Worked on my cob oven base today

[Ldychef2k]

I have had the landscaping bricks in place since the early fall, waiting to get my hands on some wood and a saw so I could build the platform.

So, today I filled the hollow of the base with broken concrete blocks, broken bricks, gravel and sand. Then I constructed the platform using leftover wood from the fence my son-in-law and I built on Saturday. I reinforced the corners of the 2x4's for stability, screwed fence boards to the underside. When I placed the frame on the base, the corners stuck out way too far to carry the weight of the concrete and sand I am going to use as a bed for the fire bricks, so I cut lengths of 4x4 with 45 degree ends and screwed them in to the corners so that the interior was almost a shallow octagon shape, with the corners being now filled with 4x4 instead of heavier materials.

Then I lined it with 7 mil plastic and tossed in a couple of bags of Quickrete. Tomorrow I will grab a couple more bags of sand and make a fairly level bed for the firebricks, which I am hoping to get free...we will see how that works. Building the actual dome will come later in the summer when it is hot enough to cure quickly.

Progress so far:

It's more level than it looks....

 

[Dace]

Very cool! I am excited to watch your progress

 

[big brown horse]

Ldychef, you've been very busy lately! Keep up the good work!

 

[pioneergirl]

Sweet! Lookin good girl!

 

[Farmfresh]

Wow that will be so very cool when you get it finished. I smell homemade pizzas in the future!

 

[xpc]

Not only does that look good but brings the work area up to a manageable height. Later in the year you can buy some stucco wire mesh and staple it to all the exposed wood and slather on some concrete to make the whole thing meld, $10 in chicken wire and some portland cement will make it look awesome.

 

[Ldychef2k]

My dad suggested the same thing. I had intended to first use the wire mesh, and then coat the entire structure with cob. What would be the down side to that? Dad doesn't know what cob is, so he had no input.

 

[xpc]

Don't know much about cob or the thickness needed to adhere well, if you have no problem covering that pretty base of bricks then it should work equally as well - stucco can be laid very thin and dye matched to the the rest of the base.

 

[Quintus]

That's looking really good... I'm looking at doing a cob smokehouse probably next summer (would love to do it this year, but too many projects already). I'm excited to see this as you progress...

 

[big brown horse]

Hi Quintus,

Welcome to sufficientself!!