Another Swiss oven

[Frances]

This one belongs to my neighbour. He built it about 10 years ago and doesn't use it very often nowadays. (You can tell, can't you?)

Inside is a prefabricated oven, "insulated" with sand underneath and some kind of glasswool above - apart from that its just about all solid concrete.

He says its very difficult to get the fire burning at the back of the oven chamber, and plans to bore a hole in through the back wall in an effort to get more air in there...

Be that as it may, I love the outside of the oven, with the old roof tiles, the stones he kept bringing home from his travels and the ivy growing over it. And the integrated grill on one side (second pic) is really cool. It all looks as if it had grown there instead of being built.

[gjbingham]

Have him try starting the fire in the front!

I like the free-form finsh as well. Funny shape though. Somehow, it reminds me of a moster made of rock from the original Star Trek series.

[fullback66]

It looks like it should be in the movie Lord of the Rings. One of the hobbits should be cooking a pizza in it. Not collecting dust. Does his house look crazy also?
fb66

[RCLake]

Originally Posted by fullback66

It looks like it should be in the movie Lord of the Rings. One of the hobbits should be cooking a pizza in it. Not collecting dust. Does his house look crazy also?
fb66

Would that be for the first breakfast or the second breakfast?

[dusty]

Very cool! And it does look sort of "middle earthen". I wonder why it doesn't perform right. It's not like there are a bunch of moving parts. Oven, entry, flue, and chimney. And it looks like he has all of those. Maybe you should coach him before he bores a big hole in it.

dusty

[Frances]

I'll suggest that to him sometime. After all I've already been nicking his wood, don't see why I shouldn't borrow the oven as well... It 'd be interesting to see if I could get it going, not to mention what it would be like to cook in another oven.


You're right, it is Lord of the Ringsesque. His house IS a bit crazy - not the house itself, since he didn't build it, but all the things he has standing and growing round it. Chaotic is a word that springs to mind. Which is great! The neighbours on the other side are hyper organised, and if they were all we had to compare our garden with, I'd probably feel pretty bad about our patch...

[Dutchoven]

RC I think hobbits only have pizza at "one-sees" or later...
Frances...you should see if you can be there when he fires it...maybe not big enough and like George said see if you can get him to start the fire at the front...then get it scary as it moves back
Dutch

[sarah h]

I love the unorthodox look of this oven. Frances, I hope you and your neighbour are able to get this oven up and running - it would be cool for you to have a WFO 'baking budd' so close to home!

[krosskraft]

Maybe you could buy him a set of bellows. The fire may just need a little air to get going. I love it! No wonder, it looks a bit quirky like mine. Maybe I will grow some vines on mine too.

[gjbingham]

or maybe you could melt his bellows too.