Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Oven By the Pond (insulated base)

Today I insulated the base of the oven with about  23 pounds of perlite and Portland cement. The ratio I used was 6 parts perlite to 1 part Portland and a appropriate amount of water to make a porridge like texture. Does anyone still eat porridge?

 Floor insulation in place

Because of the irregularities in the field stones, my oven chamber will not be as large as I hoped, but it still should be fine. The next step will be to lay out the firebrick floor and actually build the oven.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Oven By The Pond (stone base)

Besides getting a sore back from working with stone, you should also come to appreciate the work of stone masons (just for the record, I'm not a mason, not even close). If you build an oven base of stone, it will be an experience not soon forgotten. For me, stones have become even more beautiful.


I did use some mortar when laying up the stone, but only between some stones where it wouldn't show. Not that I have anything against mortar, but in this situation I didn't want to see any. Perhaps I should have used more mortar than I did for added strength, but I think all will be well.
The next step will be to insulate the floor.