Rough Cast

Really making progress now....

I've finished the inner dome, which was little bit more tricky than I had anticipated. The first 5 courses were relatively easy, but when the curvature of the dome started to take shape, it became more difficult to ensure a good bond to the cement without the bricks falling off.

I've read various ways to conquer this, sand, wooden moulds etc, but the easiest I found was to make an inner tower of dry bricks, and as each half brick was placed in position I would use a brick to prop it up. This was particularly helpful as I reached the top and the curvature started to level out a bit.

It worked for me and I'm very pleased with the results.

I left that to dry overnight and the following day I used a further layer of fire cement to seal the outside. Prior to setting I made about a dozen metal rods and pushed them into the cement randomly to provide a hold down for the blanket and wire mesh. This was once again I left this to set overnight.

The completed dome with rough cast fire cement

A view from the rear of the dome clearly showing the metal rods pushed into the cement

Until next time....