2nd layer over oven + chimney

Over the initial heat mass layer comes a heat blanket, then stucco lath (mesh) and some rebar. At the same time I decided to cast my own chimney using a galvanized chimney tube and a cardboard tube I found at my home improvement store. The cardboard tube is actually for pouring concrete columns, but it fit well over the metal chimney pipe. The pipe cannot be used by itself as it will rust over time, also it is only available in a 2' length, and I needed a chimney height of 3'. So I connected 1 1/2 together and surrounded them 1" mesh (chicken wire) for strength. The chimney is held in place by two pieces of rebar that were bent to roughly a right angle and then tied together with a short piece of rebar. The galvanized pipe has a 6" diameter, the cardboard tube an 8" diameter.

 

Final 2 layers

The oven is finished off with another layer of vermiculite & cement (again 3:1), followed by a layer of stucco cement as finishing layer. After using the oven for a couple of weeks the stucco will be painted and the counter will be tiled. More on that when it is completed.

First firing & first results

Following the instructions of our very helpful contact at Tuscany Fire - Carl Harris - the first firing took place over a period of 4 days, using charcoal briquets. We then let the oven cool down again for a few days, as I was traveling, and then fired it up for our first pizza and bread. The first couple of pizzas were not really successful, but we soon got the hang of things. Our first successful pizzas were tasty, nothing beats a wood fired oven pizza.