# cherry as a pizza oven door?



## GoodTurns (Nov 16, 2009)

A friend of mine has built a professional style pizza oven and needs a door/plug for the chute.  The oven fires up very hot, but the end of the chute is not close to the actual fire.  I have several nice pieces of cherry burl and would like to make the door from it.  Does any know how fire-resistant cherry is in the scheme of things?


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## mrcook4570 (Nov 16, 2009)

Cherry is very popular as firewood.


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## GoodTurns (Nov 16, 2009)

thank you Stan.:biggrin: Not exactly what I was looking for....


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## jleiwig (Nov 16, 2009)

A properly made pizza oven will clock between 1500 to 1800 degrees on startup and should cook somewhere in the 850 to 1000 degree mark.  Your cherry will not last very long.  

What I have seen done is use a piece of steel, then some fireblanket insulation then your wood.  Even then it may not last a very long time, and any finish will not last on it any appreciable amount of time.  You'd want at minimum 2" of the insulation blanket between the steel and the wood. 

A good forum for that sort of stuff is that may have a better answer than I do. 
http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/

I lurk over there and drool and daydream a bit when I'm feeling down.

WARNING...you will spend lots of time and lots of money if you check out this site, it's as bad a pen turning site, but for foodies.


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## Daniel (Nov 16, 2009)

you woudl have to have insulation between the heat and the wood but I know it can be done to where the outside of the oven is only warm to the touch. it is the opening and closing of the oven that would punish the cherry. they use those really long paddles for a reason.


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## GoodTurns (Nov 16, 2009)

Daniel,
he's done a great job building the oven...it is almost un-noticably warm  to the touch after cooking for hours, he spent a lot of time and $$ doing it right.  I'm going to listen to Justin and try to find a small piece of fireblanket and steel to insulate the door...don't want to make him a throw-away door!


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## Frank Nemke sr (Nov 16, 2009)

How big makes a differance  You might concider two pc's of stainless stee, with insalation in between them  You could mount  the wood to it.  It could even overlap a little to hide the stainless


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## titan2 (Nov 16, 2009)

Might want to take a look at using 'fire bricks'. They are light as a feather (sort of) and they are easy to cut and shape to the size you need/want, I use them to make my forge.....just stack them and put the 'T-Rex' burner in and fire it up.....the heat stays inside!

I picked up my bricks at a 'Stain Glass' shop.....they have all kinds of stuff for melting glass and all.

Keep us posted and take a picture of the door.......or you know what they say.......it never hapened!!! LOL


Barney


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## NewLondon88 (Nov 16, 2009)

titan2 said:


> Might want to take a look at using 'fire bricks'.



DING DING DING!!!  We have a winner!

Ok, I'll second the fire brick. It will insulate a kiln well enough to fire ceramic
on the inside and be warm to the touch on the outside.

I think the challenge would be to find a material to use for screws/bolts etc.
It's all well and good to use an insulating material, but if your screws heat
up on one end, that heat will transfer right through the screws..


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## wood-of-1kind (Nov 16, 2009)

*Pizza oven*

Steel door is the way to go. It gets "hot", really hot inside. Built this "baby" since there's notin' better than homemade pizza. Door imported from Napoli where they know a thing or two regarding pizza.


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## witz1976 (Nov 16, 2009)

As a stove and fireplace guy, I would recommend all three, use Stainless Steel and bend this into a mold, then you can actually buy a cast-able refractory (sold in a Hearth store...I know of a company named Rutland who makes some ( http://www.rutland.com/productinfo.php?product_id=22 ) This could be the base, then add a foil backed insulating fireproof blanket.  I know it by the name of Kao-wool, but it is essentially a ceramic blanket. (Also found in a hearth store)  Then use the cherry as a door to "pretty" it up.  

Hope it helps


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## GoodTurns (Nov 16, 2009)

witz1976 said:


> As a stove and fireplace guy, I would recommend all three, use Stainless Steel and bend this into a mold, then you can actually buy a cast-able refractory (sold in a Hearth store...I know of a company named Rutland who makes some ( http://www.rutland.com/productinfo.php?product_id=22 ) This could be the base, then add a foil backed insulating fireproof blanket.  I know it by the name of Kao-wool, but it is essentially a ceramic blanket. (Also found in a hearth store)  Then use the cherry as a door to "pretty" it up.
> 
> Hope it helps



that's about where I was headed.... a bent stainless shell with the fire brick (but my friend probably has some of the rutland castable left over), then the cherry facing.  I'll look for the fire blanket as well.

Thanks for everyone's input!


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## nava1uni (Nov 16, 2009)

wood-of-1kind said:


> Steel door is the way to go. It gets "hot", really hot inside. Built this "baby" since there's notin' better than homemade pizza. Door imported from Napoli where they know a thing or two regarding pizza.


Your oven is very beautiful.  You did a very nice job of building it.  I bet the pizza is real good.


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## Daniel (Nov 16, 2009)

now I'm hungry.


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## NewLondon88 (Nov 17, 2009)

Daniel said:


> now I'm hungry.



I know what you mean.. I got a hankerin for cherry myself :biggrin:


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