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Repairing cracked and broken stone decks

C

Christopher_Ellis

New member
Hi. I have a Blodgett 1000 stack in my kitchen. Yesterday I helped my morning crew flip the stones. I was brought to my attention at that time that last time the stones were flipped (by somebody that does not work here anymore so I can’t even yell at him!) one was dropped and was broken in half. It has not been a big deal, as it was in the bottom oven and we really only use that oven on high volume days or when we have parties booked that have pre-ordered a high number of large pizzas. And the split was clean enough that I never noticed with the two pieces sitting together in their spot. I thought it was just a partial crack.

Anyway… there’s that one stone that’s in two pieces, and two of the other three stones have cracks. So I am curious if anybody has had experience repairing stones. I’d love to bond the broken piece and seal the cracks in the others. I read something a while back dealing with consumer stones and bonding them with some sort of kiln adhesive. But I don’t know how practical that would be on something 24" wide and 1.5" thick. And there’s also the issue of temperature stability and food safety.

Alternatively, I see replacement stones for sale in various places online. I am not opposed to just replacing the stones. 43 years seems like a pretty good run for the ones in there (assuming they are original—I’ve only had these ovens for about 5 years). Is it true that new stones do not perform as well as those original stones? (I know, I know, it’s all relative) Or is there a reference for what the thermal conductivity is for those old stones so that I can seek out something that will perform similarly? I’ve heard positive things about Fibrament, but I haven’t seen specs to compare. After a little Googling, I haven’t found Fibrament in Blodgett 1000/999 size, though I’m hopeful. Many listings for Blodgett compatible stones don’t state any details about what they’re made of, who manufactures them, thermal properties.

Or am I just overthinking this and posting this to procrastinate chipping away at my to-do list this morning?

Thanks
 
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Why do you need to flip the stones? Just trying to learn something. When I want my stones clean I just crank it up to 650, come back in the morning and they look brand new.
 
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sparrowspizza said:
Why do you need to flip the stones? Just trying to learn something. When I want my stones clean I just crank it up to 650, come back in the morning and they look brand new.
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Hmm. I hadn’t given thought to just cranking the ovens up and leaving them on overnight. Yeah, I flip them to clean them. There can get to be some build up after a while, so we try to flip them every six months (what really works out to be every year… or so). I would love not to have to do that and risk the cracks and breaks. Maybe I’ll try your method at some point.
 
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We run a stack of Blodgett 1000’s and in my 50 plus years around them never turn them or clean them. We bake right on the stones NY pizza and the gunk burns off. If a pie rips and makes a big sauce mess we scrape it good and if need be leave the oven on overnight. Sweep the ovens a lot and you will be good. Walter
 
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Wow. I feel so naive. My first kitchen manager started the custom of flipping the stones and we’ve been doing it since.

At any rate, with the cracks and splits, maybe it’s time for me to replace the stones and abandon the flipping.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk
 
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What is the advantage of the doors being 10 inches on the 1000’s, as apposed to my 961’s being 7 inches tall.
 
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the 1000 was the final creation of Frank Mastro who created the gas deck oven in the 30’s. When he finished the 1000 design he deemed it perfection. The tall interior is part of it. The pies bake without rotating (if they are running right with the original stones) and it is easy as heck to launch and get to back of the oven pies. The newer blodgetts and BP’s are no comparison to the 1000s. They hold more pies but require continual rotating during the bake. I help write this article for PMQ about Frank Mastro. I am friends with his 90 year old daughter who worked with him as a youngster and collected hours of recorded interview with her. Walter
http://www.pmq.com/August-2016/The-...industrys-greatestand-most-tragicvisionaries/
 
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I posted yesterday morning about stones, my oven is a bakers pride d125. I picked up 3 brand new stones Saturday in joilett Il. for $195 a piece read my post and let me know if you want my contact over in Il. I have never flipped my stones, always just cleaned every night with damp cloth, brush and scraper.
 
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