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Building a brick Pizza oven
Pizzzzzzzza
Oh yes it works and I have the photos to prove it 🙂 Oh just put the one in of the local airport as we dropped off the hire car after Jane’s trip to Auckland.
Well it was an early start for a Sunday morning as we needed to light a long slow fire to finish the drying process but just way to excited to wait any longer, and to be fair you must wait. So we started with pizza the dough I made a day ago which was delicious. The first pizza went in and slide off the peel nicely, now a word to the wise pizza must slightly lift off the stone a little before you try to turn, if not it sticks and rips, oh and makes a mess 😦 So patience young padawan. The up side was the dog got the first pizza and it was lovely say the doggy.
Once the pizza was done in went the roast lamb for dinner all eaten outside as the last sun of winter set very nice. We then took out the coals and baked a loaf of bread followed by two trays of Anzac biscuits all from the stored heat from the fire, wonderful, finished off the process by putting the next lot of wood in to dry out with the last of the heat in the oven 5 hours after the fire went out it is still 90 degrees C in the oven so today has been a great day only would have been better if the other son Could have been home too, oh well can’t have everything, still life is rather good today 🙂
Mission possible
Well It’s done the oven is ready or should I say it’s ready for its first fire. If it was a lady it would be dressed but not ready to greet the world but still perfectly functional.
The final render coat was a comedy worth watch. It seems that you create like a candy coat that is not really connected to the oven so there is movement from the heating and cooling effects. Building up the thickness to the 5 cm required on an oiled surface was a challenge but seemed to be more about learning a technique which worked for me. I tried slap it on and watch it slip off, or drop it on and off all in one easy move. I settled for the smear and fear of failing technique, not saying this is the way to do it but it worked for me and happy with the results.
So tomorrow is fire time 🙂
Its official getting close now
Well with the wife at Uni in Auckland and I am unable to visit my son, so I knew what I was doing today. Yep Bob the builder again. So this being the second arch I have built its going to be easy for sure.
NO not quite wish I had a video as I found out it is possible to play with a slinky toy made of bricks and of course the tool required was just out of reach just for the comedy value you understand. However it has turned out ok and is supporting its self so all is well, only one stage left now till we can start the firing process and thats insulation/rendering and as of yet there is no decision on colour, ideas but no orders been given by Mrs clever clogs in Auckland 🙂
Life is never easy but often good
How do you justify a postgraduate diploma with family life which isn’t quite perfect? The answer is you just get on with it.
Funny just keeping busy just me and my dog gibby doing the stuff he likes
Its an older picture but this is his idea of joy or chasing magpies, we were at the beach yesterday just as it got dark no one there just me and the dog, and the sounds of the ocean.
It was a just the right amount of solitude to put life into perspective. When we moved here I had two wishes:
1. To be close to the ocean
2. To be able to see the mountains
We got both 6 km from the sea and an hour from the ski fields which we can see from home that is pretty cool.
Being by the sea or in the hills I have always found that they are good for my soul, they make me feel small and unique in that I am part of something that will be here long after me, and as I gaze and listen to the sounds of things I wonder what they have seen and heard in the past and how much more they are going to see.
Life is a wonderful gift so treasure every day and smile, you will live longer and be healthier 🙂
In between visits
Well back and forward to Christchurch what the hell do you do when you are waiting to find out what you can do to help. Some shop, for me this time to get outside. Funny I have always been dad never a mate, something I never wanted to be, however I have always there and supportive of the next big thing, so close to arsehole so many times as its the job of a dad to be everything a mate is not, but everything a true mate should be.
So why did they call it a kitset it turned out to be less than that! But I am glad it did as this will allow me to add some of me to this oven
It’s not perfect but I reckon it will cook pizza and that is the end goal
Piggy bank well and truly smashed
Well I spent some of our savings as I could not wait to work on the pizza oven so I have blown $65 NZ 🙂 However it was the trips to see my son and sort out his problems that broke the piggy, oh well Sh*t happens 🙂
So the oven what progress so much is the answer
I can conclude that I am very poor at making dome shapes with pumice it looked right to my wonky eyes but it was no where close had to add loads more packing as i went up but it worked out well in the end then time to let it dry once I added the cap to the top.
Today’s stupid moment
Today’s stupid moment was the attempt to line up all the bricks in the second row with the bricks in the first row.
No can’t be that hard after all the bricks are the same size so easy one on top of the next one except (reminder to self) I am building a dome, and for some reason I forgot what I was trying to do just was set to fail 😉 What confounded me was that the first few bricks line up but got increasingly out of whack. Cold shower slap myself around the face a few times and maths lessons remembered, something about spherical geometry and decreasing circumference of a circle as it moves away from the centre as the diameter /radius get shorter.
Well its looking ok now and here is where I pause for a few days of drying time and lots to do in the garden too, but I have also spent all my cement allowance this week so have to wait for more pocket money 🙂
Well the visit to the bees yesterday went well they are building up well funny watching them crash land when they are so loaded with pollen, poor little things but good to see it coming in. New Brood box added so they can get busy as spring hits properly.
In the garden the apricots are in bloom, the peaches and the plums are not far behind and the first daffodils of spring have arrived and the lambs are playing in the field of our neighbours and I think it might rain.
Have not been so nervous in a long time
Well after all my efforts so far the moment of truth is the concrete self supporting? So its time to find out.
And the man from Temuka he say yes, but it has not stopped me from feeling like a father of a new born child every little noise puts me on edge, best go check just in case 🙂 But the sun is out after a cold night and all is good in this part of the world so far today.
Broken bones but the cast is set
Well after only 12 barrows of concrete the slab is complete and I am relieved it went well, however I got so excited I forgot to take a photo of the reinforcing mesh which went in. But I guess its better to forget the picture rather than the reinforcing 🙂 Beautiful day the bees are flying.
I’ve not been the only one in my family to be making casts this week my son Nick, whilst riding his bike decided to fall off and a little bit of an ouch followed by a trip to A&E and there there never mind he has a poor poor 😦
Oh forgot the price is going up
$12NZ for Shuttering and $45NZ for concrete
Bringing the grand total so far to:
$203 NZ so very happy with that
Going Slowly 