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Step 8Fire It Up!
At this point, you should be just about ready to go. An advantage of this "temporary" design over other cement or mortar styles is that you don't need to wait for anything to cure before heating it up.
Start by lighting a very small kindling fire. We used some scraps we cut from an abandoned wooden pallet. In fact, we did the entire fire using scraps from that pallet.
As long as you go at a slow pace, you'll minimize the amount of smoke generated. Let the kindling burn for a bit, then add bigger pieces slowly. You'll notice the roof of the oven collecting black soot.
Eventually, you'll have a very nice fire raging inside the oven. The soot will start to burn off, leaving the bare bricks exposed again.
Keep feeding the fire, while watching the temperature. A good oven cooks around 800 degrees. Use an infrared thermometer to gauge the temperature. I got this one which goes up to 952F, and it didn't cost much at all.
Once you're up in the 700 degree range, you'll have no problems making some seriously tasty pizzas. Push the burning wood and embers to the back of the oven (make a simple tool for this if you need to by nailing a short 2x4 to the front of a longer piece) and sweep using a natural hair brush. Oh, and wear gloves if you have them. I use welding gloves.
Start by lighting a very small kindling fire. We used some scraps we cut from an abandoned wooden pallet. In fact, we did the entire fire using scraps from that pallet.
As long as you go at a slow pace, you'll minimize the amount of smoke generated. Let the kindling burn for a bit, then add bigger pieces slowly. You'll notice the roof of the oven collecting black soot.
Eventually, you'll have a very nice fire raging inside the oven. The soot will start to burn off, leaving the bare bricks exposed again.
Keep feeding the fire, while watching the temperature. A good oven cooks around 800 degrees. Use an infrared thermometer to gauge the temperature. I got this one which goes up to 952F, and it didn't cost much at all.
Once you're up in the 700 degree range, you'll have no problems making some seriously tasty pizzas. Push the burning wood and embers to the back of the oven (make a simple tool for this if you need to by nailing a short 2x4 to the front of a longer piece) and sweep using a natural hair brush. Oh, and wear gloves if you have them. I use welding gloves.
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Like mikejs said, start with a small, little fire and take your time before you increase the fire.