Clay and earth mixtures

[CHRIS]

Could someone please advise me on a good way of making a or obtaining a clay mixture for use in building an earth oven? I need to find a place as I have just re-done my little garden and the prospect of digging holes is a non starter!!

I did consider a brickworks for some red clay - any ideas please?

 

[biffvernon]

You certainly need earth for an earth oven. Actually I was talking to someone with an oven he had made from High Alumina cement (more refractory than OPC). He made it out of cement so he could transport it to festivals without it breaking. It fired up to 1000 degrees and cooked the best pizza I have ever eaten in 90 seconds.

I'm planning on making an earth oven sometime when time allows so I'd be interested in what you do, but not having a bit of land to dig a hole in must be a drawback. Do you have a friend who would like a pond digging?

 

[CHRIS]

I got the book by Kiko Denzer.

http://aphrohead.com/Product.aspx?pid=12611476

some great tips and designs but I will get some pictures when I get around to it!

The bread and pizzas are fantastic and as you say only take a few seconds.

 

[Penners]

the best pizza I have ever eaten in 90 seconds.

I bet that gave you indigestion.

"Eat slowly and chew properly," my old mum always said.:wink:

 

[biffvernon]

Yeah, I spotted that after posting but couldn't be bothered to improve the English. Bother.

I should have written the 'best pizza I have ever eaten was cooked in 90 seconds'.

Long live pedantry. We musn't let our standards slip on PPUK.

We've been digging this afternoon, searching for the right combination of clay, silt and sand, in preparation for the great mudding of the Faerie House.

 

[Flyfisher]

I have to say, Biff, that your Faerie House is quite magnificent; I've been checking the photo updates as it has progressed. I'm quite tempted to use the roof design as the basis of a gazebo-type thingy that is on my 'to-do' list.

Would it be too churlish to question the use of a plastic membrane as part of the roof? It just seemed a shame really, given the rest of the natural and sustainable construction. Still wonderful though.

 

[biffvernon]

I was involved in building an 'Iron Age' roundhouse a couple of years ago - I posted some pics at the time. It did not have a polythene membrane, being more authentically repro-Iron Age. It needed a very steep pitch with the rafters pointing skywards to a sharp apex and 20 tons of reed thatch.

Our new build has a reciprocal roof. This involves a very low pitch, too low for thatching. Hence the plastic waterproof layer and turf. This is the 21st century.

 

[Cloudscape]

I'd really like to see the Faerie House. Whereabouts on your website is it?

 

[Flyfisher]

http://www.faeriehouse.tithefarm.biz/index.html

 

[Cloudscape]

Thanks. That's great - watching it come together. It's lovely. I'm really looking forward to the next bit.

 

[Moo]

When you publish the whole story as a childrens' book, may I buy a copy?

xx M

 

[JoceAndChris]

And if you need any faeries, I've got quite a plague of them in the scullery, I'll ask them to fly in your direction.

 

[robgil]

very nice indeed , although everyone knows fearys don't live in houses , they live in hawthorn bushes.
loving the doors and the use of laylandii , its a pity laylandii isnt used more in construction , pesky tree that it is.

 

[MdB]

I was involved in building an 'Iron Age' roundhouse a couple of years ago - I posted some pics at the time. It did not have a polythene membrane, being more authentically repro-Iron Age. It needed a very steep pitch with the rafters pointing skywards to a sharp apex and 20 tons of reed thatch.

Just out of interest, what pitch did this roundhouse have? A reconstruction archaeologist here in Cornwall builds roundhouses to see how different designs compare and has come to the conclusion that a very steep pitch is best. Something like 60 degs rather than the more commonly seen 45 degs. The steeper pitch allows less covering to be used as it can be half as thick whilst still keeping the rain off. It is also far better at letting the smoke from the fire out. I may have got some of those details wrong but it did seem reasonable to me at the time I went to visit.

 

[biffvernon]

As you can see, the angle is a bit wobbly, but you are right to suggest that steep is best.

 

[MdB]

Great picture. From what I can remember, their really steep version was roughly the same height but about half the diameter with a fraction of the thickness of thatch. It was bone dry and was the only hut that regularly had a fire lit in it as in all the others (thick thatch types) you where smoked out in seconds.

I also seem to remember reading that the only contemporary picture of these style of huts (on a bit of Danish pottery I vaguely remember) shows a pitch of 60 degrees rather than 45 degrees.

Having said that, making a hut with the diameter of yours but twice the height, isn't going to be easy.

Interesting subject.

 

[biffvernon]

Not easy - but not rocket science. The timbers are held together with modern sisal rope rather than twisted honeysuckle or whatever our forebears used. The thatching was done by a serious expert (I just did what I was told).