Brian LeDuc

Thanks again everyone.  so as far as the cob being reusable--is this true for the outer hard layer too?  If I decide to just rebuild I can knock it down and soak in water and reuse?  Thanks in advance!

Thanks!  Yeay, I agree with the roof addition.  I'll put together a nice post and beam after fixing it up by fall.

As far as the ball goes, I was thinking if I had a large enough exercise ball, the bottom half would stay flat, and in essence I would really only be using half the ball itself for the shape--I completely understand what you are saying though and it may be a wast of time.  

I'm going to order the suggested book today and peruse for some details for the rebuild.

Cheers!

Ps.  that is my 15 month old sons hand not mine..and yes, that is a giant bush of poison parsnip to the left....  it's on the list to take care of,

Glenn-

Thanks for the reply and extra info.  The oven is outside, in Vermont, so its humid and the weather is rapidly changing.  The material itself is rather granular and not "clay" like at all.  Yes, I agree the rebuild would be quite difficult.  There is and area on the top where the maker left an indentation--not sure if they debated a chimney and left it there for an easy addition or what.  I'm thinking my fix will be:  Recycle material from the inside, add more clay to give it better hardening and adhesion.  make up the cob clumps and rebuild from the door.  Insert a large inflatable exercise ball and inflat with compressor to support from the inside(like revers paper mache).  Deflate after a few days and fire it up.  I will also patch the crack in the outside shell at the same time.  What do you think?  Attached are some pics for reference.  Thanks again!

Hey everyone, I recently purchased a new house that came with a cob oven.  When I started cleaning it out I realized it wasnt ash that it was full of, but rather the interior walls of the oven?  The consistency is like wet quickcrete sand tube sand--coarse, dense, but far from "brick" or "Hard Clay" Like.  Upon further inspection, the interior walls just feel like actual eart hand not hard at all.  They also seem to have fallen away from the outher hard cob layer and could be easily pulled out in dense chunks of material.  Am I screwed?  does this oven need to be wrecked and rebuilt?  Something is definitely not right.  Hell it even looks like there may be insects that have burrowed in the mud like interior walls.  I fired it up to see if anything would harden, and it really didnt.  This layare is about 4" thick from what I can tell.  Thanks in advance for any help and advice!!!