O.K. It really has been too long since my last post about the Mud Oven. I have not had much time to work on it but right now I am about were it was before the second tear down. My time has been occupied with life and a large volunteer project ( no, I am…
Antique Granite Pavers get a new home.
If you are following my blog, you will notice that many of my projects include the use of recycled stone. Truth is, you just can’t beat the character of time worn stone, which seems to draw your eye to the softened edges, and the patina created by years of weathering. One of my favorite things…
Mud Oven Diary….Ummmmm
I’m not sure where to start and this post was suppose to be different. This was suppose to be the pre-oven build post where the base is finished up and we move on. Alas, the following is definitely not what I wanted to write. In fact I was contemplating not even putting an update up…
Rebar and string for wall layout.
I use ordinary uncoated rebar when I layout walls (and flat work) because it is fast and effective. There is margin for error doing it this way but there is with any method of layout. I’ll keep this as concise as possible and as always if anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask…
More fun splitting stone & more video links.
I know I said the next post would be about rebar and string set up but I wanted to squeeze this one in. Back in March I did a two part post about different ways to split stone. The use of feathers and wedges is a common technique which is widely known and has been…
Mud Oven Diary…..starting the dry stone surround.
Now that the Gothic arch vault is finished it is now time to start the dry stone surround. My plan was to build radius walls on each side of the vault and to try a style I have seen on the DSWI site about the walls of Inis Oirr. Having never done this style of…
Mud Oven Diary – Dropping the form & pointing the joints
After the granite keystones and brick keys were mortared in I let the work set up for a couple days. This allows the mortar to reach an exceptable degree of hardness because I didn’t want to risk pulling the arch apart if it got stuck. My Dad was with me a so he gave me…
Mud Oven Diary….Carving the keystones
After topping out and dry fitting the key bricks, the next step was to carve the granite key stones for each side. I had brought back some scrap granite from a project in MA last year. ( Clark, I owe you a post about that one..it was granite steps.) Click on the pictures to enlarge…
Mud Oven Diary – Antique Brick Gothic Arch…done!
I got a little busy to keep the updates current but here is where I’m at. Last week was a good one for progress! The form worked out great for the brick work and I’m pretty happy with how the vault turned out. These things are very irregular and setting them was more like coursed,…
Mud Oven Diary….my sand quarry
I had stuff to do until around 2 today and by the afternoon it was too stinkin hot to lay bricks. Translation : I don’t want to fiddle with hot brick, re-tempering mud and all that jazz in the heat today. 91* in late September?….what the heck!!!! Tomorrow and Monday are going to be cooler…
