Nevenoe Guegan

Penny Oakenleaf wrote:
If you need to, potter's suppliers sell clay in a powdered form by the bag, even in Europe.

That's good to know. About how much clay is used for a medium sized oven, e.g. 600 to 700 mm in diameter? Seeing as I won't be able to get if from the garden, I will have to know how much to get, wether I dig it somewhere else, or buy it.

Thanks for all of the feedback. I will stick with a cob oven for now. However, I still need to find some clay, because there isn't any on the land where I will be building the oven. As soon as I figure it out, I should be able to start.

Does lime have to be replaced often? I've heard of it weathering too. A roof, or both, does seem like a safe option.

Thanks for the tips/replies.

I live in a damp climate, the West of Ireland. Would that be a problem for the cob? It will certainly take longer to dry, but once it's dry, would it last?

You mentioned that Portland cement will deteriorate at cold temperatures, at about what temperatures will this start? Ireland has a mild climate and doesn't suffer from sever winters.

The rocket oven seems really interesting, but I assume that the cost would be higher than a pizza oven. I'll look into it some more though.

Hi, I'm new to the forums. I've done a search and didn't find an exact answer to my questions, so I decided to create this thread. I am planning to build a pizza oven and have a few questions. I have looked quite a few plans and this one seems intriguing. I won't make it portable though and will build a normal base, most likely out of concert blocks.

The base is made of firebrick, as usual, but the dome is made of a mixture of perlite and portland cement (5:1), with stainless steel needles for additional strength. Would portland cement be heat resistant enough for the dome of such an oven? I'm trying to keep the costs down, so if portland cement works, there is no real use in getting refractory cement.

The mixture for the dome also uses stainless steel needles. I live in Ireland and am not sure who to get them. However, I do have access to stainless steel wire, so I was considering cutting some up. It's normally used to make spinners. Could this work?

For the outer waterproof layer of the dome, I am planning on just using portland cement. It presumably rains a lot more here than in Florida, where the linked oven was built, so I want to make sure that it would be enough.

I don't have an exercise ball, but do have access to builders cement, so i will go back to the more traditional method of supporting the dome, while building it.

As for the firebrick, I managed to get my hands on some of storage heater blocks. I will use them instead.

Any other tips would definitely be welcome.