ok .. i really enjoyed this project so i'm going to follow it through to its completion .. now we're on site, at the 'new' jj hapgood store, established (i think) in 1827, in peru, vermont. the entire store is currently being totally rebuilt by new owners. above is the domed form from my previous post, set up and ready to go for pete to build their new 72" diameter wood fired pizza oven. click the photos to enlarge them..
here's a view from above, showing the circular buttress wall with the angled top that the firebricks that make up the roof of the dome will rest against, and be supported by. from an engineering standpoint, the forces of the weight of the dome are transferred to the side walls, which have to have enough mass to support that weight. see flying buttress ...
anyway, it's a soldier course of vertical firebricks and a 6" thick curved concrete wall loaded with 3/4" rebar.
the front arched door, through which the form will be removed is complete and ready for the flue for the smoke to escape to be built just behind it. you can see that arrangement in the photo above this one, and the smoke will wend its way over to the hole in the flue in the back corner, and on its way, possibly heat some hot water .. in the end, all this stuff, including the 2.5" thick soapstone hearth will be pretty much invisible, so i'm glad to know what kind of effort goes into one of these ovens. for more info, see the previous post. and, to contact pete to order your own brick oven, here's a link to his website, vermont brick ovens.