CBD's Klinglesmith Pizza Oven Cover Page

Getting it All Worked Out

After finding our web site Michael Klinglesmith here in Portland, Oregon wanted us to build him this copper cover for the pizza oven he built in his back yard. I was able to form this in just 2 pieces. The main angles cover that wraps around the wood frame is all one piece, and the 11" octagon in front was soldered in place and wraps underneath.

Michael was going to have me make just a basic 33.5" wide 20" tall rectangular cover to help keep it clean when not in use.

I suggested he should have me make this cover more stylized in this way to accent the arched opening w/o costing more. He got inspired to work up all these 3D diagram shapes to help visualize this before having me form this in copper. I was very impressed with his ability to imagine the shapes I had described to him with such accuracy. As you can see he chose diagram #4.

He says he is willing to do this sort of 3D diagram work for my other clients if they want. For a fee of course. If you would like this sort of rendering service his contact Ph# is (503) 806-7519, or e-mail him at: mklingles@comcast.net.

From this 3D rendering he was able to build this wood frame for me to mount the copper cover on. He also trimmed the vertical face to fit precisely over the irregular stone work for a nice tight fit.

As you can see he did not miss a single detail in his rendering. He was even able to add this color and texture to help see just how this would look.

It was very cool to work with such a savvy client. I made this cover w/2 separate pieces of 32oz copper and added a pair of brass handles on the sides of this wood frame he had made. Final weight 24#. Cost: $460 delivered to his house. I offered to dive it over, so I could get these great shots of this cover in place.

Pizza Oven Door Cover Creation

Mike got these pieces of wood cut for the framework to cover this with a thick 32oz copper. There were lots of angle cut to make and glue it together. He also varnished it. When I got it I sanded the edges to fit better. I made some aluminum templates to size this up before drafting this all out on the sheet of copper. I had to make sure the angles would be just right.

It took some doing to find the best placement on the sheet of copper for the least amount of waste. This took a few trys. Then I cut it out and bent it into shape. The bottom 2 triangle did not want to bend that way.

It was tricky to get this stiff copper to form over this wood frame the way I needed it to, so the clamps helped. I soldered the middle piece in place, so there would be no fasteners showing out in front. Because of the sealed off bottom of this wood frame I was not able to get any clamps in there to hold the copper together like I normally would do, so this was the first soldering I had to do w/o clamps. That took some ingenuity.

After I got the copper all cleaned up Mike came over to my shop to decide which handles would look best and where to place them.