By the way, I am currently experimenting with a rocket stove for a kiln. I made a six inch one, against the recommendations of Ernie and Erica by the way, and perhaps I should have gone bigger, time will tell. It is drying all all the mud (a huge mass we poured in) pretty well, and I figure the wood will be less wet than the mud was, and about the same volume of moisture, so the kiln seems to be drying out the mud, slowly over about 3 weeks, which is exactly what I am hoping for with the kiln for a load of wood (too fast is worse than too slow, hence making it smaller)
But, the kiln serves more than one purpose. Today, I built a small oven by just stacking bricks on top, and then I put winter squash, and yuca inside (rolled up in foil). I fired up the kiln for 1.5 hours (that is a normal load, and I will keep it burning all day that way.). When I arrived, I took out my experiment, they were wonderful! (the first time I dropped them in the coals, and they turned into charcoal in 20 minutes lol)
Also, I picked up a aluminum bucket for boiling water which I place above the coals when it is really going. Once it boils, if I don't use it to make coffee, I pour it on fire ant hills. Totally non-toxic, 100% effective. The best thing is, the ants don't come streaming out of the ant hill to get me... due to be cooked most likely...
I have at least 3 more kilns to make, each one will be different from the first -- as I learn more. What is very cool is I have a lot of local wood workers visiting to check it out, which I encourage.