Hi folks,

I'm in a bit of a quandary. I'm looking at building my own wood fired oven.

I live in France and it doesn't seem to be that easy to buy clay here and I don't fancy digging up my garden! If I could buy clay I would, but for the life of my, I just can't seem to find any. Translation is a problem also... they seem to use different words for it... Terre crue, argile.

So I'm wondering, is it necessary to use clay? Could I just use refractory cement and sand instead?

Many of the designs I've seen use a mainly brick structure held together with refractory cement and then a layer over the top to give a smooth effect.

Is it just that clay is cheaper, or is it better to use clay for other reasons.

And, by the way, on the off chance someone knows how I might find clay to buy here in France, I would be grateful for assistance!