rocket technology for an oven

Erica,

At the last workshop (the one with the greenhouse) we were all eating lunch one day and we were talking about rocket stove stuff (as opposed to RMH stuff) which lead to talking about the "rocket" being used for and oven. 

Ernie said something about doing this right would be a project that would take a week to build!  Wow!  An RMH workshop takes about a day and a half of actual building.  So, this oven thing would take four times longer? 

Ernie described a whole lot of stuff that wen way over my head. 

Any chance we might get to hear a wee bit about it here?  Maybe I can read what you say ten times and it will stick in my brain better this time.

We're on our way somewhere, so I'll start with a few basics and add more as need be.

An earthen oven takes about 2 days to build - more if you want to get to the finish-plaster in the same workshop. 
That's assuming you've already dug the foundation and supported it well.

In making a rocket oven, I imagine we are building the rocket-stove part into the foundation - so all the rocket burn-tunnel masonry has to be stout, square, and level, much more so than for a barrel-type rocket stove.

(You could also do an earthen oven with an improved, rocket-style chimney, but it would still be a massive amount of masonry to make everything self-supporting.)

So it's a day or two for foundation and drainage, half-a-day to practice bricklaying and then a day or two on the rocket masonry;
and then a couple of days for the earthen oven part.

It needs some drying time before you can take the molds out and finish the interior and exterior.  During this time, more work could be done on the roof, door(s), and exhaust outlet (or bench).  Or we can practice bread recipes, make some sourdough starter or friendship bread, whatever - assuming there's another oven available for practice baking....

We generally also need to build the roof, and whatever structure is going to receive the exhaust, so the whole thing doesn't melt in the rain. 

They can last a couple of years unprotected, but it's a lot of effort to invest in a project and then let it get rained on and eroded and cracked.

Interior finish is more critical than exterior, 'cause that's what will get in your food.

Ideally, we'd let it dry, smooth the interior and waterglass it, and then give it a little more curing time before firing it.

That's what I imagine.  I'm going to send this to Ernie as a personal email, and see if he has any corrections or additions to make.

Yours,
Erica Wisner

It sounds like a lot of the design is for an outdoor kitchen?

What would the duration of such a project be if there were aleady something shelter-ish?  And if there is something shelter-ish, and the ground is quite certain to be dry all year, does that vastly reduce the need for foundation work?

It's not a "classic" one but maybe it could present some interest for you.



YC

paul wheaton wrote:
It sounds like a lot of the design is for an outdoor kitchen?

What would the duration of such a project be if there were aleady something shelter-ish?  And if there is something shelter-ish, and the ground is quite certain to be dry all year, does that vastly reduce the need for foundation work?

What would vastly reduce the need for foundation work is either to reduce the mass considerably, or have an existing foundation already stout enough to take the weight.  Reducing the weight means no heat-sink except the oven/food, and a repurposed electric oven as shown in the video Celsius posted.

Celcius wrote:
It's not a "classic" one but maybe it could present some interest for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqvJFLS895c

YC

Having shelter already up would be a definite plus, but not many people on this continent have a kitchen built with later, massive, masonry additions in mind.