Permsteading.com

Here's a link to the offer for firewood I'm considering:



I talked to someone at the place offering it, he said it weighs about 8000 #/cord, which works out to over 60 pcf. Pretty close to the density of water. Not much cordwood actually sinks, does it? That got me to thinking, why not build a thermal mass out of this stuff? Well, I suppose some of it might have an aroma at bench temperature...but still, this is an idea worth considering. Again, it's something that can be undone or redone if it doesn't work out, and it could be implemented without extensive remodeling.

Wow, that seems to be a great deal. That stuff will go a long ways being so dense.

Last week I think I got a better idea about what is meant by "working a mizzou slurry into the blanket." In any case, so far it looks like I've found a way to handle it that is reasonably simple and effective. Here is what I have so far:



This is the fourth of these letterbox pieces that I've made and the first I've gotten off the form without breaking it. It's still damp and unfired, but okay for gentle handling off of this form:



The polyethylene sheet is taped onto the bottom of the form, so anything on the sheet can be rolled up and wrapped around between layers. I used a strip of duct tape to mark an appropriate position for the blanket and applied the mizzou. The procedure for that was straightforward:

1) Scoop up a cup or two of mizzou from the bag and pour it into a large mixing bowl.

2) Add water, mixing by hand, until soupy. Don't bother with gloves if your skin isn't delicate. It's just mud, more or less.

3) Scoop up a handful and smear it on the blanket. The blanket soaks up excess liquid, carrying fine particles and whatever is soluble. Further smearing turns into rubbing, which dislodges the larger solid bits, which can be brushed off to the side. Second scoops from the same mix have a higher proportion of finer particles, so this can be used fill divots and low spots. After the second scoop, it's time to add more mizzou and water as necessary. Keep at it until the coverage is as thick and uniform as seems reasonable.

Then I rolled the coated blanket up snugly. I think this stuff is 3 mil, and it was adequate for the load, but thicker would be better. The mizzou doesn't adhere to it.

After 22 hrs, it had set up enough to unwrap. I used a cast saw to trim some excess on one side and square up the edges a bit. I expect it to become stiffer and less fragile as it air dries. Tomorrow I will bake it.

Wow NC, awesome technique. So you are rolling the wetted composite over the mold after wetting out? Neat.

If part of the difficulty in removing them from the mold is adhesion, you might try coating the mold in packaging tape, then using some veggie oil as mold release.

Got it, I didn't realize you had the mold covered with the film as well. I've found refractory cuts like butter with a diamond blade on an angle grinder. There are diamond masonry blades available for circular saws as well if that is an option for you.

Thanks for that point of guidance. I have circular saws, but the angle grinder option would probably be best for this stuff, due to the thin and unflat conformation. Just FYI, the cast saw has an oscillating action with a circular blade, so it cuts rigid stuff but doesn't cut skin. Hmmm, it might even work with a small diamond blade, assuming the anchoring of the diamonds isn't too asymmetric. Not a particularly demanding usage. On the other hand, Harbor Freight has cheap angle grinders , and I will eventually want one for working on water heater cores and stuff like that anyway.

Back when I joined this forum there were two things that really made me join. One was the cast core idea and the other was this Nutcase guy who was doing all this experimental stuff and posting pictures and stuff. Whatever happened to that cat? I miss Nutcase.

I do too, he was doing some super cool stuff that still is ahead of the curve, in my opinion. I hope he's out there with some super rocket heater blowing minds in his neighborhood. I wish he'd come back though.

Greetings. It has been a while, close to three years, since I visited this site.Thanks for the kind words, Matt and Manny...T.? Just got that. Anyway, long story short, various things happened, now I'm living out in the country NW of Portland and I'm looking forward to making this forum (and rocket stoves) part of my life again.

My work with rocket stoves pretty much stalled out at the time I stopped posting. For the '13-"14 heating season, I did kludge together something like I had used the previous year, built around the burn channel piece pictured above. The following spring we left our home in the suburbs and moved to where we are now, a place where neighbors don't complain about your roosters. Up to now, we've been managing with a badly installed but functional conventional wood stove (Fisher "Papa Bear"). I had thought to replace that stove this year as part of a drastic remodel. Then, about a week ago, we stumbled onto an opportunity to move to a bigger property (7.3 vs. 1 acre) with a better house only 1.4 miles up the road. With what amounts to an unheated, unfinished 1200 sq. ft. above-grade basement as part of the deal, I will have plenty of both motive and opportunity to get back to rockets.

I have been doing some things with cattle panels and 2x4s that I will post about elsewhere on this forum as time allows. Have a lot of catching up to do, plus moving.