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 until the end of the month. Why? It begins this way……
The original intent of this project was to use only what I have. It turns out, I still had some decent stone to work with and I was happy with the style going up. Like I had mentioned in previous posts, I was just doing what came naturally with the stone while paying attention to the fact that the drystone will be supporting the weight of the oven and finishes. This is what I had to that point….
This is the right side of the structure. The loose looking stone on top is just backfill.
This is the right side front view…
And the view from the back.
Now the leftside….
Left front.
MzunguEriki says
I unfortunately find myslef in similar situations.
Looking at your last pic and remembering messing around with stone walkway i have another possible blog post for you.
How do you lay out the stones before hand? Do you sort first into different types?
Matt Sevigny says
Erik, it can be frustrating sometimes but its better to go backwards than go forward in the wrong direction.
I layout the stone out so I could see what I have. All the corners are seperate too. If this was a wall I would keep all the caps off to the side.
Sean says
Shucks that’s too bad. I do that sort of stuff all the time when I’m working at home using a mishmash of junk that I’ve brought home. That and getting stuff 90% done and running out of material and not having a source for any more cause it was salvaged/found material to begin with. Oh well.
On a side note…..I went to a Van Gogh exhibit earlier this year. It was incredible. His colours blow me away,particularly his gold/wheat, oranges and blues. Wow
Matt Sevigny says
Sounds like you understand Sean…sorry about that! Oh well, at least I won’t be wishing that I had done it when I had the chance.
Van Gogh is one of Mellissa’s favorite artists and we saw dome work at an exhibit too.
sean says
ha, yeah i understand. One of the major costs of not wanting to buy material…..ever. I’m trying to get my ducks in a row to pour the base for my oven/outdoor kitchen type deal. I’m still trying to tell myself that I really can’t use a bunch of 1/2 set bags of lime and typeN etc… instead of portland for the concrete. Also hard to tell myself that it isn’t worthwhile to smash old stones to make my own crushed stone.
As for Van Gogh, probably my favorite artiste. we had a few prints when i was a kid that I used to stare at for what seemed like hours. I just love his work.
Clark says
On the bright side, at least you now have enough stone to get ‘er done.
There’s nothing worse than that moment when you the realization of what you HAVE to do and the overwelming desire to not want to do it converge. But like you said, you made the right choice because otherwise you’d never let yourself live it down.
And when I’m re-doing something that I had to scrap and re-do, it’s always an opportunity to do it better, but I always find myself trying to replicate what I had already done and I always feel like I’m comparing it to the original, and missing what I liked about the first take.
But you have to just put it aside, accept the loss of take 1, and treat take 2 as a brand new project. All while taking away any lessons you can.
You gotta go with the Steve Austin approach — “We can rebuild it, faster, stronger, better.”
Matt Sevigny says
Thanks for the encouragement Clark and everyone else. Hopefully I can find some time to work on this and not keep going backwards@
Nohemi Tutterrow says
You must’ve been really grateful to your dad that time for helping you out with the new stones. Well, he really deserves a pizza! 😉 So how is your brick oven doing so far? I hope you’re enjoying homemade pizzas!