Cob Oven Base is Finished

Did a couple more batches of Cob today and finished off the base. I used a square point shovel and leveled out the top. I also hosed down the sides and used my hand to smooth every thing out. At this point I need to let it dry for a week or two then I can start building the dome. Once the dome is built and dried everything will get a coat of earthen plaster to really make it smooth and nice looking. After that a couple of coats of linseed oil to waterproof it and it'll be ready to go.

Here are a couple views:

The Cob Oven Continues....

Now that its getting nice in Oregon again decided to get back to the Cob Oven project. I decided not to do the rocket stove idea but am doing a two stage oven. This will have a base to fire in and an upper dome for the cooking. And there is a possibility I could cook in both sections at once, but we'll have to see when its done. I got a bunch of batches done today, but will need to do another 6 or so tomorrow to finish up the base.

 Here are the front and angle views:

Here is the hole in the base, there will be an area to fire in the bottom and the smoke will come up into the dome area to heat that as well:

The dark spot in the middle of this one is the hole described above: