Joe Lancer

Great responses here.  I also strongly agree with Fred Hans's suggestion on a lanyard.  Gloves will also be a trial and error exercise but should be considered especially for wet conditions.  The lanyard should also be sized to go comfortably over your gloves.

I spent a couple years with an Ontario Knife Company (OKC) army surplus machete that looks exactly like the Collins model Phil Stevens showed us- except it has a black finish and durable plastic handle.  After heavy use the rivets in the handle needed to be reset and I did a little grinding to allow it to fit my hand a bit better as I used it over the span of the first few months.

After losing my day job I took some time off to help out at a few R/C model airfields doing drainage and field work.  With a machete and bow saw I cleared saplings that had grown up in the overfly areas of the model aircraft runways.  Some of these were over 5 years old {the saw was great for those) but the machete made quick work of the younger trees-- especially in the wetter seasons when they were heavier, softer and more easily cut.

One thing that wasn't discussed here much is the angle of your swing.  As Brent Bourdeau mentioned, your blade path must be your prime concern so your follow through will NOT hit your shins or anything else you care about AND the angle you strike each plant will make all the difference in whether you cut it through with one swing or merely wound the plant and need a second strike.  Brent Bourdeau mentioned a 45 degree angle, and I think this is a good rule of thumb, but I found I needed to adjust my angle swing (to each plant) depending on its angle of growth and the hardiness of the bark.  You want your blade to pierce any bark and continue through and most importantly use the strength of the limb against itself-- so as you pierce the skin of the plant-- it does not move sideways at all-- the blade cuts efficiently all the way through and you can plan your next strike with a return stroke on a different limb-- maybe stepping forward again supremely mindful of where your legs are during this.  With practice I got to the point I could look at any sapling limb and know the right angle to quickly sever it.  Keep in mind much depends on the sharpness of your blade and the woodiness of the plant.

I am 6' 1" and have arms  that span a little more than that distance, so I can get a pretty good snap in my follow through.  I could use the machete to dispatch ash, sumac and maple saplings up to 1.5" thick but that took a lot of speed and I found my elbow would sometimes ache if I tried to get too much speed and I eventually developed some elbow joint issues I attribute to over use of my machete, along with digging a few thousand feet of french drains by hand with just a garden spade and coal shovel.  I remember using the machete was actually fun as I could cover a lot of ground on foot with just two lightweight sharp tools, but as I get older I found power tools more attractive for my aging joints.

Thanks Thomas.  The "Temp Cast" kit was a good choice for us because it has a good track record and the Finnish contraflow design is well known.  If I were more of an experimenter I would have been willing to try different configurations, but the Temp Cast solution comes delivered on 3 pallets and you assemble the large refractory core bricks in "lego" style-- 3K lbs worth and then build a brick "veneer" around that in whatever style you like.  My wife is a professional artist and painted the tiles at the top of each face.

Temp Cast has some videos on line and watching them I felt it was more of a DIY project I could handle, and I believed I would be making a known investment in our property-- unlike with a RMH which seemed like me just playing with mud and trying to make something I know probably wouldnt' last and would probably take a lot of trial and error to perfect.    That was also the opinion of my friend who built a cob style home with RMH inside where he lived for several years with the RMH as his only heat source through our NY winters.

It seems with emerging technologies like this, trying to find "the answer" for oneself is always a moving target, and we did appreciate a turnkey solution.  Ernie and Erica's book didn't mention much for a masonry option-- which I really wanted, but didnt' know existed.  I know they wanted to focus on cost savings primarily, but in our case it wasn't a priority.

I haven't found a direct RMH vs MH efficiency source but the MHA has many articles on efficiency.  Here is are a couple I had bookmarked:

https://www.mha-net.org/video_categories/masonry-heaters/

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjijd-ToduDAxWUFzQIHfVKDE0QFnoECBAQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mha-net.org%2Fdocs%2Ftemp%2F180419%2520Masonry%2520Heaters%2520are%2520Massively%2520Comfy.pdf&usg=AOvVaw0a9sCuehN97Z9Z0VJdWm2r&opi=89978449

I expect the design of each will be the largest factor.  In general from what I've learned I think a RMH can be the most efficient, with a MH as a close second, and a wood stove a distant third even when used most efficiently (not choked to make a fire last all night).

Hi Kirsty,

We recently completed installation of a "Temp Cast" Masonry heater in our unheated basement and we've been enjoying it since November.  We burn about 40 lbs of wood every night or day and can cook meals in the bake oven (black oven) for basically free.  

We started installation in June and it has basically been a summer long project.  I got help from a friend who is a contractor who has both RHM and masonry heater expertise, but I did the majority of the work myself.  He installed the chimney through the roof and helped with initial masonry, and I learned masonry from him and finished the job.  All told the budget was almost a $30K including all parts and hired labor.  We had been heating our basement with electric space heaters-- 3KW continuously which made the electric bill very high in winter.  Now we pay ~$750 to have our first season's wood delivered.  Where I live in upstate NY there are plenty of standing old big dead ash trees and expect to get many more seasons of wood for only the labor I need to get the wood myself-- an activity I enjoy which helps keep me physically fit.

I had been intending to build a RMH for years.  I have Ernie and Erica's book and was ready to break ground but discovered the MH option last year.  For our lifestyle, budget and location a MH was more appealing for these reasons:

1) less floor space.  We didn't want a "bench" sprawling horizontally in our limted floor space which is split half living space and half storage.   A MH is more of a vertical footprint and is centrally located in our basement to provide radiant heat-- a heat which has a large vertical 8000 lb column of bricks and will hold heat for several days.  Even after two days of no fire it is warm to the touch.

2) Batch style heating much more attractive than piecemeal RMH constant feeding.  We load the wood, light it and it burns completely without needing further attention.  We would't ever go down into the basement to sit on the bench and since we both work at home we couldn't afford to interrupt our schedules to tend a fire.

3) Attractiveness: The fire is behind a large glass door and makes an attractive additon to our nightly eating and entertainment space.  We mulled over the "steel drum in our living room" and both my wife and I were ready to make that compromise, but when we discovered the MH and realized we could afford it it was an easy choice to make.

4) MH is a known quantity for code/building considerations.

5) Bake oven is an attractive built in feature.  Pizzas are wonderful and fast.  Baking bread in a dutch oven is also fast and delicious.


Here are some comparisons of RMH vs MH:

https://permies.com/wiki/207126/Carbon-Footprint-forms-heat

https://www.reddit.com/r/Permaculture/comments/jn4w8v/rocket_mass_heater_vs_masonry_heater/

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/why-dont-we-all-want-rocket-mass-heaters.160043/

https://permies.com/t/32821/Rocket-Mass-Heaters-Scandinavian-Slavic

I'll be happy to answer any questions.
Joe and Mary

Great Stuff-- I'm in.

I note the implied goals of enticing "soccer moms" and other suburbanites toward adoption-- the included cost savings comparison with natural gas for example. But I'm wondering since very few have shown a clear pathway toward navigating logistics of building codes, redesign/reuse issues of existing (forced air, electric baseboard, etc) heating systems will this actually be appealing to those NOT ALREADY pursuing (homestead) new construction? I understand enticing those who already use wood/pellet stoves for heat, but the implied natural gas substitution seems quite a jump.

I've heard a podcast with Erica describing new construction compliance issues in the Pacific Northwestern states, but until that process is neatly delineated in a way that invites exploring one's own local legal landscape I doubt many will get past the "wow" stage even after they literally warm up to the idea of an oil drum in the room. I would suggest maybe a future DVD: "Here's how to make it happen in YOUR home..." (nut just for tipis in the woods)

In any case I realize this tech is new and I eagerly await the DVDs which I will lend to friends at every chance.