Lin Karcher

Hope this link shows up okay - this guy apparently got his portable parlor through regulatory as he's producing grade A milk:


http://www.farmshow.com/view_articles.php?a_id=387

We purchased a 42x22 Gambrel barn plan to build as a house. We found a few sawmills who can supply the cut list. The first is a larger operation (they also sell timber frame kits) and they were quite a bit cheaper than our other choice. Instead of white pine, he priced all poplar (the location is SE Ohio) Is the poplar a suitable sub for the plan-recommended white pine?
The second sawyer is a smaller operation - he can do white pine, poplar on the 22 footers and honey locust for the decking. OR he can do all hardwood - white oak and honey locust. He priced either package for the same price but higher than the first guy. Would using all hardwood be okay? We get way better vibes from this smaller guy, believe the quality would be better and he did say he could sharpen his pencil on the bid when we told him we had a significantly cheaper bid from someone else.
The plans don't look too complicated, but we come to points where we have questions. we'd like to put the barn up ourselves, but we're also getting prices from a few different Amish to put it up for us, but (amazingly to me) most Amish in the area only do pole buildings! If there's anyone in SE ohio who would like a paid job of possibly helping us out, please let us know.

Thank and Will do, Al and thanks Satamax! we can't wait to get back down to the homestead and try another one. I will visit richsoil and I'm going to buy the RMH DVD set for myself for Xmas so we can do more building and experimenting over the next several months😀

Thanks for the replies and info. I'm reading all the forum discussions on rocket stoves/ heaters and soaking it up.
We are going to make it with a removable lid since because of the high heat it's going to have to be more stationary than we'd first envisioned. I can definitely see safety issues with how HOT it gets! I like the idea of sinking it in the ground with something to radiate the heat back toward the room. The damper seemed to slow the burn slightly, but we were burning it outside in 38 degree weather and it literally roared even with the damper closed. I'd not thought about the ash being corrosive, but it makes sense and we'll try some sand. Hopefully, we'll be using (and experimenting) with it weekends this winter and have a "real" house with a "real" rocket mass heater next winter!

Wanted to share pictures of the "pocket" rocket my husband and son built Sunday (plan from Evans and Jackson's Rocket Mass Heaters book)It'll be used to heat our small (12x14)winter camping shelter, we'll prob cook on it also using a grate/riser.
amazing the way it burns super hot and clean, so little smoke and ash! We only had wet dead wood around to burn so it smoked for a few minutes before the fire pulled down the feed tube. With dry kindling I believe it would smoke far less at start-up. Once the down draft started there was no smoke - exhaust coming out the flue was clear and the whole thing was hot enough in less than five minutes to burn the paint and labels right off the barrel! The amount of heat coming off of it was impressive. We weren't planning to, but now intend to put some rocks and cob around it to hold the heat and protect kids/dogs/objects from getting burned, but we'll have to come up with a way to clean the ash out..
Also wondering if we can take advantage of all the radiant heat coming off the flue if we turn it on its side and add an elbow to the feed tube to make it L-shaped and run the flue the full length of the shelter? Might just try it and see..

Thanks for the welcome We're planning on building a cob and cordwood home on our soon-to-be homestead. We have lots of timber and plenty of clay. Round, curved, small with a timber-supported loft and earth roof is what we're going for. Hopefully, we're going to practice first on an outhouse or temporary shelter (shed) and attend a few workshops too.
I'm looking forward to reading more of the info here!

Thanks so much for posting the info about the KY cob! We were just considering going to coquille to one of cob cottage workshops next spring, but will start with KY first - the savings in time and travel will be enormous vs going to OR!