cure questions Firing Your Oven Discuss cure questions in the Oven Management forums; Thank you Jim this is exactly what I need to know here. Appreciate it muchly...wayne...

[waynebergman]

Thank you Jim this is exactly what I need to know here. Appreciate it muchly...wayne

[david s]

When adding the vermiculite insulating layer you also aadd lots of water. Who knows how much of this will evaporate ? not much is my guess. One litre of water makes 1000L steam ! My suspicion is that steam pressure is responsible for cracks in the outerlayer (for igloo style construction) I now do two layers of newspaper between the vermiculite and the outer shell which should provide a small space for steam to escape through a hole left in the outer shell which can be plugged after quite a few firings. You can feel the damp newspaper layer in this hole even when you think the oven is dry. Wet insulation does not insulate well either.