Progress on the Oven at Chaparral

 

Andy's been working hard while the weather has been pleasant and he's made good progress on the Oven this week.  There are so many more steps to the building process than I originally imagined.

A layer of sand is spread out within the frame of fire brick.

 

 

Then the firebrick are laid out in a herring-bone pattern without mortar.  But they have to be perfectly level.  This is going to be the cooking surface:



Then the actual dome form is covered with firebrick and a special mortar.  Once set, the form itself will be removed, leaving only the brick structure.