SIMPLE OUTDOOR OVEN

If you are thinking "that just looks like a rusty metal box" you  are thinking correctly.  It is a steel box made of scrap plate and discarded bed rails.  There is, of course, more to it than that.  There is the story behind the box, and the function of the box.

The story starts a while back when Anna asked if I could make a metal box.  "Of course, boxes are simple" I replied.  When I asked how big and for what purpose, she explained that she would like one that could be used as a campfire oven.  I told her that I would see if I could find the proper steel for it and figure some measurements, and see what I could come up with.  At the time, the only plate steel I had was some 1/4 inch plate I had salvaged.  That, of course, is far too heavy for any box that has to be moved.  The weight would require two people to move it every time it was to be used.

A while later, I started working on an old brush hog which needed the deck replaced.  The deck was 1/8 inch plate, not really heavy enough for a serious brush hog, but exactly right for the camp oven.  Needles to say, I salvaged the plate. 

Now, for the record, I do not salvage everything that comes by.  There are actually thing that I throw away or take to the scrap yard.  That said, I am also a serious tightwad and salvage ALMOST everything.

I had been running ideas for the oven through my head, so that when there was time, I could make it all happen.  Running out of propane, and subsequently starting cooking on a wood fire outside, shifted priorities a bit.  Boiling, roasting and frying are no problem, but baking is another matter, so I promptly began measuring and cutting the salvaged steel, but I needed angle iron to make the corners, and I did not have near enough. 

As often happens, something turned up to make it possible.  While delivering a rick of firewood that I was trading for hay, I was offered a couple of sets of bed rails that had been discarded.  There was my angle iron, and free is a price that made it irresistible. 

Today, I finished the box and put on the door.  Time to test.  I had mixed bread dough earlier in the day, in anticipation of testing an oven.  With the little steel box sitting on top of my fire ring, I placed a couple of pieces of bed rail inside to place the cookie sheet on, built a fire and put a nice ball of bread dough in for the test.  This photo is what came out.  Yes, it tastes as good as it looks (and I have now eaten far too much  of it).

What you can not see in this photo is that the oven did not work perfectly.  The loaf was a bit overdone on the bottom (hard and black).  I will have to test another loaf in a few days to see if it was the design, or if I had the fire a little too hot.  If it was the design, it will only take a slight modification to fix it.  Family members can now stop worrying that I won't be able to bring baked goods at Christmas.

Now that I know it works, I will add handles and a door latch.  A can of stove paint will make it look a little nicer, and will also make the actual cost at least double, which lets you know how little I spent making this simple outdoor oven..