Will Carter

F Styles wrote:

John McDoodle wrote: But I still believe the dakota fire hole is the way to go

i agree the D-hole looks like the best idea. good it was created in Dakota and not the Appalachians. i think people have no idea how to connect to the simple things and over complicate and split hairs... keep it simple.

Well Styles...like you said...I've got time to test my sketch out...I think its exactly what I'm going to do. I live in an area where I can't test it, however my father's house about an hour away, is in the country and he's retired construction super intendent (much materials) I'll probably see if it works around March or April once weather is on the good side.

F Styles wrote:I do have to point out that the topic is "Theoretical Survival Rocket Stove Space Heater" and in a survival situation, I dont know about you but what i can imagine survival i am not thinking of a modern air tight heavy insulated house... im thinking of a very drafty survival TIPI, log cabin or leantoo and gas build up does not seem to be as big of a problem as a modern air tight heavy insulated home. not saying that you can but im thinking down in the dirt wild crafting survival.

the outer clay bell i would mix with sand and some kind of fiber straw or such to give it strength and it should stand up to the lower temps since the bell is the cooling area and not the internal burn chamber or heat riser.

Well F Styles, I'll come clean on the survival situation. I'm going to be doing a casting video in May for ALONE Season 3 on History, and I have been pondering this type of fire heating system for the shelter (which will be 4-8 inch wide dual walls with moss between as insulation, then mud daub on the inside wall surface and shedding foliage on the outside surface. So there will be no drafty shelter. The top will be canvas A frame with an under skeleton framing 4 inches away...once again filled in with moss for insulation. That's plan A anyhow. I always keep plan B and C ready. The drawing I had earlier was my train of thought to get the flue and chimney outside the shelter as to not incur a leaking problem were I have to go through the roof.

thanks for your input

F Styles wrote:the answer is yes you can do this with no modern metals or fire bricks. the best natural material i can think of is natural clay and if found in the wild you can build a very nice RMH. the better the natural clay the better the RMH. to make a RMH core without any modern materials i would mix the purest clay you got with fine saw dust you make from your hand saw... you will have a hand saw in the bush right? mix the clay and sawdust and lay out a good flat base the side of your RMH core. then pile moist sand (not too moist) into a RMH core along the flat clay sawdust foundation you made and then cover it with a good 4'' of clay sawdust mix. once that dries, build a sand stack to match the interior of your heat riser and then line the out side of it with the clay sawdust mix and let it all dry. once dry you carefully and i mean carefully dig out the sand. you can also replace the sand with hollow 6'' to 8'' logs to use as support to build your core and heat riser and then layer the 4'' clay sawdust mix on the out side. wait for the clay to set and then burn out the hollow log core and it will for a nice insulated fire clay core and the sawdust will create air pockets and make your clay insulative. if you feel you need to build an outer "bell" do the same with hollow logs or sand and coat it with clay and straw mix. make your ducts out of clay and rocks and build a rock and clay chimney. thats how i would build my bush craft RMH if i had no modern materials.

this clay does not build a very rugged core but if you are not rough with it, it should last a while. just dont jam your sticks into the feed area and dont get rough with cleaning it out.

But without clay available(worst case scenario), the RMH isn't possible to make in this situation?

Thanks again for the Olsen link...I've already known about that style and was planning on doing the flue system like that. The issue is the oven... it's draft pulls back straight through to the flue pathing... therefore it acts like a wood stove. We put a pot of water on top of a wood stove for humidifying the basement in winter as it's so dry. Problem is due to the direction of heat drafting, the water just slow simmers...never boiling. That's where the space heater up and down draft comes in...it pulls the heat up to the top, which heats the cooking surface. Oh wait! I have an idea....doing a drawing and will try to attach it, and you tell me if this will work... in the diagram, I guess I'm wondering if the updraft elbow to the rock will disturb the draft flow through the rest of the system?

Roberto pokachinni wrote:Just before the title and description that the link leads you to is a neat sketch of one style. If you scroll up on that link you'll see it. That sketch uses forked branches to hold up the bed stones. Another style is using stones to line the edge of the trench to rest the bed stones on.

As far as super primitive and simple rocket stove set ups, you might be better off with this (I'm sending you the crazy russian hacker link because I think he's great fun, but there are lots of youtube dakota fire holes to search and watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H83A-TaszZs

There are also versions of this put inside tent set ups on youtube to heat a space. Have fun with it.

Thank you very much....I'm at work, but soon as I get home, I'll delve into it all

Hey guys,

I have been wondering about whether it is feasible to construct a rocket stove space heater in the wilderness with no access to modern materials. My concerns are...

1. The Insulator material separating the up/down drafts. Is it possible to use a mud/sand/small gravel combination when clay sediments aren't found readily? Sort of a homemade mortared rock and sand/gravel for the center and outer cylinders with a flat (sealed) rock on the top for the cooking surface, is along the lines I was pondering. And then in the underground exhaust lines, using cored out 8 inch green tree trunks in the area where the temps have receded far enough down.

2. Would the flat rock top stove surface be as convenient heating a pot of boiling water as a thin top surface of a metal barrel?

Thanks for any help you can give me on the subject.

Will