Wooden Solar Oven........

I have finally gotten around to building my wooden oven. It was definitely a challenge for me because I don't know anything about woodworking. There are a few things that I plan on changing but I will work on things over time.

I did have more pictures leading up to this stage but sadly I accidentally deleted them from my camera.

Basically I just built a box with 3/4 wood. It is slant faced meaning the front is lower than the back of the box. This keeps me from having to tilt the box into the sun. I just have to reposition the box a bit during the day to receive the best sunlight.

After making the box I lined it with styrofoam insulation. Then I cut pices of cardboard to fit in the box, covered them with heavy duty foil and then glued them into the box.

The back door was cut from the back of the box before I worked on the interior insulation and foil etc. Hinges at the bottom and a latch at the top will allow me to put food into and out of the oven without having to move the hot glass on the top of the oven. The back door ended up with a slight gap on the sides of the back door so I simply glued some pieces of wood over the gaps. The wood can not extend any lower than the bottom of the door or it will not open.

I chose a nice dark olive green to finish up the outside of the oven. A dark color for the exterior is supposed to help absorb heat.

Glass is now installed on the oven. I chose 1/4 inch thick glass because 1/8 inch just seems too flimsy. I also laid awood trim over the top edges of the glass for a finished look and to help seal the edges. I haven't put the caulk around the glass yet. That is my weekend project.

My very first test run with my reflectors I reached a temp of 345 degrees!!

I did decide to go ahead and make this oven fairly deep. I can fit a couple of my smaller roasting pans or my large roasting pans with great result for all.