Homestead mailing list

[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

On Jan 14, 2008, at 8:53 PM, Clansgian AT wmconnect.com wrote:

> Baking or any cooking creates moisture.  The warning in the  
> literature is
> that if the outside shell is waterproof, it traps moisture in the  
> clay which
> eventually crumbles and falls.

That makes sense at first thought. But thinking further, I wonder why  
each new firing would not dry the moisture out of the clay. I  
occasionally wash my pizza stones, so they get wet. But a short time  
in a hot oven and they are dry again. I would think the same principal  
would apply in the clay oven, especially if the doorway is left open  
both during firing and during cooking.

Btw, seems to me that repeated firing on the order of seven hundred  
degrees would have the effect of firing the interior clay into a hard  
surface.

One of us needs to make two ovens, one with a waterproof outer layer  
and one with just raw clay with a roof over or covered with a tarp  
between uses. The rest of us will be really, really grateful to learn  
the results. Seems to me the guy who already has a pile of firebricks  
is the logical one to do the experiment. We will provide lots of  
encouragement.