by matt walker » Thu Dec 19, 2013 11:53 pm
Manny, sheet steel? Like I made the Walker Stove with? That one was 16g steel I got through one of my metal boat building friends and their supplier contacts. It was only about $100 for a 5'x10' sheet.
The first test "broken riser" I built I just let the barrel support the riser where the penetration was, and used mud at the joint above the core.
I should clarify that I'm not building a cook stove. One of the most exciting things about this discovery is how it opens up a whole new format with regards to shapes and heights. So yeah, for a cook top I'd for sure cut the riser's top at an angle and then reattach that piece so it turned the riser to point at the bottom of a cook surface. In the case of the heater I'm building, I did just pack all around the core and exposed riser with cob. Just now, in fact.
The riser is pretty dang horizontal Manny. I didn't intend for it to be, but height of core plus insulation underneath brought up the core, and I am trying to limit myself vertically as much as possible, so it's almost horizontal. Might be actually, I didn't get a level out. It burns like crazy. Like, seriously, roars like no other J tube I've built. I think it might actually accelerate the gasses since they need to travel farther to get to the same height as in a vertical riser. Like a water skier cutting across a wake, if that makes sense. I'm really, really excited about this discovery. It opens up a whole lot of new design possibilities. Overall system height of this 6" J is 36", which is a big difference over the 56" of my home heater, and 60" for the Walker Stove. Plus, hottest spot is not barrel top, but lower and in front, right where I want it. So cool.