Earth Oven Build

tim_n

Full Member
Feb 8, 2010
1,730
130
Essex
Following on from several ongoing discussions, I'd like to offer a free basic earth oven course on the bushmoot.

It'll be held as an all day sort of thing on the 9th.

We'll attempt to locate some clay (sand shouldn't be an issue from memory...), stomp it until we've created a fairly dry thermal mass mix and build a sand form.

20130527-212710.jpg


(my brother in law is fairly unapologetic about his lack of t-shirt, sorry)

The sand form will be covered in wet newspaper, thermal mass applied to make a pizza dome. We'll fire it on the same day, with a hope of cooking some pizza or similar.

20110504-132733.jpg


(above pic was my first oven)


I'm unable to bring a straw bale with me for insulation or firebricks, but you'll get basics under your belt. We can make a clay floor oven (it won't survive many firings but will do for the moot) but if anyone has any firebricks or slabs of terracotta etc bring 'em along.

I suggest having a pair of gardening gloves for sieving the clay. You can wear wellies, but I've generally found it much more difficult as mud sticks to them. Bare feet and shorts are generally the order of the day. It's useful to have a first aid kit as well as I don't know what the clay on site will be like and you can get occasional small stones that go through the sieve.

Depending on who is interested, we can expand the size of the oven to make it bigger/smaller. I've only generally built 22.5" ovens, but the theory scales, so it'd be fun to make a bigger oven assuming we can find some decent clay. We may need to sneak down to the river...

20130527-213152.jpg


(we rebuilt this year, but we won't be doing art like this on the moot! Just the raw basics unless someone really wants to insulate and cob it)

Assuming the weather keeps until Tuesday, it may be able to be used in conjunction with the hangi. You can cook anything in an earth oven you can do in a normal oven, except you can fire them up to 600-800'C

This'll be my 4th oven, so be gentle, generally we leave it a week before firing, but assuming the mix is wet enough it should be fine.

20130714-214733.jpg


(finished with lime render to the base, still got painting and some fine dremel work to do!)

Register your interest below:

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Last edited:

Stringmaker

Native
Sep 6, 2010
1,891
1
UK
That's a great dragon oven you have there!

We have a Roman bread oven based on an excavation in London on our site but it is going to need re-building for next season. Ours is way too low to the ground such that the stoker can't see into it to judge the fire; yours is great.
 

TurboGirl

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Sep 8, 2011
2,326
1
Leicestershire
www.king4wd.co.uk
I'm interested, been dying to make an earth oven for ages and its just the kickstart to git r dun!

Register your interest below:

1. Turbogirl and possible Youngling helper :)
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tim_n

Full Member
Feb 8, 2010
1,730
130
Essex
Quite happy for all to be involved - there's a lot of stomping and digging, just be aware you'll need to supervise your own etc (same as any workshop @ the moot!)
 

Tadpole

Full Member
Nov 12, 2005
2,842
21
60
Bristol
1. Turbogirl and possible Youngling helper :)
2. Tadpole et al (Brother Tadpole and midsized helper)
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Jul 17, 2012
4
0
UK
I would be interested in that


1. Turbogirl and possible Youngling helper
2. Tadpole et al (Brother Tadpole and midsized helper)
3. Craig and brother in-law
4.
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6.
 

Neumo

Full Member
Jul 16, 2009
1,675
0
West Sussex
I am liking the look of this but am leather making on the 9th, but I have always wanted to make one of these, so will come over to have a look during the build day.
 

Tengu

Full Member
Jan 10, 2006
13,008
1,636
51
Wiltshire
Drat, I had a load of fire bricks but sold them.

I think clay may be an issue on site.

any one got a geo map of the area?????
 

tim_n

Full Member
Feb 8, 2010
1,730
130
Essex
Without clay, yes quite difficult, but there must be some about somewhere... Maybe I can convince one of the early full members to have a look on the 4/5th and if not, I'll bring a couple of bags...!
 

maddave

Full Member
Jan 2, 2004
4,177
39
Manchester UK
There's possibly some down by the river. Not seen any from memory but to be honest i've not been looking. I can't commit a day due to my staff duties, but I'll pop in from time to time and try and help as best I can.
 

tim_n

Full Member
Feb 8, 2010
1,730
130
Essex
Are we allowed to pinch clay from by the river? I seem to remember it was pretty muddy in the tidal areas...
 

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