Welcome again!
Finally I feel the right moment for some updates. Maybe I waited for my recent project to be finished... but it didn't happen. The oven rose up and naturally "died" without giving any breads... Ohh it's hard to speak about project that failed. But lama lo? - Why not? It's one more experience. So I want to share nice pictures and a comment on what is good to take into consideration with organic projects like that.
Let's start from the beggining:
The soil test
The top layer is clay. The jar from the left is more clayy. The clay we use was stored near the house.
The photograper - Asia...
and her favourite topics:
DOGS & OUR BEHINDS
Good fundation! Little hole filled with stones and gravel for drenage.
Dorota fill the space between the stones with the sand
And here is a nice picture. But... it also shows the first from our mistakes. We started to build in October 2007. In Poland it means not much chance for things to dry...The other problem - the stones we put for the base. Soon we found out that it's not easy to shape them in a way that they keep themself as we want. There are few other possibilieties to make it easier and more stable with building first the frame and filling it after with some rubble. The frame could be made of the bricks or the stones (more patience demanded to put the stones fine and glue them with the mortar). And the easiest to use the ready frame f.ex. a tracktor tire.
We need to stabilized the stones with a clay mortar (sand mixed with clay)
FuntimeHelp of Jędrzej, Mixing the clay
with a mixer borrowed from a nice neighbour Tired uff... 
The other thing I learned: it is not worth to put too much effort to make things perfect if you don't have enough means for it. Basiclly we worked only two to build the oven and in the beggining we stuck with the foundation. It took too much energy. It's ok to build the oven close to the ground, if it's only protected from the humidity. The reason to build high up oven is just to make it more comforatble for use and make it looks more.. serious maybe ;)
Insolation layer made from the beer bottles
Bentonite scrath - 0ur invention (use what you already have in the back of your house)
Aluminium foil for radiating the heat
Time for drying
The sun doesn't even get here. The trees and the forrest surround the spot from the south and the east. We use our creativity to dry the oven and first of all to have fun :)
The door issue
Covering the sand frame with the paper
Covering the frame with cob and with good expressions
Again our creativity of drying the matter
What is not on the pictures: We took out the sand frame and fired few times the oven to make it dry from the inside. It looked pretty good and strong inside though not perfectly dry from the outside. For the winter time we put set up a big tarp above the oven on the wooden stelage. However the long Polish winter had no mercy for the oven. The trap was blown away few times and everything became wet. Finally it collapsed. The big input brought a huge ants which found our oven a perfect place to squat.
But we never give up. As soon as the longer days started in June 2008 we started again with the upper part of the oven. First we struggeled with the ants and had to took apart the bottom layers of the oven. We had more helpers with the building this time. It went fast. We took away the jelly mass of the bentonite as we decided to use sand which is more familiar.
But we never give up. As soon as the longer days started in June 2008 we started again with the upper part of the oven. First we struggeled with the ants and had to took apart the bottom layers of the oven. We had more helpers with the building this time. It went fast. We took away the jelly mass of the bentonite as we decided to use sand which is more familiar.
Putting bottles insolation glued with the clay mortar
Women in action
Cob dance and talks
This is one of the oven's last photos. We built nice frame for the sand which is another insolation barrier. We forgot about in the first version of the oven.
And than... nothing more happend. The chief builders: me and Dorota went for a job abroad. And lot of other things happened meanwhile. We had no possibility to continue the oven at that time. Finally in the early spring 2009 a father of Dorota took down the oven because it didn't seem that we will continue it very soon. He is planning to use the fire-proved brics to build a smoke oven...
It's a shame that we couldn't taste any bread of our energy and work put in this project. But I don't regret. It's a good experience and esson. I am sure it will sprout with new ideas and projects with more knowledge.
And than... nothing more happend. The chief builders: me and Dorota went for a job abroad. And lot of other things happened meanwhile. We had no possibility to continue the oven at that time. Finally in the early spring 2009 a father of Dorota took down the oven because it didn't seem that we will continue it very soon. He is planning to use the fire-proved brics to build a smoke oven...
It's a shame that we couldn't taste any bread of our energy and work put in this project. But I don't regret. It's a good experience and esson. I am sure it will sprout with new ideas and projects with more knowledge.
