Pizza oven build.

Sorry this is not a rocket mass heat as such but there are many similarities, high mass heat storage, clean burning and smokeless.
I have been building them for around 20 years but as I am pretty much retired now this is probably my last one!
This one was a great opportunity to spend my customers money as he had a high budget and I can go out with a bang…..

Wow, thanks for sharing that beautiful pizza oven.

What's the oven? Is that a kit? Looks interesting.

Hat's off to you Fox!
That is an outstanding build!
A superb example of your work.

Amazing craftsmanship Fox!
A functional work of art

Thanks guys, I was particularly proud  of my brick chimney that I shaped from solid red clay bricks with a 4” hand grinder!
All the stone is local recycled granite.
The space around the cast dome was backfilled with vermiculite, I used 500 lites of it in total.
The oven takes around two hours to saturate with heat, the top of the dome will reach 550c and the floor around 425c, it takes a full three days to return to ambient temperature., giving the opportunity to cook at a range of temratures
The woodwork is made from recycled oak that was a 120  year old table.

Leslie Walper wrote:What's the oven? Is that a kit? Looks interesting.

I build them myself in a mold that I made.
Cast from fondu cement, graded, crushed firebrick with added basalt fibre and nylon burnout fibres.
That one is a 34” dome and weights around 400 kg.

RapidSet CementAll is the closest thing to fondu cement  I've been able to find in the States.
550 degrees celsius =1022 degrees fahrenheit, so not rocket temps, but well above what Portland cement is rated for.

I'm curious, how do you lay and light a fire in a dome oven?
From reading about how fire was used before grates became common, I'm guessing its top lit.
How would you describe the flow of air/ combustion gasses?

William, Fondue is rated at 1200c , it is a standard European refractory cement. Prices have gone mad recently, pre covid I was paying £20 for 20kg. now it is £45.
Yes a top lit and square staked fire, normally takes four loads to heat a cold oven but you can re boot a warm oven the next day with just one load.
How the oven works has not really changed for two thousand years, the Romans worked out the formula for us and it has not been improved since. Materials may have advanced but there are still complete roman ovens to be found in Italy!
So basically cold air enters through a correctly sized door and travels and a low level to feed the fire, the fire heats the top of the dome and exits from a correctly placed chimney, as long as the propositions are right, the hot air will form a circular motion taking any smoke  to the top of the dome where it is burnt off  before exiting the dome.
Simple and clever.

I have a few videos on my channel, this one shows me casting a dome, that particular dome is a smaller 30” model but was my most popular sales.

The bigger dome seems to be made of sections, is the 30" dome a single piece?

The 28, 30 and 32 were done in three rings. i have sold all those molds, I still have the 34 and 36 but they are in very used condition and not really worth selling.
This video was a 32” in three rings and a fibergalss outer skin.