Help in designing and making an oven door, please.

[woodywun]

I'm building a homebrew cast-dome oven and looking at door construction and design.  I will build into the cast a reveal to allow a door to go in at the entrance to the oven which will separate off the flue from the oven, with the aim of retaining heat for longer cooking.

For the door I'm working around the concept of cutting stainless or mild steel panels to form the door. I'll build in some insulation to go in between an inner and outer steel panel.  Does this sound workable?  What could the insulation be  ...maybe a Vermicrete mix as I have the materials? I've seen some doors with a steel inner panel and a thick piece of wood on the outer side.  I've got some nice block-oak from a kitchen worktop which could be cut to size  ...but won't it get to combustible temperatures?


Any advice or experience would be great!  

[hughjamton]

I don't know about the door as such but I think the block oak would come apart as it dried out from the heat.
Solid one piece oak though should last awhile behind a steel panel.

[oblertone]

Vermiculite board is what I used, sat in a mild steel tray and centre bored for a short probe thermometer. This is the stuff the cut to make stove linings so I never considered an inner face; as to the block oak, it’s been tried before and lasted about a year before being consumed by fire.

[woodywun]

Thanks for the replies. I may try the steel sandwich approach and fill it with an 8:1 Vermicrete (No spare board!). Mild not stainless?

[woodywun]

....thoughts on fixing handles and thickness of doors?

[oblertone]

I used a couple of Aga handles from eBay for mine.