Build Your own Wood-fired Earth Oven
(Page 2 of 5)
October/November 2002
By Kiko Denzer
A tarp makes mixing mud easier on your back (6x8-foot minimum; bigger is easier). To mix, two people should hold opposite corners of the tarp and roll, but not lift, the mix from side to side. You also can stomp the mud while wearing hoots or better yet, mix it with your bare hands and feet. If you muck around in the mixture, be sure it is free of sharp debris.
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Add water a little at a time, then jump in and do the twist, breaking up the clay and mashing the sand into it. Dance until it starts to clump like dough for piecrust.
Pack a hard hall (50 to 100 pats), and drop it from chest height. It should hold together. If it doesn't, acid a little water. If it's too wet, add dry mix. Or you can continue and just allow more drying time, whichever is easier to do.
BUILD!
Cover your sand form with sheets of wet newspaper to keep the mud walls from sticking to the sand form, smoothing the sheets fiat. Next, cover it with a layer of mud 3 to 4 inches thick. To maintain an even thickness, use the width of your hand as a gauge, maintain a clean, square edge on the layer as it arches up and over the form, and angle the top of the mud layer inwards as you go up (see diagram). Press the mud against itself, not against the sand form, and don't worry about the doorway, you'll cut that out later.
When it's done, take a flat board and pack the material until it sits solidly against the form. If it sticks to the board, your mix may have been a bit damp and will need more drying time before you pull the sand form. After the first layer dries, you can add more layers and a fine finish plaster if you want.
REMOVE THE FORM
If your sand dome was 18 inches high, your doorway should be 63 percent of the height, or 11X inches. The doorway's width should be one-third to one-half of the oven's inner diameter. Scratch a line in the mud where the door will be, cut a hand-sized hole to start and dig a narrow channel into the form.
Before you remove the sand form, the mud walls should be dry enough to resist denting when you poke your finger into them. If your finger easily dents the mud, wait and let the mud get leather-hard. (This can take days or weeks depending on the weather.)
Then, carve out the rest of the door and dig out the rest of the sand form. Remember to stop when you hit the newspaper layer. Refine the doorway so it's smooth and even and so the doorway's inner edge is the right height. Use a spoon, or smooth piece of wood or stone, to rub, integrate and polish the material until it seems right.
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