VillaGok tandoor oven - Tandoor pot

The original tandoor pot had been stored in the transport box from the delivery, which was covered with a tarpaulin during some weeks of very heavy rain. The cover was rainproof but unfortunately, water had soaked up through the bottom. Since tandoor pots traditionally are made of unburnt clay, the water lead to expansion of the clay and the pot had started to develop cracks - in some places it had even started to crumble. I tried to fix the damages but eventually, I gave it up and looked for another solution (a pot made of burnt clay). The best candidate seemed to be a terracotta olive jar like the ones in this picture. The largest is about 1 meter high. With a section cut off in both ends it would match the original pot reasonably well. The price is similar to that of the original pot and since olive jars are available in Denmark, the delivery would be much cheaper.

One day I stumpled upon this pot in a local store. The dimensions were almost identical to those of the original tandoor pot - but the price was about 1/10th! Now I just had to make a few cuts and see how it worked out. The circle drawn up on the bottom of the pot corresponds to the opening of the original pot.

After some criss-cross cutting with the angle grinder, I obtained a reasonable opening in the pot.

An air hole was cut in the other end.

A ring of clay was applied to the firebricks before the pot was put in place. The purpose was just to compensate for small irregularities in the edge of the pot. Hopefully, the clay would not bind the pot to the firebricks and prevent thermal expansion of the pot...

A view from directly above, after the pot was placed onto the clay.

And a view from the side. There is room for a reasonable amount of insulation between the pot and the wall. The cylindrical shape has another advantage: With a square shape I would need considerably more insulation to fill the corners - with very little effect.

The opening in the wall and the air hole in the pot had to be connected before the insulation could be poured.

Three bricks were slightly modified and mortared between the pot and the wall.

Here is a close-up of the joint...

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