Adobe Bake Ovens
I am trying to get my act together and build an oven by dry stacking cement block up to waist height, fill the block perimeter with dirt, cap it with flat rock and then cover a damp sand model of my interior oven size with a first layer of good clay perhaps fire brick quality clay and then an insulating thicker layer of cob with straw in it .
I have called BLM or Bu. of Land Management to try and locate a clay pit close to me and I see on their internet site that BLM has a fire brick quality site up by Moscow, Idaho which is doable by a days trip in a truck one way. I would like to get my son involved because I think he would really enjoy the whole circle of building, proofing and baking. He worked in Sun Valley for years skiing and making pizzas. I think he could earn a nice hobby income in the Sun Valley area alone if having your own oven ever caught on in that kinky neighborhood. I worked for several years for a mason that did fireplaces up there and they would think nothing of telling you exactly what they wanted and when you built it they would change their minds and tear it out and do it over. The building was $30,000 and the tear out and rebuild was more.
Are any of you heading in this direction and what problems do you face where you live?