Hello Group--been out of the loop for a while, but this pandemic has me without a career at the moment. Passing the time and occupying my mind with
permaculture and
garden reading....
Years back I messed around with rocket stoves, and even built a nice little one from 5" square steel. I gave it to my brother who occasionally uses it for outdoor cooking. I've been thinking next time, I would like to build a nicer model, and have come down to either going the 5-gallon pail route, with perlite
concrete, or building a brick unit.
I built a small
wood forge years back simply by lining a roasting pan with clay mixed with
wood ash. It seemed to hold up ok, but since it was in a permanent shell, I suspect it didn't matter if the material was brittle or not.
Can anyone direct me to some info on making high-temp bricks? Ideally, something that one could source from the earth. We have plenty of clay and sand here. Reading up on
cob pizza ovens, it looks like they use a pretty standard
cob mix--including the
straw. Because the straw is encased in clay, I suppose it cannot burn?
It seems like I could make a
cob mix, but mix it maybe 1:3 with perlite and a bunch of wood ash to help kind of cement it together. I wouldn't bother, but with fire brick costing ~$5 a piece locally, this could get expensive quick! And it would be fun to start from clay and do it in a really primitive and ecologically sound way.
I thought I could build some rudimentary brick molds from scrap wood, fill them carefully with the cob mix, let them sun dry for a while, then stack them to fully sun dry before use.
Anyone build something like that? A brick
rocket stove with homeade bricks? I'd love to have one in the back
yard for cooking. Maybe integrate it into an oven in the stack to hold a dutch oven. It would be a good way to get rid of the branches my old
apple tree keeps shedding.
Hope everyone is staying healthy during this unsettling time!
John