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  • From: Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Homestead] Clay oven, was Question time again
  • Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2008 21:21:23 -0700


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.




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