Holy %#*$&@ !!! That’s some might fine oven building. Congrats and ENJOY!!
I seriously doubt that 1950s bomb shelters had anywhere near that much work in them. Quite a triumph. Gotta really love pizza and exquisite construction work to truly appreciate that oven.
Standing in applause. He’s not just a kick-ass photographer!
That’s an interesting question Kenny. The thrust vector from the weight of the roof does indeed follow the path of an inverted catenary curve, but I’ve never heard of anyone building an oven to that shape (I wouldn’t be surprised to find that cob ovens are sometimes built that shape). My thinking is that it would be more complicated to build than a hemisphere, and structurally not stronger in any meaningful way. That’s interesting about igloos. I didn’t know that.
The idea behind the ellipse is that the fire can be at one foci and the pizza at the other, for maximum IR exposure, but even that is probably overthinking it. Really you want the dome to be low enough to balance cooking the top and bottom of the pizza, and after that the only critical aspect of the design is that you want the entry to be 63-65% the height of the dome.
Traditional Neopolitan ovens height = diameter/3.4 and entry height = oven height * 0.65. The roof is a 3-centered arch not an ellipse. But these dimensions are used for 48-60" ovens, and having the diameter down to 36", something has to give. My 9" radius door gives me a 14.5" dome height and fits a full sheet pan. I was originally going to do a 42" oven with a 12.5" roof and 8" radius door, but that’s a scary flat roof, door is too small, and people I talked to with 42" ovens were frustrated by their heat-up time. It’s all about deciding what’s the best compromise.
Thanks guys.
Wow Larry! You know I love your photography but I did not know you were also a craftsman, this is beautiful great work and thanks for the ride.
I’m tired just from looking at the photos of every stage; I can’t imagine the time and effort that went into carefully planning and constructing that oven!
Bruce
Superb work! I take it you have prior experience doing masonry (?)
unbelievable. Build me one.
Wow! Will bring wine for pizza 
Thanks everyone! I did work for a mason one summer during college, but I wouldn’t count that experience towards much. He pretty much just made me dig, haul bricks, mix mortar, and yelled at me a lot. My results here are mostly research, comfort with tools, and careful work. I found that masonry is not nearly as precise as e.g. finish carpentry.
Much to be proud of there kind sir. Hat tip.
Larry,
A tour de force of pizza passion. Brilliant job!
Larry,
I’ve had an oven built not long ago. Takes a while to figure out the perfect fire, but I’ve learned that longer heating times are favored. I might post some pictures in the next couple of days.
As you noted elsewhere, there are so many decisions to make, tradeoffs depending on your use, ability, budget etc and yours is truly A+. I went with the 2 weekends and barrel vault style as detailed in The Bred Builders, which works for me, but some day, I’ll probably get a mobile oven as well. Those tend to be modular units as the bricks don’t handle moving as well.
Thanks Chris & Bill! Jason, I’d love to see pics of your oven.
Paul, a mobile oven would be sweet. Don’t tell my wife, there are already times I wished I had one. I have a friend on the peninsula which a fantastic rig. Helped him cook pizzas for an MS fundraiser last year. Yes it’s a cast dome:
I’m still learning it. Right now it’s taking me about 3 hours to get to pizza temps from cold. If I re-fire warn the next night, it’s more like an hour. We’re cooking in the residual heat all week. The morning after firing, Lori baked an egg soufflé. 4 days after, she slow-cooked a pot of chile over about 8 hours. 5 days after, oven dried tomatoes. The residual heat profile looks something like this:
Day 0 (pizza) 900ºF+
Day 1 (24 hours later) 500ºF
Day 2 350ºF
Day 3 300ºF
Day 4 250ºF
Day 5 200ºF
Day 6 150ºF
We fired for pizza last night and will do so again tonight. Tomorrow I’m going to attempt a Detroit-style pizza in the residual heat.
Bravo!
Larry- thanks for showing us your amazing work.
great photography.
Dude, it’s Livermore! Your oven would be at 150 even with no fire for a week 
That’s why I stopped the graph at Day 6 