thomas rubino

September 7, 2026    Rain, 48F with a high of 53F.
When I rebuilt the Shop Dragon last year, I only had one 12x12 slab.
I used it at the rear of the core, and I used insulated firebricks for the front.
In order to use the individual bricks, I needed angle iron T-bars to support them.
Initially, they were protected by Superwool; unfortunately, the wool was knocked off last winter, and by spring they were not sealing at all.
The rear T-bar was twisted badly from the heat, allowing the bricks to walk and knocking the mortar off.

Today, I removed the offending pieces, and replaced them with a 12 x12 slab.
After completion, I fired her off for the first time this season!
With the bypass open, I was able to get a nice fire burning with no difficulty.
By the time it burns down, my repair will be fully dry.

John.
If you move the broken brick down, there may be a cheap option to try.
Matt Walker told us about a customer who used an automotive product meant to patch exhaust pipes on his core firebricks.
Although intended for metal, he claimed that this product sealed his cracked brick, and it was still holding fine with no reapplication.
A quick look online shows products from JB Weld Extreme Heat, Permatex, and Walker Exhaust.
I do not remember the exact product, but it was a paste, not a wrap.
Certainly worth a try; the price is right.

Hi Kara, I replant every year shortly after the piggies move on.
I have tried growing different things over the years, and I have found that a general pasture mix seems to be the best.
If you plant just one seed, if they like it, it's gone in the first couple of days. If they don't like it, they will refuse to eat it for as long as it is piggily possible...
This means a week or two until they can't stand it anymore!   When a pig does not like something, they eat it last... After all, eating, sleeping, and lying in the pond are what pigs do best...
By planting a pasture mix, they seem happy to pick the goodies out and then finish the rest. Very similar to how I approach a brand new box of chocolates!

Heat and mix well with your favorite BBQ sauce, serve warm on a large bun, and top with coleslaw.

Hi Jay
Good question; unfortunately, I do not have a clear answer.
When I started raising weiners, they averaged $50 each, now they are $150
There is quite a bit of driving involved, from picking up the youngsters to going to get feed and their last truck ride.
Fuel has continued to go up in cost. When I deliver the piggies to the butcher shop, I drive the old Ford pickup at 8mpg...
Butchering costs also have risen.
Unlike the old days I'm certainly not making any money, and it no doubt costs me money (If I checked)...
But we are perfectly happy to do so.

In our opinion, the benefits easily cover the rising costs.
Knowing exactly what our pigs eat gives us hormone-free meat that does not affect digestion.
Raising happy animals with good food, clean water, and good dirt to root in makes all the difference in the end product.
I visit the pigs every day they are here; I bring them fresh compost from the house and fresh trimmings from the garden. I hand-feed them comfry all summer long. Once the apple trees start producing, they get several apples hand-fed every day.
They literally ran to see me when I came down, knowing that good eats were on the way.


The real payoff starts when they come home from the butcher.
The Bacon, the roasts, the cutlets, the pork chops are all over the top.
This may sound odd if you have never had home-raised pork; the fat is not only edible, it is one of the tastiest parts!
My whole life, I immediately cut off the rind of fat on a pork chop... even at a fancy restaurant, the fat tastes horrible; the old saying of "you are what you eat" applies to your food as well as your own health.

Righty and Lefty went to meet the butcher yesterday.
Hanging weights were #216 & #198; couldn't be more perfect.
They come home next Friday, and they get to ride in the Subaru instead of in the back of the pickup truck!

Hi Matt;
How large (weight) are your burgers?
We buy Kyser rolls (1/3 larger) than standard burger buns.
I make 1/2# burgers, and sometimes they are too large after cooking and hang out of the bun.
The burger is 80/20, just like yours, and comes from a small, reliable butcher.  

Hi Ben, yes, the amount of material left is plenty to retain the round half barrel shape.  
Two inches may even be enough.
Some builders create a brick edge at floor level for the barrel edge to sit up against.

Hi Ben, I always used a 10"-12" roof with an eight-inch J-tube.
I did try a 15" one time... not a good idea.
How did you decide on an 8" roof?

Hi Justin, here in Western Montana, we are not quite as cold as your location.
But like you, our fires start in September and easily go into May. March is fully capable of at-or-below-zero temps.
As a long-time lurker interested in RMHs, I assume you have seen my shorty core build.
Our house is small, apx 600 squ ft.  An original 96-year-old 300 squ ft log cabin with 5 additions. Long with lower doorways that make it hard for heat to travel.
For 40 years, we heated with a homemade stove, A two foot piece of 20" Alaska pipeline, 3/4" thick, with a homemade door.  I estimated we burned apx three cords a season. It was always hot in the cabin, getting colder as you headed through the kitchen addition to the bathroom and the laundry room additions.
We have an original wood cook stove in the kitchen that we used to keep that end of the house warm during extreme temps.  In later years, we installed a small, non-vented propane heater in the bathroom addition to make sure no pipes froze overnight.

Then I built Shorty. OMG, having 500 clay bricks and an insulated firebrick core in your home is mind-blowing!
When you enter our home now, as soon as you step into the kitchen, the warmth envelops you completely. As you move through the house, the temperature doesn't change; it's just as pleasant in the back bedroom as it is in the farthest addition laundry room, or three feet away from Shorty. We now have windows cracked open all winter, at times even overnight!
The only issue we have found for us is that during early shoulder season, it is almost impossible to use Shorty without overheating everyone.
Our answer is the kitchen cook stove. For chilly mornings or rainy days, a quick fire in it is perfect to take off the chill without overheating the house.
Last year, as an experiment, I separated one cord of doug fir and larch, to be used exclusively in Shorty.
We like our house warm, so by spring I had used one full cord and perhaps another 1/4 cord.
So, although the 3-cord figure is a guess, Last season I only used 1.25 cords in the house, well over a 50% reduction.

How well it will work in a two-story house, I cannot say for sure, but going by my results, I expect you would take longer to heat your space; perhaps instead of one or two fires a day, you might need three or even four when the arctic blasts settle in.
After living my whole life with wood stoves that get lit in October and never are allowed to go completely out until April, having a masonry stove is beyond belief.
No fires all night, no fire most of the day... You can leave for all day, and the house is just as warm when you return as when you left.
You never need to worry about a chimney fire when you are sleeping, or not home, because there is no fire!

And then to put icing on the cake, there is NO creosote ever, only super fine fly ash in the firebox.
The bell/ stratifacation chamber takes years to build up enough ash to need to be cleaned out.