How to build Sunset's classic adobe oven

Norman A. Plate

Materials list

You'll find most of the materials you need at a home center, except for the cardboard barrel, often used by movers. (You cut it in half lengthwise and use it to form the oven's curving top.) Look online under Barrels & Drums for a local source.

• 14 concrete building blocks (8 by 8 by 16)
• 14 concrete cap blocks (8 by 2 by 16)
• 68 firebricks (2 ½ by 4 ½ by 9)
• One 28- to 30-gallon cardboard barrel
• One empty 1-quart can
• 6-foot square of 6-inch wire mesh (used to reinforce concrete driveways)
• 10 feet of 30-inch-wide chicken wire
• 4 feet of rough-sawed redwood 2-by-4
• 2 feet of redwood 1-by-3
• 16 1 ½-inch deck screws
• 3 feet of 6-inch-wide aluminum flashing
• Eight large wheelbarrow loads of adobe soil (heavy clay garden soil)
• Three bags Portland cement
• 1-foot square of ¼-inch galvanized wire mesh
• Exterior latex paint
• Optional: 24 precast 1- by 2-foot concrete steppingstones

You'll also need a tape measure, hacksaw, circular saw with masonry bit, wire cutters, saber saw, drill, screwdriver, large wheelbarrow, hoe, shovel, sturdy rubber gloves, sponge, small piece of scrap lumber or plywood, old towels, and plastic tarp.