friends, and neighborhood folks who gathered together to mix and pour the final layer of high temperature concrete before we lay the firebrick and start building the oven chamber.

Just to recap, we mixed and poured a layer of vermiculite and high temperature concrete (calcium aluminate). It needed a few days to set and harden, and now it was time to do a smooth layer of level high temp concrete to finish the base.

In order to prepare the form, we put down some good old fashioned aluminum foil and rebar.

Then the crew started mixing, and we had a solid crew on hand working two big wheelbarrows and one mini.

Then it was all about hustling those wheelbarrows up to the oven site and shoveling it into the form.

Look at that nice smooth top! We're ready for the next phase.