

Step 4: We added a bit of insulation to the bottom (even below where the logs are placed) and then continued to cob up around the pipe. All of those spaces were filled either with insulation or cob. Note the space around the pipe for our insulation (pearlite). The photo below shows how we placed the pipe. Beginning to add cob mortar to the rocket stove! After tapping, we used a level to make sure that we were building level as we went–both vertically and horizontally. Then we placed the bricks, tapping them into place. The photo below shows us learning about brick laying! As we put the bricks into place, we dunked each brick in water, then added cob to the brick. Step 2: After we were satisfied with our design, which consisted of a piece of fireplace pipe, insulation, and an outer layer of bricks with a cob mortar, we began the process of putting the stove together. You need something that can handle repeated heat-ups and cool downs and that is fire-resistant. New red bricks are different and don’t work as well. Deanne told us that the bricks are important–old, red bricks work fine. We began with mocking up what our rocket cookstove would look like using bricks. So after building this quick stove, we set to work about 8′ away from it to build a cob-and-rocket cookstove. Turns out, the rumford design is really good for that! Here’s our fire going strong, even in the pouring rain! Rumford in Rain! I ended up tending the fire for a lot of the day, and worked to build a fire that would keep out the rain and protect the coals. It was such a simple, elegant design–and it worked SO well in keeping us warm! Building Rumford Temporary Fireplace – to keep us warm! So we decided we’d also build a “rumford” fireplace that reflected heat back to us as we worked. But it gave us a good idea about what the inside of one of these could look like.īefore we set to building our own fireplace, it was quite cold and a little rainy. This stove doesn’t have much insulation at all. You can see the “J” shape made with bricks. The above photo is a bare-bones rocket stove that Deanne had on the property. Deanne’s indoor rocket stove couch! Deanne explains the rocket stove Close-up of stove diagram Rocket stove #2 (bare bones stove) One form that Deanne has in-progress at the Strawbale Studio is a heating bench that goes the entire way around the natural building, so that people will warm up as they sit. The basic principle of the rocket stove is that it uses a “J” shaped design to funnel heat through the stove system–the stove system can take many forms.

Deanne says this kind of rocket stove heating system is best for long-term heating. The bench heats up at 1″ per hour when the rocket stove is going, so if there is 4″ of cob (a sand/clay mixture), it will take four hours to get warm. Deanne’s indoor rocket stove features a cob bench. Typically, they are being used for two things in natural building: heating spaces and/or people and cooking. The plan next year is to build a rocket-stove cob baking oven and a rocket stove cooking oven. I took this workshop because we’ve been talking about building an outdoor kitchen. I’m quite excited about rocket stoves, because they use simple materials to create incredibly energy-efficient ways of cooking and heating. In this second Natural Building post, I’m going to talk about the rocket stove workshop itself. Earlier this week, I blogged about my visit to the Strawbale Studio. This article was published as part of IndieWire’s ’ 90s Week spectacular. If the spectrum of answers - and the enthusiasm with which we received them - made one thing perfectly clear, it’s that every week is still ’90s week for someone. Some participants chose to provide insightful lists, while others bared their soul with annotated confessionals. The responses we received ran the gamut (though some choices were inevitably common). We reached out to over 60 actors, directors, writers, and so forth - an eclectic mix of luminaries from then and now and all points in between - with a simple question: What are your 10 favorite movies of the ’90s? So now, as IndieWire’s ’90s Week extravaganza winds down, we thought we’d turn the mic over to the people on the other side of the screen, and see what they find most precious about the decade that was. We wrote about how ’90s movies shaped us, how visionary artists like Gregg Araki and Bill Duke shaped them, and what love had to do with it. We listed our favorite performances, scores, and even made a video countdown of the decade’s greatest needle-drops. We ranked the 100 best movies of the ’90s.
