Country property 2-hours from Toronto

Hi Rado,
you sent me your plans and now I’m finished my wood oven. I ended up not using your design but applied the general principles.

This is on a country property that I own up here in Canada about two hours from Toronto. I made the base out of local field stones which I have on the property. I split them as I prefer the look of split field stones.

The cladding stone for the oven is cut-limestone quarried from a quarry near where I live (Kingston Ontario). Overall this gives it a nice look of contrasting igneous and sedimentary stone which I think works well. Thanks for all the help which your site and plans provided – although I deviated from them entirely.

The basic concepts and process you provide gave me the confidence to proceed on my own. We’ve had several large family crowds (including 25 at Thanksgiving) and it works just great – it gets up to speed and then 90 seconds to perfection!

The oddly placed brick on the floor is removable and forms the “ash-hole” … it also helps to get the fire started. Be careful how you pronounce it! :-)
Cheers,
Doug

• I still have a little pointing to do and the roof to paint as you can see.
• Also, since it’s sides are smaller than your design, I used an embedded steel “frame” to do the work of a buttress.
• The base is pre-cast steel-reinforced concrete I had made separately – including the positioning of the ash-drop.
• The arch didn’t turn out perfectly (unlike yours!) … it’s a little sloppier than I would like nevertheless it holds just fine. It is my only regret – but I a, not rebuilding it now!
• The dog is Maggie (her nickname is Margaret).

PS – I have many more photos of the entire construction process which I would be happy to send. This isn’t the largest size I have them in. Please feel free to set up a gallery – I’m happy to share my pictures. I’ve been also thinking of creating the “envelopes” as a business venture for the future (just the base and the fire-bricks assembled). When I get down to Australia (where I’ve never been) we should discuss. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to get back to me eh? … look me up if you ever plan on getting over to Canada.