Cob between my toes and sunburnt shoulders.

Hi All,

Today was awesome. We saw children and adults puddling cob for the first time, some of them even went barefoot, me included.

The weather stayed lovely and warm almost all day and we managed to produce four wheelbarrows full of cob, more than enough to achieve our goal of getting the form and first thermal layer up.

The form was a challenge, primarily because it was just so flippin' big. The base measured 31.5" x 21.5" and was 20" high in the middle. 

Despite three sizeable sand avalanches, we managed to get a lovely smooth firm form up and stable ready for the cob.

Whilst we were preparing the cob (three and a half hours of puddling) the newspaper that we had wet and draped over the form had dried out and blown all over the place, so this had to be rewetted and put back on, as this paper stops the clay bonding to the sand form inside and potentially ruining the final product.

After some fairly serious puddling, a few achey legs and hips and some fairly seriously sunburnt shoulders, we had a lovely firm cob mix ready for application.

Taking my time and really revelling in the experience of building such a big oven, I used all of the cob that we had made, but needed a couple more bucket loads to get the whole thermal layer finished. now for the finishing touches.

As soon as the thermal layer was finished I set about smoothing out all the little joints using my hands, which is therapeutic and nerve wracking, as I have never worked on this scale before. 

Once relatively smooth, I took the final step of smacking the whole layer with a smooth piece of timber (recycled dado rail), this bonds the molecules a little more firmly and gives a good finish.

Finally I packed the joints in my brick arch with cob and tidied up all of the joints.

And that's it! 

My feet are buggered and I ache all over, but I am the happiest person alive.

See you all Wednesday for the next instalment, enjoy the pictures.

Keep on cobbing.

Sunday Service

Hi All,
Well so much for not working on Sunday. I felt the itch and it could only be scratched by going into the Surge this morning and having a go at building my first ever brick arch.


To begin with I had to calculate the critical height of the mouth of the door, which is 63% of the internal height of the oven, anything less and I risk the fire choking due to a lack of vital oxygen.


After this I took plywood and laid out my proposed arch using the bricks kindly donated by Julian at Jewsons in Watton I marked out and cut one arch and using this as a template, cut a matching arch.


The form needs to fully support a series of house bricks so had to be the right depth. I cut and measured four batons and nailed them to the two arch templates.


Finally a basic handle to aid in retrieval of the form, as well as a pair of 1/2" shims. The shims, when removed, allow for easy removal of the form.


Taking my bricks I arranged them carefully to follow the curve of the form, using small stones and chips of brick to maintain contact between the inside edges of the bricks. This is critical for a good quality arch.


At this point I took brick 13 and, using a 3" brick bolster and hammer, shaped the vital keystone for the top of the arch.
After securing the keystone with pebbles I nervously teased out the two 1/2" shims.


The shims slid out easily and as the form dropped 1/2 and inch the bricks cinched up tight on the keystone and held a beautiful arch. 


Once I was happy with the arch, I took it down and stowed all of the numbered bricks and form carefully ready for tomorrows work.


I can't wait to start the form and first layer tomorrow morning. Stay tuned for more photos and details.

Keep on cobbing.

A strong foundation

Hello All,
Another splendid, if slightly rainy, day at the Surge today.
We got the foundation and stand finished before lunch due to a high level of enthusiasm (and the pooh weather!)
We managed to also finish off all of the infill for the support column as well as laying the fire brick hearth.
Due to the shape of the base and the size, we have actually managed to create a slightly larger cooking space using an oval shape oven. 
The proposed form will actually be more egg shaped than hemispherical, this allows for more food to be cooked in the same space, which is especially good considering that we will be pulling fresh pizza out of this oven by Saturday!


I was fortunate enough to be introduced to Mayor Wassell as well as the Mayoress. Both showed huge interest in the concept of cob ovens.
In fact the Mayor was so struck by the idea, that he has asked if I could produce a "day oven" for the Watton High Street Carnival on the 12th June. This would see me building an oven and cooking pizza in it on the same day. 
This would go a long way to further the awareness of cob ovens amongst the wider public.


My idea for a community bakery and soup kitchen to be held by Cob-It at The Surge was met by all with approval, and plans will be put in place to publicise this event along with baking lessons once the oven has had time to cure properly.


The oven project has been the centre of much attention today, with a lot of people asking a lot of questions. I can't wait to see their faces when we start producing food with this oven.


Well that's it for today. I have a day off (will be spent making door arch forms and form profiles) and then it is back at it on Monday morning. We will be aiming at getting the form and first layer of cob up by the end of Monday afternoon. See you all then.

Keep on cobbing.