Recent Updates
4.17.2005
(4.17 text added. Pictures updated, tandoor oven page added)
4.22.2005
(milk can images updated)
4.27.2005
(Rear picture of dome updated)
5.02.2005
(added enchilada recipe)
5.16.2005
(updated oven pictures – updated Pilgrimage Page
with Pizza de Mayo party pictures)
5.25.2005
(added rope light picture)
Notice:
This site will be moving soon to www.killdawabbit.com
The old
address will continue to work but you will be redirected. There will be a slight change in page format.
No need to panic.
“All we are saying is: give pizza a chance …” John Lennon
Note: AOL users: if you are
having problems viewing the pictures then try the instructions found at this site.
I’ve been obsessed with the idea of building a pizza oven for several years and having recently finished several other backyard projects (which will now have to be torn down to make room for the pizza oven) and with the emotional support of Eva, my lovely and gourmet cook wife (do I get points honey?) I decided to forge ahead. I began to assemble materials early in August and decided to keep this journal as a guide and warning to others. I hope you find it of value should you also decide to build an oven.
Also, check out our tandoor oven page.
Plans for the
Honey, I promise I’ll clean up the patio as
soon as the oven is finished…
The Base
The base was completed in August. I have moved the text and pictures relating to the base construction to the Base Construction page.
The Hearth Form
The hearth form was completed in September. I have moved the text and pictures relating to that stage of construction to the. Hearth Form Construction page.
The Dome and Landing
The dome and landing were completed in October. I have moved the text and pictures relating to that stage of construction to the Dome and Landing Construction page.
Mosaic Designs and Countertop Extension
(01.31.05) We’ve extended the landing out to the right of the oven for additional counter space (and picked up the additional benefit of hiding the air conditioning unit).
And Eva has begun the Herculean task of covering the oven with mosaic. The surface area of the dome is approximately 5283 square inches (surface area of sphere = 4πR2 for those of you who are interested). That translates to over 10,000 tiny little pieces of glass that need to be glued on. (It also means no bare feet for the munchkins because there are about 10,000 broken shards of glass on the patio near the oven now.)
We purchased our mosaic tiles from www.mosaicmercantile.com . They have an excellent selection of tiles and tools. If you intend to incorporate mosaics into your dome or landing then we would suggest you purchase their sample board first. It’s a handy tool for planning your color scheme.
Transferring the Designs
Even with the little that’s been completed so far, I’m already wondering if, in the summer, we will be able to look directly at the oven without some sort of eye protection.
As of 05.16.05
The Back (as of 04.27.2005)
Cha Dude … (top as of 04.10.05)
(02.07.05) Because my fish colors are “ugly”, Eva has taken me completely off fish duty and my fish has been “harvested” from the dome. My sole task now is to do the “ocean”. That’s sort of like peeling a bushel of pearl onions. Our routine is to spend about 5 minutes gluing on the mosaic tiles and then step back several feet and spend 10 minutes admiring our work and so on …
Rock (or Should it be Stucco) Lobster
(02.08.05) Over the weekend, I finished tiling the top of the cutting area. A hole was left in the tile (to the right of where the cutting board will be) as a trash chute and a trashcan will live underneath the counter. Also, the electricians began wiring the counter.
Counters for Food Prep on Right Side – BBQ and Tandoor
on Left (5.16.05)
Eva and Nick did some work on the other side of the dome. That side is getting the “boy” seahorse, some fish and a very nice crab. Next step, decide on a grout color.
(02.28.2005) Well things are moving right along even in spite of the rain. Eva has made substantial progress on the turtle located at the top of the dome. This weekend, we created a test board with some representative tiles, to allow us to try out four different colors of grout.
Ungrouted Test Board
I plan on grouting the board tonight. The Omnigrip adhesive pictured above (available at Home Despot) seems to work pretty well for our purposes. Keeping the oven fired also seems to enhance the speed of drying of the adhesive because a little of the heat seeps thru to the exterior of the dome. The opposite side of the dome is now getting most of my attention with respect to putting down the ocean tiles.
(03.07.05) well we just had our first pizza oven visitors. This calls for a new page!
Oven Pilgrimages will be the page devoted to visitors to our oven as well as ovens we visit.
(04.07.2005) Progress has been slowed by the rains. Nevertheless we did get some additional tiling done, and have commenced grouting. We decided on a silvery white grout after examining our various choices on the test board.
Test Board After Grouting with Different Colors
The lighter grout really makes the mosaic tiles “pop” and finishes off the tile quite nicely.
The Other Side (05.16.2005)
I had expected the grouting to be very difficult given the fact that the surface of the oven is so irregular. This was an unjustified worry. The grout goes on easily and cleans off easily. We are using an epoxy (as opposed to water) based grout called SpectraLock. It’s expensive (therefore available at Lowe’s) but when it dries its like hard plastic. We’ve also mixed into the grout a little glow powder. The grout softly glows in the dark. It’s not as bright as I would like but if you are within 4 feet of the dome it’s definitely noticeable.
I would highly recommend that you obtain the softest tile float tool you can. The one I am using has very spongy rubber unlike the firm rubber you find on most floats. Even with the soft rubber float, a lot of the grout still must be manually pushed into the cracks by hand.
(04.17.2005) We finished grouting about ½ of the dome this weekend and have commenced construction of a tandoor oven next to the pizza oven. The tandoor oven blog can be found here. Eva has begun tiling an old milk can which we will use to hold our brushes, peels and hooks.
“Hold still honey… wait..
not that still !!”
Day and night sides of the milk can
(05.25.2005) Finished the channel for the rope lights all around the counters.
The Dilithium
Crystals in Action
Cooking with the Oven
For recipes and our experiences cooking with the oven click here for the cooking with the oven page.
Any questions / comments? You can contact me at:
(Address saved as bitmap to foil spam crawlers)
Copyright 2004 - 2005 Robert Musa