Dan Spinkle

BRK 15:

We started the day by mixing cob and then using it to put the finishing touches on the rocket mass heater in the red cabin. After sealing in the barrel we are allowing it to slow dry for a day or so before firing up the rmh to prevent cracking in the cob.

After we finished up with the rmh, me and Grey carved 4 more logs to be used as solar light posts. These will be placed by the entrance to the classroom just in time for the garden master course which begins on Sunday. Then I spent the whole afternoon on firewood duty, stocking the shop/classroom, love shack, and the bun warmer in preparation for next week's events.

BRK 14:

Me and Grey have been working on overhauling the rocket mass heater in the red cabin. We are replacing the barrel for a larger one, but we are not replacing the smaller riser barrel that it is sitting on top of. In order to accommodate the larger barrel, we started by removing the sand that filled the box above the burn tunnel. Then we surrounded the riser with a rock and cob wall to support the new barrel. Stephen and Caleb stepped in today to cut the lower barrel with a plasma torch to create a channel so that air does not slow down or stagnate where the larger barrel will overlap the smaller one. Tomorrow me and Grey will mix some more cob so that we can place the new barrel on and seal it in.

Thank you for clarifying all of that Mike.

Coydon Wallham wrote:
Wood is roughly 1R per inch so you'd be adding around a third of an R to the insulation, but if it is tongue and groove airtightish, I'd guess you'll gain a bit more with a slight pocket between the wood and the paper...?

Thank you for this information! It is very helpful. The wood won't be airtight but the layer of craft paper will ideally slow the convective loss of heat.

Apple Valley wrote:

Has the insulation helped out? Do you think the craft paper will eventually be covered by something, and maybe that something will add extra insulation?

I love all your pictures and all the cool things you've been doing and learning!

I forgot to answer the other part of your question. Yes, the craft paper will eventually be covered by 3/8ths boards. I'm assuming that will add some degree of insulation but I don't know how substantial it would be. I'm thinking it's mainly for aesthetic purposes. We've been putting in a lot of time at the sawmill so we have 3/8ths boards drying now but they will most likely be used for several higher priority projects first.

I'm glad you are enjoying following along, thanks for commenting!

BRK 13:

I started the day today by hanging christmas lights along the edge of the berm shed and inside the bun warmer cell. It's looking great and I can't wait to hang out at the bun warmer on the 'day of fire' and during the week of the garden master course. With all of the snow and the half-assed holidays we've been celebrating its definitely feeling like Christmas around here.

In the afternoon we headed up to the lab to build a "cob hat" on top of the barrel of the cottage heater in dogstar (I think that's the name at least.) This was my first time in dogstar and I thought it was really cool. I would love to stay there if it wasn't the snowy season. The heater there doesn't have a mass so the idea was to build a hollow cob hat on top to catch and release some heat into the room rather than it all escaping above. Unfortunately the cob ended up being too wet so we didn't get to complete it today. We'll add some straw and leave it by the rmh in the classroom to balance out the moisture and then we'll be back in business.

Apple Valley wrote:
Has the insulation helped out? Do you think the craft paper will eventually be covered by something, and maybe that something will add extra insulation?

I love all your pictures and all the cool things you've been doing and learning!

Hey! The insulation has helped but there are still a couple more issues to be resolved. There is still an upper wall that leads to an attic above the library that needs to be insulated. We actually just started working on that today and we should be finishing it the next chance that we get to work on it. The other issue is that there are 2 large single pane windows in the solarium, which is a bit tougher to resolve. Paul has expressed a desire for us to add a pane to these windows which should be a fun challenge.

BRK 12:

I had a great time today finishing up the box for holding bark to be burned in the library rmh. I used a lot of wood that was otherwise destined to be firewood and I really like the rugged look that gives it. Using scrap wood allowed me to get a lot of practice on the table saw ripping boards into usable pieces. And trying to configure the puzzle pieces into a sturdy box took extra effort. Stephen had to keep reminding me that it was just a box to hold bark and to not overthink it. All in all it was a fairly straightforward design and build but it feels really rewarding to have built it.

After lunch we all tried our hand at sewing a Christmas stocking. Though I have never used a sewing machine I thought I'd attempt to do a quilt/patch style instead of going for the straightforward design of attaching two pieces of fabric. I am greatful to Julia for patiently guiding me on how to operate a sewing machine. I cut my fabric into many squares and then got to work on sewing them together. Unfortunately I was using a much older sewing machine and I ran into problem after problem. Admittedly most of the problems were user error, but I was assured that I wouldn't have had those issues if I were using a newer model. So I didn't end up accomplishing much but I did learn the ins and outs of a sewing machine after troubleshooting it for a couple of hours, which is time well spent in my book. I've wanted to learn how to sew for a very long time so I think it's great that this is something that we got to do in the bootcamp.

BRK 11:

I began my day today by building a bin for bark to be burned in the library rmh. After lunch me and Stephen used wool to insulate and plug some gaps in Bartell's bunkhouse. When we finished there we headed over to the abbey and I got to visit the greenhouse. The soil in there hadn't been watered in over a week but it was still sufficiently moist. The pepper and tomato plants are staying alive and doing well, especially considering the lack of sunlght. I spotted a couple of peppers ripening and a couple more green ones, as well as an unripened tomato. Growing some leafy greens or herbs would surely be more fruitful but the peppers and tomatoes are certainly a testament to the effectiveness of the greenhouse design.

BRK 10:

Before celebrating wooden spoon day in the afternoon, me and Stephen finished piecing together some more shelves for the berm shed. We used round wood as posts so I got to use the log wizard to flatten the connection points where the shelves would be attached. This tool had a little bit of a learning curve to it but it was a lot of fun to use and in no time I was able to make some clean grooves with it. It also went way quicker then last week when I used the angle grinder to flatten posts.

After lunch we all got to work on carving our wooden spoons. We used saskatoon wood, which to my understanding is good to use because it is easy to shape when fresh and green, and then hardens well when it dries. I've heard that the process of carving a spoon is both meditative and rewarding, and that definitely proved to be true. I am very happy with how my spoon turned out, especially considering it was my first time making one. Big thanks to Grey for guiding me during the process. I'm hoping to be able to carve another now that I have a better idea of the process.