Hi
Im looking to build a wood-fired mud oven, to be fired-up a few time a year to cook bread and pizzas.
I was intending to use fire bricks (refractory bricks) to form the hearth floor, but at around £2.50 each, a lot more than I was looking to pay. Alternatively, I was thinking of using some block paviors - any thoughts?
My neice built one once, I'll ask her what she used.
Thanks
They'd crack. Heck, why do you want the oven? To bake good bread? Lash out on the firebricks, you don't need many for a small oven.
Mail me if you'd like to know how we built ours.
Mary
Im using the book "Build your own earth oven" by Kiko Denzer as a guide. For my first effort I was looking to keep my costs minimal and felt that £50 for the hearth floor was a bit much.
I would be interested in knowing how you built yours - Ill drop you a line
I bult a BBQ out of blocks removed from unwanted overnight storage rads. They really are quite heatproof.
Better than concret blocks anyway.
Good idea, Ill look to see if anyone getting rid of old storage heaters locally on freecycle
Trouble then is that you need to light the BBQ hours before any heat comes out :-)
You have to have a fire in a bread oven for hours before it's hot enough to bake in - but it's worth it.
Mary
For once I agree.
Worth destroying the planet just to bake a bit of bread in an old fashioned way?
Now if it were properly insulated and you baked for the street..
... you'd have the food police breaking down the door looking for your hygiene certificates and haccp compliance ringbinder.
Owain
Sadly, too true. I have been involved in organising the local May Day Carnival for the passed twenty years with proceeds going to local charities. What we have gone through in the last couple of years in terms of various risk assessments, safety certificates, public liability insurances is almost beyond credibility. I suspect that it's been a rouse of Blur's to keep the unemployment figures down by added local govt. job's worths - who in this instance, don't seem to have a clue about the real world, but have to do something!
The Army are rebuilding a bridge near me as a training exercise, but they're not allowed to sleep in the local community centre because of elfin safety. I know it's a bit of a rough area, but they're headed off to Afghanistan soon...
Owain
Spot on. It's just not credible how stupid we are.We desperately Douglas Adams to take these loonies to a better life for them!
Why are us Brits so law abiding? Just do what the Europeans do, pass the laws and obey them if you feel like it. Ever seen a Greek wearing a crash helmet?
First point is that we are (geographically at least) in Europe - it isn't somewhere else.
The second point is that it isn't true to say that the British are more law abiding in a blanket way than in other European countries. I've spent a lot of time in many of them and talked to a lot of people about just these issues.
One difference that does separate the UK from most other countries is that the legal system here is based mainly on precedent and case law, whereas in most other places it's codified (e.g. based on Napoleonic Code). However, this has extended into many parts of Europe, both north and south.
THe far more significant issue is a cultural one as you hinted, and that does seem to be a north/south, germanic language/latin language one. Thus if you speak with people from the Nordic countries or Germany, they do feel more comfortable with clear cut laws. Even so, there are variations. For example (and these are generalisations) Norwegians tend to be quite independently minded and so consider respect for the individual to be important, whereas Finns tend to value humility as an important trait.
French, Italian and Spanish people have all said to me on different occasions that in many aspects they view the law as something to be applied when something bad happens. Again this is a stereotype but does give some explanation of why there is an apparent disregard for the law. There's plenty of it, but enforcement isn't there until there's a problem.
Going further afield, there is much more apparent lawlessness (or perhaps apparent lack of lawful behaviour) in former Eastern Europe. For example, the standard of driving and road behaviour in places like Warsaw and Moscow is appalling - makes Milan seem like a Sunday afternoon outing.
So I think there is a perception factor as well as reality.
Where we do unnecessarily shoot ourselves in the foot is in placing of EU Directives into local law. I've looked at quite a few of these over the years and compared UK implementations with those of other countries. In basis, they are the same. However, in most other countries, the detail is left out. In the UK we tend to either take them pretty much verbatim or even worse gold plate them. We have only ourselves to blame for that.
Over many years, I've been involved in lobbying the Commission over environmental directives and also involved in CEN Standards committees. As a result, I've been able to get a view on different countries' attitudes to adopting EU Directives. I broadly concur with your experiences and views. We tend to have a much more adversarial and litigious approach - almost as if we are half way across The Pond.
How is it even contributing to destroying the planet?
What makes you think it isn't well insulated or that I don't bake a large amount in it? Not for the street but for two months' worth for us.
Mary
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So you waste even more energy by freezing bread?
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