weird smells when firing

Posted byJason

I finally covered my oven with concrete cladding and am now ready to put on the chimney, but I did a few test fires over the last 2 weeks. The other day I did the biggest firing to date, the equivalent of a firing for making pizza. I experienced two problems that I'd love some insight into...

1. When the fire got really hot and the heat was getting hot throughout the masonry, I started smelling a really peculiar, nasty smell. Everything I was burning was good hard almond wood, so I know it wasn't from a foreign substance in the fire. What could it be?

2. I noticed some smoke coming out of the cladding where there was a dry joint in the concrete cladding. (THe part between the side cladding and the dome cladding, as the pours were weeks apart). SHould I use some mortar and patch it up before I put on the ceramic blanket? It seems like a bad sign. How can I fix it?

THanks,

Jason

ps, rado, I am working on a compilation of a lot of pictures of the building of the oven. At the later stages, I forgot my camera and there are less pictures, and I didn't stop to find it becuase I was so excited to get done. ANyway it should be some cool pics. I will let you know when the site is done.

weird smells when firing