You have to earn your Peroni around here son!

Hi All,


What a fantastic day!
The sun was up early and stayed all day with no let up. 
I had the assistance of some awesome cobbers today, so I would like to thank Jake, Billie, Stellan, Ben, Elaine, Stephen as well as a few others, you know who you are and thank you.


Today we had to not only make a monster amount of cob, due to the fact that we were now covering a much larger surface area.
We started around midday and didn't finish making the cob until around three in the afternoon. 
Then Elaine and I mixed in the chopped straw, which was kindly donated by Andrew Garner of Griston.
The mix became very stiff and became very hard to shovel. We left it to dry slightly (time for tea and a natter sat on a hay bale, well rural!)
After we had let the mix set up, we shoveled it into two wheelbarrows and a handful of buckets and even a large planter.
We had pre-scored the outside layer of the oven to help the next layer key in.
I then spent two and a half very happy hours applying the layers of cob "loaves".
Each loaf had to be connected to the  course beneath by poking a "cobbers thumb" (stick the size of a big thumb) through the loaf and into the one below. This sews the courses together by forcing straw from one loaf into another.


Once the oven was totally covered I went round and trimmed the very longest straw sticking out of the oven, and then set about pouring over a clay slip.
The slip had been made over a three day period by dropping small lumps of clay into water in a large plastic bin and letting it stand. 
Then this morning I used a cordless drill and a mortar mixer paddle to blend the clay and water into the consistency of double cream.


Pouring from the top down I worked the slip over by hand until it covered the oven, and me!


Now the exciting and nerve wracking bit, I gingerly removed both door shims and then very gently removed the form for the arch.
Thankfully the arch held and the sand behind the form sat there waiting to be removed.


The sand that I then pulled out filled two wheelbarrows and there was still a heap left on the floor.
Using my arms, sticks, shovels and a bit of blue language I managed to get all of the sand out .
Now for the bit I had been looking forward to since I first cut the turf six days ago, I got to light the first small fire.


The concern was that if I had miscalculated the height of the arch by even a small margin, the fire would choke and the arch would have to be rebuilt.


No such thing happened and within no time I had a small but hot fire burning in the front of the oven.
Building the fire up gently with increasingly large pieces of kindling and then eventually full logs, I was able to build a respectable fire at the back of the oven. 


Although initially I had to use a copper blow pipe, the fire did eventually start drawing in fresh air which was clearly visible as a layer of clear air beneath the blanket of thick smoke. Slightly geeky but I felt an enormous sense of achievement at building my very first bread oven.


Tomorrow morning I will make good on the site and remove excess materials, tidy the outside of the oven and apply a further slip coat or two.


Once the site is tidy I will then fire the oven and try out some flat breads to test out my new pizza shovels (peels) and see how the oven performs.


Now time for a well earned Peroni.

Keep on cobbing.