Rocket stove in my shop

[Multifaceted]

If the Florida heat and humidity don't kill you, Florida Man probably will... I tell you, there's something in the water down there...

And don't flame me for saying that, I have family that lives there.

 

[unclemoustache]

I'll take the dry of the West any day. Montana, Colorado, Wyoming, etc. Anywhere along the Rockies is heaven to me.

 

[Multifaceted]

I'll take the dry of the West any day. Montana, Colorado, Wyoming, etc. Anywhere along the Rockies is heaven to me.

Same, but I would even prefer farther north... Wife would never go for it, so it's only a pipe dream. I'm the type of person who wears means in the dog days of summer. To hell with hot and warm weather, give me a cold sunny day near freezing with little wind and I'll be as happy as a clam.

 

[unclemoustache]

RHM is done!!!

It was a lot more expensive than I anticipated, but that's OK. The book I mentioned earlier was very helpful. I totally followed their sample build with a 6" stovepipe. Anyway, enough talk - on to the pics!!!


Laid out a cement board and leveled it with concrete leveler.






Building the burner. I used refractory cement. I wish I would have used clay slip. I bought a 20 lb box of molding clay from Hobby Lobby, not knowing how much slip that clay would make, and then you add 4 parts sand. I could have built many of these with that single lump of clay.




Got a couple barrels for $15 each, and burned off the paint.





Another quality delivery from UPS. This is the ceramic fiber blanket. No harm done, but annoying anyway.





Blanket wrapped around the chimney. I used the clay slip for the chimney and found out how far that clay would go.

 

[unclemoustache]

I made one modification to the original plan - I put an opening here for ease of cleanout and an air opening should it be needed.







Sample fit





Refractory mortar to hold the lower barrel in place.





Prepped everything (sanding, etc) and painted the barrel with hi-temp paint. It's a darker green than I wanted. I considered some kind of design (like a camouflage) or a more detailed painting, but decided on simple. I put vegetable oil on the inside of the barrel.










The final product. No, I don't care that I sprayed on the mortar.







The first fire was supposed to be at a low heat for a couple hours to help cure the paint.






So today I hope to clean up the shop, finish organizing everything, and put up that heat shield.
Very happy with how it works so far. That draft is tremendous! I use a couple bricks to keep the opening small. I'd like something prettier. I have some more of those steel plates.

 

[unclemoustache]

I might want to reconsider that one.
I did NOT expect that to get so hot. Even the top of the barrel hasn’t gotten about 500 deg.
It’s very interesting to see where the heat is. Very unexpected for some of it.

 

[Multifaceted]

Definitely keep and eye on that, but this is very cool! Good thread, Unc!