cob ovens!

We've started thinking about building a cob oven in our back yard, I learned about how to do this several years ago and have built with cob but never actually built an oven.  Does anyone know of good resources on this (or people in the area to talk to/work with?  I'm in Olympia).  Info on the process would be awesome as well.  Thanks!

If you get a chance to tour the bullock brothers farm (workshop or a work volunteer thing) on orcas island, there is a mountain of cool stuff to see, including their cob oven:

Wow, that's a beautiful oven!  I've only seen one before, and it was built so that the heat from the oven ran through a cob bench that was connected to it, the cob would store the heat and you'd have a cozy warm bench for hours after baking bread.  It was a pretty great arrangement.

Here is another.  This one is from "our ecovillage" on vancouver island.

HAHAHAHAHA that is the very oven I was referring to!!  I lived at OUR Ecovillage for a summer while doing a natural building program.  I've baked bread in that oven .

Rachael, where are your pics?

I have more pics from OE ...  If there were a thread about outdoor kitchens, I would have to dig them out. 

I don't have any photos that really relate to the cob oven thread but I have some other pictures of building the art studio that I'll try to figure out how to put up .

There is a book called Build Your Own Earth Oven by Kiko Denzer that should tell you most of what you need to know to put one of these things together.

I think I remember hearing about that book, I'll check it out.  I did a week long natural plaster workshop with Kiko once, he really knows his stuff. 

Hot off the press!

great video, i have now changed my plans for the cob oven i am building.

Hi, I loved Paul´s video, just need the step by step instructions on how to build it please.

First the step by step is really Kiko Denzer's book.
For that stove, Ernie and Erica did post pictures from the building of it http://picasaweb.google.com/eawisner/FrogOven#

Thanks for the information do you know the name of the book ?

Earth Ovens

check this video out, rocket stove wood fired oven.

"The earthen oven at the Blue Ox Millworks in Eureka, California was constructed in 2004 by Appropriate Technology (Engr305) students at Humboldt State University. The project took four, three-hour work sessions to complete over a total of four weeks. As of 2007 it is still standing, is in immaculate condition and retains nearly the same heating efficiency as when it was first constructed. This page includes information on the construction of the Blue Ox earthen oven and information and updates on its current condition."



http://www.appropedia.org/Blue_ox_earthen_oven

Hi Rachael,here's a cob oven I built last year.The base was alot more work the the oven itself.It only took about 4 hours to build and shape the oven.

Castlerock, that is awesome.

ytram wrote:
Castlerock, that is awesome.

Oh, yes!  Perfect for frightening young children!

"Dearie, do you remember what happened in Hansel and Gretel?  Maybe you should go clean up your bedroom."

so far no scared children,not even with this image

OOO I love that frog with frog on it's back!  That is incredible sculpting.

Hey, that's my good friend Ernie in that double chambered oven youtube.  I went to him one day and said, "I think I can build an oven that is heated with a rocket stove L tube."  Not really assuming I was the first to have such and idea, I waited.  Eventually he said back, "That will work, I built one a few years ago".  Ernie is are a great friend, and excellent natural builder that I take all kinds of tips from. 

Anyway, now I build pretty much exclusively Cob Ovens with Rocket below.  They have the same double chambered approach that Ernie uses in that video, but they also have a rocket stove as the only source of heat, feeding into the oven through the floor.  You lose a tiny bit of floor, but the rewards are many.  You don't have to clean the floor much.  You can run the fire while things are still cooking if you want, and you get all that efficiency and use of small diameter wood.

I posted this link on another thread too, and I am still working toward putting up the photos of the cob oven with rocket versions I've built more recently.  So check here and then check again in a week if you can:

www.earthenhand.com/ovens.html

Cheers,

Hi Scott. Thanks for the compliment. It was fun to build.That's what I'm loving about natural building-the creativity.I love cob for it's sculpt ability. It is only a single chamber as I did not pre-plan the oven, We just kind off threw it together quickly. My next one will be double chambered. I will be finishing a bush bath that will be rocket stove heated. Here's my second earthen sculpture-call him Marven the Moai-will build a larger one this year. This one is 8.5 ft tall about 8000 lbs

Wow, that's spectacular.  How did you stabilize the earth? Are those earthen paints on his neck?

I'm planning on building a cob double oven like the one ernie built.  After having done it anything you would do differently. 
also advantage of that technique vs the rocket heater underneath.
Thanks and keep up the awesome work!
Matty

You can get a copy of Build Your Own Earth Oven,at GrannysStore.com