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Outside Clay Oven

Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 6:15 pm
by preppingsu
We started making our clay oven this week. We based our plans on this guys ideas http://clayoven.wordpress.com/ but have adapted it. We started by pricing up materials but decided that using sleepers etc was just too expensive. So we have made the plinth just by using materials we had lying around or we wombled from our shared yard. The only money we have spent so far is £17 on some sand and a few extra bricks for the floor of the cooking area.
We built it over 2 days and I learnt how to mix cement and lay bricks (a new skill!!).
Foundations
Foundations
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We laid foundations as the ground slopes down beyond the fence and this bit of ground had already started to slope.
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We used pallets as our base as we didn't have enough concrete blocks to give enough height.
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2 layers of concrete blocks.

We then filled in the middle with rubble (broken bricks etc)
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And then finished off with sand (these were opened bags that we had so probably used the equivilent of 2 whole bags)
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OH built a former to ensure we had level sand to lay the middle bricks on. This will be our fire/cooking base once the oven is built.
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The edge bricks were cemented onto the concrete blocks, just for stability etc.

Here is the finished plinth.
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The next job is to extract some clay from our garden and hope it's good enough to build the oven.
I'll post some more pics as we go.

Re: Outside Clay Oven

Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 3:02 pm
by pseudonym
Great job. Look forward to seeing the next installment. :)

Re: Outside Clay Oven

Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2012 9:38 pm
by KalPrep
Looks good. Only thing I would question is the use of the pallets. Have you treated them? My concern would be the wood rotting etc, I know after a while outside they tend to break up and you have a lot of weight on top there. If they do give way even a bit, the whole structure could be compromised.

Of course I could be talking complete tosh!!!! :D

Re: Outside Clay Oven

Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 6:38 am
by diamond lil
We have no clay anywhere near here or I would've tried this Sue. I would also have a wee bit of a niggle re the pallets but they might well be fine. Very neat and I would love a shot at bricklaying too, just to see what it's like :mrgreen:

Re: Outside Clay Oven

Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 5:19 pm
by preppingsu
Well, 3 weeks on and we finally have a break in the weather so today we built the first layer of the clay oven.

We started by building a mould of sand. We used 8 bags of sand to do this
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Now this process is meant to be fairly 'organic' but OH likes to be very precise. The diameter of the sand dome is 80cm and 40cm high. All this sand will be scrapped out and used in the puddling of the rest of the clay.

We covered this in wet paper to help prevent the sand from sticking to the clay
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We then started to mix the clay we had dug from the garden with sand. The process is called puddling. The plan suggested 2 buckets of sand to 1 bucket of clay. To complete the first layer it suggested 6 buckets of sand to 3 buckets of clay.
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Of course, puddling has to be done bare feet!!!! :D

Then to start building the first layer.
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Half way......
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Now as we get nearer to the top of the dome we realise that we are not going to have enough clay, so OH puddled some more. The first layer is done and scored ready for the next one. We have covered it and will allow 1 week to dry so fingers crossed next weekend will be dry enough to do the second layer.
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We marked where the door will be.
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Todays cost £24.00 (sand)

Overall cost so far £41.00

Re: Outside Clay Oven

Posted: Sun May 06, 2012 11:22 am
by itsybitsy
Nice going, although I would have to find a different way to 'puddle' rather than standing in the middle of it!

Re: Outside Clay Oven

Posted: Sun May 06, 2012 11:44 am
by pseudonym
Thanks for sharing. :)

Re: Outside Clay Oven

Posted: Sun May 06, 2012 4:29 pm
by preppingsu
24 hours on from building the first layer and it's time to cut out the door.
The plan suggests after 4 hours but it was certainly not dry enough to do it then.
It has been uncovered all day, in the sun, and is drying well. There are a few cracks (anticipated) but we have just smoothed in some clay to close them up.
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Looking good so far, no collapsing.
Fingers crossed we will be able to do the next layer next weekend.

Re: Outside Clay Oven

Posted: Sun May 06, 2012 9:41 pm
by Rosesandtea
Wow! This is really exciting to see. There is a book I'd like to get on building a clay oven but I haven't thought of trying to make one at this house. I look forward to seeing more of your posts on this.

Re: Outside Clay Oven

Posted: Fri May 11, 2012 7:07 pm
by preppingsu
Today, with fear and trepidation, we removed all the sand from inside. Nothing collapsed . :D
A few fresh cracks but as this is only the first layer it's not too much of a concern.



I lit a fire inside to help the final drying. Although it produced a lot of smoke and we haven't yet built the chimney, the fire took well. I could soon feel the heat on the outside of the dome.
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An hour later the outside of the oven was still hot, I could put my hand on it but not for too long.

Tomorrow, the plan is to build the second layer, which is a thermal layer. This will help with the longer cooking I would like to do (overnight meat etc).
Will post again when done