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[tvoivozhd <tvoivozd AT infionline.net>]

Adobe oven jar test of materials
http://www.networkearth.org/naturalbuilding/oven.html


Adobe Oven
An oven made from clay

Here are some simple but effective designs to enable you

to make an  outdoor oven suitable for baking bread and

pastries.

bar9.gif (2687 bytes)

adobe cross section - front!!

adobe cross section - side!!

(This oven relies on an abundance of clay soil being

readily available)

http://www.cobcottage.com/coboven.html  (beautiful Kiko

Denzer horno)

http://www.handprintpress.com/
 (Kiko Denzer book)

http://www.entropical-paradise.com/id15.html

http://www.ca-missions.org/mccummins.html

http://www.xmission.com/~dderhak/recipe/bread.htm  (pan de

horno)

http://www.nps.gov/petr/SiteBullitens/SBHornos.htm

http://www.traditionaloven.com/tutorials/wood_fired_oven.

html

http://listserv.repp.org/pipermail/strawbale/1998-

December/020916.html (limestone to quicklime, lot of

variation)

This oven is manufactured from clay, and some stick

formers.

The oven was designed to be used out-doors and will

provide baking facilities for a small group's daily needs.

It is created in two parts, the fire pit area and then the

oven area.

The structure is straightforward and incorporates a wooden

frame as a former which will burn out leaving the fire pit

first and adobe oven secondly, ready to use.

The chimney can be made from an adobe mix and fire dried.

Building the oven

Using pliable twigs or strong grasses, make a structure

that resembles the shape of the pictures above. Make an

adobe mix from soil with a good amount of clay mixed in.

If you have cement available, so much the better. Plaster

the mix all over the outside of the frame to a uniform

depth of about 2 inches. You can check the depth by

pushing a match stick through the wall. Smooth off the

outside of the wall with a damp trowel or similar tool.

Allow the structure to dry a little. Place wood and

kindling inside the oven and light. Keep the fire going by

adding more wood - but slowly, you don't want to blow the

oven apart through having a furnace. You just want to "

cook" the clay with a hot, but not fierce heat.

When the oven is fully dried and the stick formers have

been burned out you can use the oven and bake bread.

Some experimentation may be needed depending on the

quality of the clay in the soil. Cement paving slabs have

successfully been used for the oven floor if the clay is

weak or of poor quality.