The first fire in our new outdoor cob oven
In preparation for our Cob Oven Workshops, we did a “test” pizza party over the weekend. Over 20+ pizzas, 4 loaves of bread, 2 pans of zucchini bread, 2 cookie loafs, 1 pan of brownies, and 1 roast duck (homegrown!) later… I’d say it was a success. The oven was still holding over 200° 18 hours later! Wowzers. This is why I love outdoor cob ovens: they are extremely easy and cheap to build, you can take serious advantage of lots of heat to cook delicious food, and it’s an awesome social experience to gather around the oven while pizzas are flying out. An outdoor oven has all the right ingredients.
The New Outdoor Pizza Oven
There are some different features of this cob oven compared to our now infamous “$20 cob oven”, which I’ll detail more later, once we put a finish layer of plaster on the dome, and once I have a minute to sit down longer. But if this first test is any indication, the new oven is doing even better than the last. The insulation is more significant, and the 27″ interior size is a surprisingly significant step up from 22″. The chimney makes a vast difference is how well the oven drafts, as well.
Keep posted for more… I wish I had photos of the pizza to share, but my hands were covered in dough the whole time. Whoops!
Would it get hot enough to melt soft metals like zinc or its alloys? You mentioned it getting up to around 800 degrees..I wouldn’t eat out of one that was being used to melt metals, though. Still, it might be interesting to set up a small foundry and sandcast things made from scrap pot metal-or aluminum, if it would get hot enough.
Would it get hot enough to melt soft metals like zinc or its alloys? You mentioned it getting up to around 800 degrees..I wouldn’t eat out of one that was being used to melt metals, though. Still, it might be interesting to set up a small foundry and sandcast things made from scrap pot metal-or aluminum, if it would get hot enough.
I have no idea what it takes to melt soft metals… you can get the interior up to 1000 degrees, but it won’t hold for too-too long…
I have no idea what it takes to melt soft metals… you can get the interior up to 1000 degrees, but it won’t hold for too-too long…
That’s plenty hot enough for most zinc/lead alloys (“pot metal”), and a few others, but not aluminum/copper/iron. Kind of a shame, since aluminum is the easiest metal to find as scrap. I’m amazed it can stand that much heat. An interesting experiment would be to use a blower or bellows to force in more air. Maybe a small cob smelter or kiln could be practical. To top it off, the cob oven looks cool-as does that wooden pizza spatula.
That’s plenty hot enough for most zinc/lead alloys (“pot metal”), and a few others, but not aluminum/copper/iron. Kind of a shame, since aluminum is the easiest metal to find as scrap. I’m amazed it can stand that much heat. An interesting experiment would be to use a blower or bellows to force in more air. Maybe a small cob smelter or kiln could be practical. To top it off, the cob oven looks cool-as does that wooden pizza spatula.