How To Build a HUMONGOUS Earthen Oven

[Music] today we're building an earthen oven we've built earthen ovens in the past and they have served their purpose but in this situation we need to feed an entire community so we get to build a big oven something i've always wanted to do let's get started so when i say bigger i mean a lot bigger we want it to be at least twice as big as the ovens we've made in the past that means we're gonna need four times as much material this is our platform we're gonna build it on we're gonna build it underneath this roof it's gonna be a really nice setup close to the cabin and other places that we need this platform we're going to have to build a whole layer of cob that's going to go on here plus bricks fire bricks that go on top of that to make this completely fire proof and it'll hold residual heat to help bake the bread we're gonna we're gonna be able to bake four or five times as much bread as we've been able to do before so that's really important this oven we're gonna construct a little differently than say our first oven which we use to sand core that probably isn't a very 18th century method that's a common for today but not in the 18th century they used more likely the basket method so we've got to build a great big basket that we're going to put all this clay on brandon's working on that my job today is to make the basket for this oven just a simple basket doesn't have to be really pretty because it will get burned out it has to be strong enough however to hold the clay now the measurements that we want are 32 inches in diameter and 22 inches high and we're going to use these splits of ash to bend around our cross form here and that'll give us our diameter and it'll give a nice sturdy support to that bottom ring all these splits will be just tied with some hemp twine and that'll hold it together long enough for the clay to harden up and cure and then it'll all burn out leaving just a solid shell of clay [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] here is a basket look at that thing it's massive so brandon this basket looks great thank you it does exactly what it needs to do it has to be super strong we have to take a six inches of wet clay all the way around this thing so it's got to be strong it's very very strong tying it together works really well so now nicole ryan and i can start working on putting the clay around the dome at least the back part of it brandon you got to make the door section and it needs i we want a 15 inch wide door so we can get something big in there like a turkey or a big pie or a big loaf of bread that's a problem with our current oven is you can only get just a small loaf in there so we want a big door 15 inches wide and the height of the door is important we need to have a door height of 63 percent of the dome height and you do that because of the way the air flows inside of the oven if you don't make that dome height this certain percentage of the door height the oven can't breathe there's no other holes for the oven to breathe it's got it you have to suck air in the bottom of the door and then the exhaust air goes out the top of the door if that ratio isn't right the oven doesn't heat up so uh that should be 15 inches high so it's 15 inches wide 15 inches high you can work on that frame while we start to put the clay on this uh [Music] [Music] [Music] so from the side view you can see that the dome is not perfectly round anymore and we've been as we add clay to the back side it's kind of squishing this whole dome out this direction as we add clay to this side hopefully it will turn it back into the dome it's supposed to be even if it doesn't still going to work great don't worry it's gonna work great [Music] [Music] [Music] hey brandon come and get it [Music] so [Music] [Music] this is fitting flushing goods ready to go there's our door it's gonna need a handle usually use wood but with that new forge and blacksmith shop i could hammer one out real quick that would be excellent that'd be excellent for this oven door i want to make this handle a little decorative on the top but it has to have a functional foot on the bottom so it stands upright i want this to be a special handle for this special oven hey we're about there oh yeah that looks about 16. [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] let's play world [Music] great job on the handle i love the look seems like a simple door but it's got a lot of meaning to it the wood itself is from the same tree that we made the dugout canoe this is an extra piece of wood from that we don't waste anything he went over and he cut the door over at the wood shop mid handle a blacksmith shop uh it all goes on this oven and then what the oven's made out of again it's the same clay we used for the bricks it's the same clay we use for the cabin for the chimney all that it all comes together right here in this oven i'm so excited about getting to use this oven this is going to be great yeah i mean it still comes out [Music] the oven is looking great that door is sitting in there perfectly we've smoothed it all out now it's time to dry we've set a couple little coals little tiny fires around the base of it to firm that base up so that it doesn't sag but it's looking really good right now we're going to let it dry a couple of days then in this next episode we're gonna burn the inside out and then bake our first meal a three-course meal that is i just can't wait that's gonna be great if you want more on building earthen ovens check out this playlist

Channel: Townsends

Views: 269,212

Rating: 4.9835234 out of 5

Keywords: townsends, jas townsend and son, reenacting, history, 18th century, 19th century, jon townsend, 18th century cooking, mud oven, earthen oven, cob oven, baking, baking oven, homestead

Id: JcwwZREsx8I

Length: 11min 58sec (718 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 23 2020