Mud Oven - Part 3

We're in the home stretch with the construction of this mud oven. Lots of times all the steps we've done over the past few weekends could have been done over a couple days, but since we're only around on weekends, we've had to space the steps out a bit.
Last weekend, the previous two layers of mud applied over the sand dome form were dry enough for Kevin to remove the sand and the dome would still retain it's shape.



After the sand was removed we applied one more layer of mud mixed with straw to the entire dome and started a small fire inside to help it dry a little more. Kevin assured me it was a task that could be done without getting one's hands dirty. What's the fun of working with mud and not getting your hands in it?

Kevin spent a little time carving a door from a large piece of oak . When baking in the oven, you keep a fire going for a couple hours to heat up the mud and bricks, then remove the fire and use a door to keep the heat while you bake for a couple hours.


The entire oven was still fairly wet so we couldn't really cook anything since it would not hold heat well. Hopefully, we'll be baking/cooking the weekend of October 10th. I'm sure looking forward to some pizza and a couple loaves of bread.

Mud Oven - part 2

This past weekend, my husband put the next layer of mud on the oven. I wasn't able to be around, so there are quite a few less photos, but he was busy with the mud so I guess that's OK.


First he cut the door area out of the first layer of mud he'd applied a couple weeks ago. It's very important to keep the door to a certain proportion to the size of the oven.


Next, the door needed to be shaped and softened. Would you believe an empty beer can was the perfect tool to smooth the inside curve of the door opening? Unfortunately, all our beer cans were full and one (just one??) needed to be emptied to be used.

Then it was time for the next layer of mud. This layer was a combination of clay, crushed insulating fire brick and straw. It is a little thinner than the first layer, but will be covered with yet another layer in the coming week or two.

As a related project, we're looking for a 10" or less peel to get things in and out of the oven door. We might need to make something appropriate if we can't locate one. And of course by "we", I mean Kevin. Anybody have any suggestions?

Check back again to read about the final mud layer and eventually, our first baking.

Be well.

Mud Oven Progress

Over this long weekend, we spent a little time relaxing and visiting with friends which was really great. We also took advantage of the extra day off work to begin work on our latest project at the farm/studio - a mud oven (sometimes called a cob oven). My husband bakes amazing breads and is looking forward to baking in this primitive oven.

Kevin actually began the project last weekend by building a base for the oven. The base is on casters so we can move it around the kiln shed and tuck it out of the way while it's not in use.

With the base completed, this weekend we began with construction of the oven by soaking a hundred pounds of clay shavings left over from trimming my pottery in buckets of water to rehydrate the clay to be used in the inner layer of the oven.


Once the clay was ready, we spread a layer of sand to level the next layer of insulating fire bricks. On top of the insulating fire bricks, we placed a layer of fire brick

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Next, a dome of sand is placed on top of the fire bricks to create a mold for the oven shape


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On a tarp we mixed sand with the mud (clay) we moistened earlier.



A four inch layer of the sand/clay mixture is pressed over the sand mold.




And that's where the weekend ended. This layer on the oven will dry slowly for a while. Next it will receive a layer of clay and insulating material and followed by a third layer of clay. Check back in a couple weeks for the next segment of construction.

Long Weekend

We almost always seem to have some sort of project to accomplish over the weekend and this long holiday weekend is no different. On our list of things to get done this summer after the wood kiln construction was construction of a mud oven. We wanted this mud oven to be in the kiln shed and on casters so it can be moved around and tucked out of the way while the kiln is in use. The photo above is the base for the mud oven.

On top of this will be a layers of leveling sand, insulating fire brick, and high temp brick to create the floor of the oven. Once those are in place, a dome of sand will be molded on top of the floor. Several layers of clay and other insulting material will be spread over the dome of sand to create an igloo shaped outer layer. Once the clay is set up enough to hold it's shape, the sand is removed.

This oven will be perfect for the wonderful breads Kevin bakes as well as pizza or anything else we want to bake.

Photos of the next phase of oven construction will be posted as I have Internet access, maybe over the weekend but more than likely Monday.

Have a great holiday weekend.

Here's a pottery photo just justify calling this a pottery blog.