well, we're working with peter moore, of vermont brick ovens again. we made the forms for the one above and a couple of others, and now we're attempting to simplify the on site set up process.
basically, we have to create a structure that supports the bricks until the mortar sets. once that happens, the forms all have to come out the oven door so they can be reused on the next oven ...
in the past, we made about 24 half domes, which then had to be connected with thin strips of wood to support the bricks .. more or less, not much fun. this time we plan to make 8 ribs and 24 pieces that lay on top of them, like parts of a turtle shell. click the photos to enlarge them.
we started with this drawing, and decided we could make the 'shell' pieces an eighth of the dome at a time. we had to add more ribs for the two lower sections
the plywood doesn't really want to conform to the dome shape, and each layer is made from 4 pieces of 1/8th inch bending poplar and one layer of 3/8ths wacky wood. some kerfs were cut in some of the pieces to facilitate the bends and as you can see in the photo below, the dome shape is not bad.
we plan to sand the whole thing once al 24 sections are laid up, cut to size and fitted.
to get the wood to conform, we had to use many screws, which can all be removed once the glue sets. we may or may not have to fair the curves with bondo, though i think we will get better with the laminates as we do more of them ...
in the end, the finished oven will look something like this one ...40 years of wood working, and i've never made a dome before .. kind of exciting and challenging for sure ... more pics coming as we progress.