This seems to be one of the bits of the book that could be improved in the next edition. Yesterday, I got it again in this lovely note from a lady named June: Hello Kiko: I am a 68 year old woman making my first mud oven following the design in your book - I'm really excited about it, and have a question. Does the width of the door matter? A friend gave me a beautiful peel ahead of the oven and it is 16 inches wide. I am making a 27 inch oven and would like to know if an 18 inch wide door would work. I am planning a brick arch opening. I couldn't find much in the book about the width, . . .
Kiko’s Recommended Oven Links
This is a somewhat random list of sites and sources of information--mostly free. It also bounces around between earthen and brick ovens, traditional and modern, simple and complex. If you have any recommendations, let me know! -- Kiko The Masonry Heater Association's oven page: A goldmine! Le Four a pain de Jean-Marie: Mobile ovens ala Francaise Brick oven plans: free from Forno Bravo (vendor of hi-end modular ovens) "Nifty, easy-to-make (earth) oven": the quick and dirty version, as printed in Mother Earth News in 02 (before I got really serious about insulation!) Bread . . .
Dan Wing on Trailers for Mobile Ovens
Much as I try to discourage them (see pp 98-101 of Build Your Own Earth Oven, 3d ed.), lots of people want to put their oven on a trailer and tow it long distances at high speed. Dan Wing, co-author of The Bread Builders and builder of fine gypsy trailers, as well as the maker of a well-travelled oven, kindly wrote up a thoughtful and practical set of notes on the safe and proper construction of hi-speed auto-trailers suitable for heavy ovens. It's a downloadable word file that you can get by clicking here: Oven trailers. If you want to read the 2004 NY Times article that featured Dan and his . . .