Cracked my pizza stone today

DeltaNu1142

I had a couple of friends over today for pizzas... my setup was all Ceramic Grill Store except for the pizza stone: 13 x 17 oval stone on the lowest level of the AR, with the extender up top. I thought I'd gotten the stone from CGS, but then I went looking in my emails... sure enough, it was a cheap Woot deal from last February... $20 with pizza tools. I used the stone for at least 15-20 indirect cooks in the AR, so I'm not sure what happened today that made it decide to let go. I always kept it dry, mostly in the AR, in the Egg. At least it happened on the last pizza (4 of 4):



So... I guess I'll be looking around online today. For <$20, this one gave me a year... that's not terrible. But I don't want to keep buying stones I have to replace once a year.

tjv

put a D grid or oval grid under it and give it try.  I think you'll find it will work ok.  could clean up the bad edge with a wet tile saw if you had one. 

t

Jeepster47

Or, an angle grinder will turn it into a half moon for those times when you want to cook both direct and indirect.  The picture angle might hide the thickness, is it about half inch thick?

DeltaNu1142

tjv said:

put a D grid or oval grid under it and give it try.  I think you'll find it will work ok.  could clean up the bad edge with a wet tile saw if you had one. 

I have one of each. I could give it a go, but it's probably worth just finding a new stone. I used to have a friend with a wet tile saw, but he moved into a condo and sold all of his tools out from under me. How inconsiderate, eh?

Jeepster47 said:

Or, an angle grinder will turn it into a half moon for those times when you want to cook both direct and indirect.  The picture angle might hide the thickness, is it about half inch thick?

That idea I like.

It's still on the Egg and I'm inside with our baby on my lap, so I'm not going to get to measure it for a little while. No dimensions on the website. I'll bet it's 3/8".

While looking through the specs, though, I found this:

"This three piece set by pizzacraft includes a round ceramic pizza stone, a stainless steel rolling pizza cutter and a stainless steel pizza server

The server and cutter have TPR handles
The ceramic pizza stone is oven safe and not intended for use on the grill" ...huh?

Warranty: 1 Year Companion Group - Interesting. I might check into that.

Jeepster47

The thinner ones - Pampered Chef, etc, - won't take the heat like the thicker ones.  Tom's stones are made to go in kilns ... they'll last.  I've got a pizza stone made from the center of a plate setter ... the leg broke off.  On the BGE plate setter, I used a cheap $4 masonry disc in my angle grinder.

DeltaNu1142

Yep. Someone smarter than me once said, "I can't afford to buy cheap stuff." So, there you go.

Keeping in mind... I'm talking about my stone, and not your cutting wheel.

Maybe I'll look for someone with a busted PS? Good idea. I know those hold up fine.

jtcBoynton

@DeltaNu1142   You want a stone that is at least 5/8" thick made of cordierite. Both the BGE and CGS sell these types of stones.  If you have a good pottery supply store near you, you can get a kiln shelf.  Pizza stones and kiln shelves are the same thing.  Kiln shelves sell for less than an equivalent pizza stone. While you are at the pottery supply store you could also get some kiln shelf posts to use as spacers in the egg. Axner and Bennett are both located in the Orlando area, not too far from you. Highwater Clays is in Clearwater.

YukonRon

I got my pizza stone at World market for around $25.00. Works like a champ. I have used it for multiple pies on multiple occasions.
You may wish to check it out. My Beautiful Wife and I bought it expecting it yo perform like $25.00 stone. We have gotten our money's worth and then some.

DeltaNu1142

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll look into kiln shelves. And I've never even heard of World Market... they don't currently appear to have anything as thick as what I should probably get.

DeltaNu1142

I have a Lodge CI pizza pan in my Amazon shopping cart... I've come to love me some iron.

Carolina Q

Or, you could go to a scrap metal dealer or a steel yard and find a piece of 1/4" A36 (very common, used for lots of things) steel plate. Mine was from a steel yard that sells cutoffs and scraps for $1 per pound, about $12 total as I recall. Same as the Baking Steel, but affordable. It will outlast me, no matter how many times I drop it or how hot (or cold) it gets. 

I have a BGE stone (large) as well, plus the 5/8" thick oven-size stone I bought long before my egg. I prefer the steel... in my oven anyway. It doesn't fit my egg, but I haven't done pizza in the egg in over 2 years.  

DeltaNu1142

I've seen a lot of Eggers go that way. I think that's an excellent idea... but I also like the idea of having handles! I may look into it anyway.

YukonRon

DeltaNu1142 said:

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll look into kiln shelves. And I've never even heard of World Market... they don't currently appear to have anything as thick as what I should probably get.

Spoke to a friend of mine that has a ton more experience than I. For whatever reason, for pizza crust, he seems to believe thinner stones are better for the ability to gain and shed temperature more efficiently.  He has a couple he uses (different diameters).  
This may or may not be applicable, but in high density polymer coatings, we always recommend thinner applications for more durable functional applications.
It is like taking a yardstick, and a 2x4 and bending them until they break. You can almost bend a yardstick to where the ends touch, whereas with the 2x4 will crack easily with the slightest bend.
The stone we purchased,  we had taken from ambient at 38F in March, to 600F, and back to 38F, with zero issues. So expansion and contraction with heating and cooling happens. It has happened about 30 or 40 times with temp variations of at least 500F. So far for 25 bucks, it seems to perform at least as well as the $50.00+ stones out there.
World market is a pretty cool market with great quality products, as their name states, from all over the world. The pizza stones are from Italy, at least the one we bought was.
Whatever, just trying to help. Good luck on your quest.

DeltaNu1142

After a lengthy conversation with the manufacturer of the stone, they agreed to send me a new one. When I left the voicemail on a very generic customer service VM box, I didn't even expect to hear back, let alone have a discussion with a CS rep about pizza ingredients and cooking techniques.

A surprising thumbs up for Companion Group's customer care. If this new stone lasts another year, it will have been more than worth the outlay.

In the meantime, I bought a Lodge 14" CI pizza pan that I'm going to season in the oven tonight. Giggity.