Getting the Blackstone oven from Cabela's

[norma427]

Norma, I forgot to mention that both of the motors I linked to turn faster than the stock one. Well, unless the batteries get left in the cold weather for a month and used every day. 

Roy

Thanks Roy! 

Norma

[norma427]

Thanks again Roy.  It arrived today.

Norma

[norma427]

Thanks to the Moderator that rotated my photo.    I got my regular computer back today and was going to fix it. 

Norma

[rparker]

Now that you have the 40 lb turning capacity you can try out a 3/4" thick marble round. 

[norma427]

Now that you have the 40 lb turning capacity you can try out a 3/4" thick marble round. 

Roy,

I don't think I would trust trying out marble.   

Norma

[norma427]

Things don't seem to be going right this week.  I thought I was going to get a frozen boardwalk style dough out of the freezer and try it in the Blackstone today, in addition to applying coconut oil on the rim skin to see if there might be any blistering.  I was working outside today on and off since the weather in our area was so nice, but couldn't resist baking in the BS and trying out the new motor. 

First of all I left the top of the BS off and cocked a little on top of the BS most of the winter.  I never thought it would warp but either the sides must have warped or the top might have.  The new motor fit really good, but was a tight to fit in place.  I tried for over a half an hour to fit the top on right, but it can be seen that the top did not fit right.  I don't know if someone can help me so the top fits on right.  I baked without the top fitting on right but the bake went really bad.  I don't think the bake went bad from the top not fitting on right.

Norma

[rparker]

I wonder if would help if someone tried to wiggle the oven around a bit while the other person tried to slide the top down? Sometimes things can get a bit crooked and just need to shimmied a bit to regain it's square shape.

I'm sorry to her your week and bake went bad.

- Roy

[norma427]

I wonder if would help if someone tried to wiggle the oven around a bit while the other person tried to slide the top down? Sometimes things can get a bit crooked and just need to shimmied a bit to regain it's square shape.

I'm sorry to her your week and bake went bad.

- Roy

Roy,

Thanks so much for saying your are sorry that my pizza making was going badly this week.  If something doesn't go wrong in making pizza it would be a miracle.  At least we learn by our mistakes, and that is what the “thread of shame” is for. 

I will have to try to get someone to wiggle the oven around a bit while the other person tries to slide the top down.  I have always had the problem of putting the top on but not like today.  Thanks for your thoughts! 

Norma

[Tampa]

Hi Norma,
Regarding the BS oven top...

Try taking out the upper inside hardware (upper dome with ceramic stone), and see if the cover fits.  Often the inside gets a little skewed and the upper polished aluminum cap interferes with the lid.  If the lid fits w/o the stone assembly, then it is usually a matter of placing the inside assembly at the right position and angle to fit the outer lid.

The metal wouldn't warp with the passage of time.

Best

Dave

[norma427]

Hi Norma,
Regarding the BS oven top...

Try taking out the upper inside hardware (upper dome with ceramic stone), and see if the cover fits.  Often the inside gets a little skewed and the upper polished aluminum cap interferes with the lid.  If the lid fits w/o the stone assembly, then it is usually a matter of placing the inside assembly at the right position and angle to fit the outer lid.

The metal wouldn't warp with the passage of time.

Best

Dave

Dave,

Thanks for telling me try taking out the upper inside hardware and see if the cover fits.  I didn't know the inside gets a little skewed and the upper polished aluminum cap interferes with the lid.  Yesterday I was sure the upper dome was fitted correctly before trying to put on the top.  I will see what happens today.  Thanks for saying the metal wouldn't warp.  This would be the time a man would be helpful to show me what to do.   

Norma

[norma427]

Dave,

I took the insides out and the top still doesn't fit.  These are the photos.  I also have to get some high temperature paint and sand some.  Do you have any high temperature paint you could recommend?

Norma

[rparker]

Norma,

On the paint thing, I remember back in the old days there used to be a black stove paint or stove-pipe paint. Might be up in that area. Not much of a city thing. Rustoleum or Krylon might make something. Might be better because of the tight fitting nature of the top.

For the cover fitment, I'd see if you can get a person or two to push in on the edges some while a third person slide the top down.

Thin metal can become misshapen with temperature extremes and with weight of ice and snow over time. I had something similar happen recently on something, but cannot remember exactly what it was.

btw, I got my firebricks cut for my BS. First bake was off a bit. I stepped out of my normal temp zone. Will try again next dry-weather day. The bottom was a bit thicker, though. Right direction. Just have to zero-in.

Roy

[norma427]

Norma,

On the paint thing, I remember back in the old days there used to be a black stove paint or stove-pipe paint. Might be up in that area. Not much of a city thing. Rustoleum or Krylon might make something. Might be better because of the tight fitting nature of the top.

For the cover fitment, I'd see if you can get a person or two to push in on the edges some while a third person slide the top down.

Thin metal can become misshapen with temperature extremes and with weight of ice and snow over time. I had something similar happen recently on something, but cannot remember exactly what it was.

btw, I got my firebricks cut for my BS. First bake was off a bit. I stepped out of my normal temp zone. Will try again next dry-weather day. The bottom was a bit thicker, though. Right direction. Just have to zero-in.

Roy

Roy,

I will ask around at our local hardware stores about black stove paint or stove-pipe paint.  Thanks for the ideas! 

I will see if I can find someone, or two to help try to get the top on.  The problem is I take it off many times. Thanks for telling me that thin metal can become misshapen with temperature extremes and with weight of ice and snow over time.  There was a lot of ice and snow on top of the Blackstone this past winter.  I should have taken a photo of the BS this past winter.  The whole BS was covered in snow and ice from shoveling around it.  I also noticed when putting the shield back into the groves it doesn't fit right not matter what I do.  Either the side front is off or the back is off.

Good to hear you got your firebricks cut for your BS.  Good luck with your firebricks in the BS!  I did a bake recently with the firebricks and the pizza stone in my home oven.  My IR gun battery crapped out before I really knew the temperature of how hot both of them could get, but the top firebricks did seem to be about 20 degrees hotter during the heat-up.  The firebricks were on the top rack so many that is why they were hotter too.  I was surprised at home long the firebricks stayed hot after the oven was turned off.

Norma

[TXCraig1]

I'd put a little bit of shortening on the pieces where the fit together. I bet that helps get them to slide together.

[barryvabeach]

Norma,  I just checked mine, and the fit is not very loose, so it doesn't need to have moved much to make it hard to get it on.  It actually should be pretty easy to do,  just get a piece of rope, wrap it around the main body of the oven twice, and then tie a square knot so that the rope is snug.  You want the rope to be close to the top of the body, but low enough so that the top of the BS can still fit on.  Stick a piece of wood, or pipe, or even a screwdriver in between the two lines of rope, and turn the wood so that it causes the rope to wrap around itself.  I would set is so that the wood is stopped by the front of the BS each turn, and so that you can twist it to the side to make a revolution.  After a few turns, the top should slip right on, carefully unwind the turns, and take off the rope.   Hard to describe the process, but here is a photo of something similar, he wrapped the rope from side to side, stuck a stick between the pieces of rope, then twisted to generate some clamping force.  https://thelongtriphome.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/dscn28991.jpg?w=300&h=225

[Tampa]

Norma, I think you have a lot of great advice above.  Barry's suggestion to use a rope and stick makes the short list of really cleaver tricks.  rparker's suggestion for grill/stove paint is also good.  Flat black seems to match the best, IMO.  If you look on the spray can, it will say what the maximum temperature of grill paint.  The Krylon BBQ & Stove paint I have is rated for 1200F and works OK.  I bought some Rustoleum High Heat paint recently that is good to 2000F.  I don't have enough history on the Rustoleum to comment on durability.  (Red hot steel starts around 1400F, so 1200F should be fine - I just found myself touching up the Kyron a time or two so I bought the higher temperature stuff this last time).

Although shortening as a lube is a good idea, you probably won't need it with Barry's trick.  If you do use shortening, either wait until the paint is applied, or clean thoroughly before spraying.

Back the cause of warping...  I'm guessing you fired the oven a time or two with the lid off.  Heat could have caused the improper fit of the housing.  I've seen heat straighten bends back somewhat towards the original shape, but I've never seen snow or sitting outside cause metal to spring back.

Dave

[rparker]

Good to hear you got your firebricks cut for your BS.  Good luck with your firebricks in the BS!  I did a bake recently with the firebricks and the pizza stone in my home oven.  My IR gun battery crapped out before I really knew the temperature of how hot both of them could get, but the top firebricks did seem to be about 20 degrees hotter during the heat-up.  The firebricks were on the top rack so many that is why they were hotter too.  I was surprised at home long the firebricks stayed hot after the oven was turned off.

Norma

How did the two stone bake go?

I don't think my oven would heat up all that well with both. After the success of the fire-bricks on the BS, I just cut the corners off the cordierite that Jon suggested and made it the inside oven stone. It was still 394F an hour after the bake. I cut the corners off for better air-flow.

I hope to be able to bake on the BS tomorrow. I'm going to try to get the stone saturated at 550F instead of close to 600F like I did the first time with the fire-bricks. I had been at 540F with the stock stone. The trick will be to not get the oven scorching during all that extra time. That made me wonder if a closable vent up top might be a good thing to control temps with? I don't need all that inferno heat like the NP folks do.

[norma427]

I'd put a little bit of shortening on the pieces where the fit together. I bet that helps get them to slide together.

Craig,

Thanks for your idea to use shortening!

Norma,  I just checked mine, and the fit is not very loose, so it doesn't need to have moved much to make it hard to get it on.  It actually should be pretty easy to do,  just get a piece of rope, wrap it around the main body of the oven twice, and then tie a square knot so that the rope is snug.  You want the rope to be close to the top of the body, but low enough so that the top of the BS can still fit on.  Stick a piece of wood, or pipe, or even a screwdriver in between the two lines of rope, and turn the wood so that it causes the rope to wrap around itself.  I would set is so that the wood is stopped by the front of the BS each turn, and so that you can twist it to the side to make a revolution.  After a few turns, the top should slip right on, carefully unwind the turns, and take off the rope.   Hard to describe the process, but here is a photo of something similar, he wrapped the rope from side to side, stuck a stick between the pieces of rope, then twisted to generate some clamping force.  https://thelongtriphome.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/dscn28991.jpg?w=300&h=225

Barry,

The top on my BS was always really hard to get on right even when the heat shield and aluminum part fit right.  Thanks for the idea to use a rope and a piece of wood, pipe or even a screwdriver to give some clamping force so the top goes on smoothly.  Any ideas of how to repair the heat shield that does not fit right since winter?  If the front of the heat shield fits right in those two little grooves the backside sticks up.  If the backside of the heat shield sits flat on the bracket the front of the heat shield will not fit right in the little grooves right.

Norma, I think you have a lot of great advice above.  Barry's suggestion to use a rope and stick makes the short list of really cleaver tricks.  rparker's suggestion for grill/stove paint is also good.  Flat black seems to match the best, IMO.  If you look on the spray can, it will say what the maximum temperature of grill paint.  The Krylon BBQ & Stove paint I have is rated for 1200F and works OK.  I bought some Rustoleum High Heat paint recently that is good to 2000F.  I don't have enough history on the Rustoleum to comment on durability.  (Red hot steel starts around 1400F, so 1200F should be fine - I just found myself touching up the Kyron a time or two so I bought the higher temperature stuff this last time).

Although shortening as a lube is a good idea, you probably won't need it with Barry's trick.  If you do use shortening, either wait until the paint is applied, or clean thoroughly before spraying.

Back the cause of warping...  I'm guessing you fired the oven a time or two with the lid off.  Heat could have caused the improper fit of the housing.  I've seen heat straighten bends back somewhat towards the original shape, but I've never seen snow or sitting outside cause metal to spring back.

Dave

Dave,

I agree I got a lot of great advise.  I was going to purchase some flat black paint.  I will look at the high temperature paints.  Thanks for telling me about what you used so far. 

No,  I never fired up the oven with the lid off.  The last fire up is when the original motor went bad.

Norma

[vtsteve]

The trick will be to not get the oven scorching during all that extra time. That made me wonder if a closable vent up top might be a good thing to control temps with? I don't need all that inferno heat like the NP folks do.

I've got the 5 psi regulator. I opened up the front knob full blast, and turned down the regulator until the flame was just lifting away from the burner, so I'd have more control range at the lower end.

[norma427]

How did the two stone bake go?

I don't think my oven would heat up all that well with both. After the success of the fire-bricks on the BS, I just cut the corners off the cordierite that Jon suggested and made it the inside oven stone. It was still 394F an hour after the bake. I cut the corners off for better air-flow.

I hope to be able to bake on the BS tomorrow. I'm going to try to get the stone saturated at 550F instead of close to 600F like I did the first time with the fire-bricks. I had been at 540F with the stock stone. The trick will be to not get the oven scorching during all that extra time. That made me wonder if a closable vent up top might be a good thing to control temps with? I don't need all that inferno heat like the NP folks do.

Roy,

The bake with the firebricks and the pizza stone did not go well.  My home oven is really anemic and usually I don't bake any NY style pizzas in my home oven anymore.  The only reason I did use the home oven was to see if coconut oil brushed on the skin rim of an emergency dough would create blistering in a home oven.  I posted about that bake on the Flavour of dough thread. 

I hope your bake goes well if you get to try out the firebricks tomorrow.  When I was using the firebricks I waited until the temperature became stable then backed off on the heat.  The firebricks do hold heat well.  I didn't turn the heat off but watched for a little to see where the temperature was staying almost stable.  I don't think a closeable vent up top would be good.

Norma