Making a Tandoor for Pottery Firing (in pictures)

Tandoor building advice; Don't build at the start of winter; it takes forever to dry. It was 3 months before I got to light a fire in it, and even then the clay was still too wet, but I was sick of waiting. Test your clay first; make sure it is good building clay. Make your walls thinner than I did so it dries more easily. I was supposed to do two layers but I got lazy and did it all in one. Make your building platform higher off the ground than you think you will need to account for “once in a hundred year” weather conditions. Plan ahead about how you will keep the rain off, during building and after. Running around finding ways to keep the rain off is a hassle. Allow for shrinkage of the clay and adjust your measurements so your tandoor isn’t smaller than you want. Also the air holes will shrink. I am happy with the 26” internal diameter of the tandoor, but 24” high inside is too short for me. I wanted a 16” opening into the tandoor but it ended up much smaller so the grates I had needed to be cut down to fit through the smaller opening. Remember you will be putting the pots you are firing on stones or a grate above the coals, so they will quite a bit higher than you expect. no sound. listen to your own music :-)