!! In the quiet hours of the bootcamp grind, I found myself: Esteban's Bootcamp Experience

B.E.L. Post # 73

After the morning meeting, I headed over to the Fischer Price house and topped off the cardboard burnables bin, then brought up a few more crates of woody bits to keep things moving along there.

The rest of the day was spent up at the Abbey, where I made solid progress digging out nearly all of the vertical post holes — only one left to go. The auger definitely earned its keep today. The ground was frozen solid, which made for slow going, and I kept running into plenty of roots along the way. Challenging work, but satisfying to see the progress despite the conditions.

I wrapped up the day on a nourishing note by making some mashed sunchokes — always nice to end a hard workday with something hearty and homegrown.

Grateful for another full day of steady progress and persistence. 🌿💪

Mike Haasl wrote:Hey Esteban, what does "processing woody bits" mean?  Where is the wood coming from that you're processing?  It seems you're making them into short chunks. I thought J tubes liked longer pieces?  Curious mind wants to know

Hey Mike 🙂 thanks for asking, and I appreciate you taking the time to look closely.

When I say “processing woody bits,” I’m really just talking about gathering what’s available nearby, cutting it down to usable sizes, and staging it in crates. Most of the wood is coming from around the Fischer Price house — fallen sticks, offcuts from cutting junkpoles by the drive down to 10', and short scrap pieces from the shop that were already under a foot long.

On the J-tube side, I’m still very much learning, so please take this as my current understanding rather than a hard opinion. My impression so far is that J-tubes tend to do better with shorter pieces fed vertically, which is why I’ve been cutting things down into that 4–6" range. My goal was mainly to avoid bridging and keep airflow consistent, not to claim nor leave an impression that this is “the right way.”

If you’re seeing something different or have suggestions on sizing or feeding, I’d genuinely love to hear it — I know you’ve got a lot more experience with rocket heaters than I do. Thanks again for the curiosity and for sharing your knowledge ...

Thanks for the explanation Esteban! I don't have much experience with J tubes so I'm mainly going from the experience of cutting firewood to 15" for Paul's wood burners.  I'm assuming you're currently using those woody bits so you're getting direct feedback on how well they work.  Keep at it!

Mike,

I talk about this a lot here

https://permies.com/t/362506/attempt-heat-home-winter-cardboard

And made a video here



Maybe some mention in some other videos and podcasts.

There is an experiment going on now.  Estaban has been kind enough to keep me supplied with carboards and what we are calling "garbage wood" or "woody bits".

It is true that the j-tube design is for standard length fire wood:  15 inches to 16 inches.  And that is the stuff that is most delightful to work with.  And, with that same j-tube, we are conducting a winter long experiment.