Matt Walker continental stove build

Its taken me awhile to source and collect enough material to get going on this, had to adapt and make do with what i have to hand , lots of time spent watching broaudio and taking notes , and emails to Matt , always answered and advised , my best advise to myself ---do nt  try to out think or over think this ---just get going and thankfully Matt has done all the thinking out of this concept. First i dry built to layer 11  but left out the CFB parts as this needs to be done when the stove is mortared up and there will be slight measurement differences, then all dismantled and re start from ground up .The floor was prepped with a borax treatment then a membrane barrier in place and vermiculite concrete mix put down and a base layer of bricks layed out , these are actually arch way  build bricks , part of the mixed pallets i bought , about 750 clay bricks comprising of 4 differant batches ,with these hidden away in the middle.So adapt and make do , the idea is to create an airway channel system , a hardiebacker board will be on top of this and then layers 1 to 11 rebuilt up . Just have to get some fireclay and then back onto it

That's awesome to see another thread about building one of Matt's stoves.

Hopefully we can compare notes all the way through, and test them thoroughly over the first burning season.

Lots of photos please!

Yes - Thanks for sharing your build Tony (and Burra ). I look forwards to seeing how it progresses.

Capped   the  vermicrete   with  a  lime/cement/sand mix layer  about 1/2 " thick  ,  and then spaced out the ventilation layer of bricks  ,  put down the tilebacker board cut to size   and mortared the base layer into place ,   took some time to fill in all the holes of the bricks , i think by the end of this build  i will have no fingerprints left   , but at least the clay sand mix is easy on the skin and clean up of tools is no bother.

First layer ,, second layer if you were to follow Matt s plans , but i have deleted one of the  two base layers , some dithering going on at the moment---fill the holes in around the outer layers or not ---as i wont have enough fireclay for the mix this will consume---do have sand , some hydrated lime , some hydraulic lime and 3 bags of white cement that has gone and hardend up.  Its magnesium based , thinking if i smash it up a bit and throw into the mixer with 10 or 2"steel balls lying around somewhere in the shed ---that might work . Shall think more about it as i weld up some tube onto the water jacket so i can cut out the bricks on the next layers in waiting.

I'm enjoying following along on your build. Thank you for keeping us updated.

The water jacket in place ready to be entombed ,inspired  design and build by  --Frank.n.stein , could be in the functional art  category ---maybe , ..from bits dug up out underneath my workbench  .., again the main thinking out and appearance of it was driven by ---adapting  what i had to hand.  The two water lines have collars around them to be mortared into the brickwork , the pipelines will be wrapped in ceramic cord to seal them up inside the collar, the hope is that as the jacket expands and contracts any movement will not crack or push out the mortared brickwork-----this is my over the top backyard engineering  way of thinking  ---not based on any proven concept

Hi! Nice neat masonry work!
Two questions if i may:
-how do you deal with ventilated brick course like that and it not becoming critter city? I mean, mice and roaches, for instance. How do you avoid them settling there?
-Do you plan a maintenance access for the water jacket? Perhaps so as to replace or if clogged with scale, or corroded because of water, and even to clean the light ashes that adhere to its surfaces and reduce the thermal transmittance coefficient?

It's looking good.  I too wonder about critters in the bottom bit.  Did you have a plan in mind for the gaps in the base layer, or was it to save bricks?  I'm not a full blown expert but I don't really see a need for ventilation there.

Like the idea of building in the water heater, if I were building a big stove that would have been considered too.  

About the cement that's gone hard, you can break it up to use as aggregate but once it's hard it's hard as it's changed chemically as far as I know, so you can't use it as cement.

The gap underneath is partially to break the heat transfer into the underlying floor , and partially to have warm air flow under the stove and out /up into the room, and then the added insulation of the vermicrete pad ,these are points Matt talks about on his broaudio , i could have perhaps used a thicker vermicrete pad and no bricks ---but only had the one bag (100 L) of vermiculite and plenty of those archway cut /shape bricks to use up. And i like the concept of having warm air flowing around the whole stove,  as for bugs and mice getting underneath --well  living in the county side  we just deal with them as the problems arise ---no different to now with my electric cooker ,fridge and range  having gaps underneath them for things to get into---come winter we always have traps down anyway just in case . I have a copperpipe lance made up for the vacuum cleaner as well to use for access into those gaps , if it all becomes too big a problem ---the option could be to just seal up the gaps with the mortar mix. Getting to the back would be harder but if were to cast a raised platform high enough to cover the gaps --job done.   The clean out of scale build up is planned for , the bottom water line inlet still has to be modified  ---but i have no weld rods left ---another couple of weeks till i get them--but i need to progress with the stove build ---so i will have weld on a T join fitting (another item i am waiting for)-- in place --not fun but can be done---this will then have a gatevalve  to drain the system. As our water comes from a bore its mineral enriched and i use a purpose made unit/system which contains phospate balls ---the water flows over them and out to be used in the electric shower and washing machine. It does not remove the calcium or iron but prevents this from building up on the heater element, have been using it for a long time now ---works for me--- so this will be used on the waterline going into the waterjacket. My other secret weapon would be to use the dairy farm industries , bulktank and milklines flushing out treatments ,this is added into the system with water ----heated up circulated and then flushed out---very similar process i also use on my washing machine with those store bought tablets.

Yes the white cement is only of use if it can be crushed up fine as sand and used as a sand replacement ---not achievable for me ----so it will just be crushed hammered into chunks later for use in a concrete pathway --wont go far but will be recycled

nearly half way now , all the channel pathways built so its just perimeter layers of bricks now, the s/steel sheet to build the core onto , so far its taken 2 bags of fireclay  ,and  despite having done a dry build and taking pics of each layer as i broke it down--- doing the rebuild and mortaring up --i have gone and done some of it different to my original steps. I think if it was done another 4 or 5 times  --something different would evolve again.  Still on the lookout for a a granite paving slab  , these are cheaper to buy and easier to source---problem is  to travel just for them and if buying from a retailer yard --have to buy a pack of 6 , but something will turn up. Other good news  ,, doctor says my fingerprints will come back , its just the other side effects that might be of some concern  ---he says it could be an allergy due to my procrastination reaction on having to do some work , and totally curable with a home treatment of fermented barley or apple pulp  ---the colour should come back or fade a little and possibly most of the hair should fall out.

Still making progress , but having a technical problem  , i want to take pics of the build as i go along for future reference to the stove repairs and maintenance , just made the stove door and its all from inside my head and what i had to hand ---so no drawings no measurements as such but not too much of a bother other than i would like to have a visual record ,as to why or how i did some things. Busy trying to get my phone to take pics but no luck , will have to take it round to a friend who s fiendishly clever with phones. Or dig up my old sony digital camera ,track down some battery  and possibly its connection cable ---this could be a days work with lots of "fowl language" flowing.

borrowed a phone , got some pics , and so onto some explaining , because i have not followed the plans exactly by using insulated fire brick in place of the ceramic fibreboard , the cores outside dimensions have grown   , the width i was able to get into the  plans sizing and position, of course having added onto the overall length of the stove from 65 inches to 79 inches helped this . But the cores depth has now grown by approx one brick in width ,not wanting to make the stove wider i made a deviation from plans  , by making the firebox door part of an insert panel  i can get around this and just brick up around this. The insert at the top has an extra strip welded on ---a lintel --to help support the last layer of brick,,  to steady this insert into place i intend to weld it behind  , onto the s/steel "core support" plate and weld  a strip of s/steel on either side "triangulating" back down onto the core plate----these will be in between /outside the core and fit behind the clay bricks surrounding the IFB  ---so wont be exposed to any direct heat.  The primary air feed looks to big ---but it only has to open halfway---its adjustable and can be locked in place ---once i have gotten to firing up and done a few runs ---which by reading other stove builds can take some time to settle down and become stable enough---i could dot punch a few calibration marks as settings .

one more

well i was not halfway , too optimistic , have to make up the oven side of things now , another insert planned, so i can only continue laying up bricks when this is in position , and using up bits of old scrap  means more cleaning and cutting of  rusty steel , also re did the core layout following the Matt Walker plans of the CFB core   , stuck to these measurements exactly . Which meant some cutting of the IFB s to size to make them work out to the CFB core sizes, i had tried to lay out the core following the IFB plans ,or rather what i thought was the core using IFB , but although it was deemed okay to work as a core , i had a rethink about it . Not much point in going off course from the plans to suit what i thought could work and to suit my use of off plan materials  --when this style stove has been designed and proved to work from a particular bespoke core---so it should be me adapting to suit it.

I like that door.  Have you put a window in it?  I plan that for mine.  Co-incidentally I'm just about to post a door update on my thread!

thanks , i won t be able to put a window on that door there s no room for it , i did want too as i think its a way of being able to monitor the stove s running   ,  but after trying to scrounge up some heat proof glass  and more dithering around --- just built this , i suppose i could in the future make up another door and incorporate a view window. Had thought of placing a window next to the door but that position is at the end the core riser ----full out heat level s---so i just would not trust it , no matter how high temp the glass might be----fire makes me nervous and  cautious  , my previous  welded steel range that i built had 8mm plate all round and a 25mm top --- i had to build it inside the kitchen before we moved in . But as fool proof as i thought it could be on a few occasions my kids had the front of it of glowing ---way beyond red to that point which as a fabricator you would recognise as its about to go white and soft.