Mudfire IV is well underway. Let's catch up with what's already happened:
The rubble of Mudfire /// and a pile o'firebrick from Salina Concrete (I'd put in a link to their website but it's "under construction"). When I heard the price, I calculated I could afford thirty. Seems they have over a thousand of the split bricks but were reluctant to sell me any of their full-size. Shrug. I got splits.
Mitch says some of that yellow at the top of the wheat is damage caused by aphids.
Couple of days later, it's taking shape.
I actually drew a schematic diagram to make sure I wasn't going to run out of firebrick. According to the drawing I'd have one left over. Recall what they say about war and plans....
Supervisors Ezzie, left and Tommy Boy, right, with Foreman Blackie in the center, not paying attention. That's how you know he's the Foreman.
The fire will enter in the foreground, travel along the yellow brick road to the reactor, where it heads straight up. Later on the by-products will exit through that slot on the right.
The exhaust is toward the top of this image.
More days pass...
Mortaring has begun. Not pictured is the delayed-onset muscle soreness in the bellies of my calves, having pushed a few hundred pounds of dirt to the mixing area. No pain, no gain, they say. The prairie-hay aggregate is quite visible because this first course of bricks has been rained upon.
The May Day session
There will be another two courses of firebrick on top of the reactor core. That's nine more inches. The mud circle will follow along. When it's at full height, the void between the core and the mud cylinder will be filled with perlite insulation. That is supposed to keep the interior of the reactor quite hot - upwards of a thousand degrees according to the exaggerating hippies on the Internet. We'll soon see...
This is not the arrangement I'd drafted. The current layout of the reactor core provides a few square inches more space for fire. The "extra" firebrick is sitting in the reactor because it didn't know what else to do.
That rectangular hole on the left is where the fuel goes. Twigs and small branches, mostly. Air intake is from the left end. The section built with ceramic silo tiles is just a sketch for now.
Where the combustion air goes. Fuel comes down from above, at the second tile. Burning fuel then heads towards the reactor, after the third tile. See the "extra" firebrick standing there?
Today's new idea: run the exhaust along side the fire path, then make a port that lets the exhaust re-enter the fire.
Today's other new idea: build a shelf on the baker's side of the oven. I expect that using a tree branch instead of bricks/rocks would make a more suitable armature for the mud. Indeed, the dome of the oven will no doubt be formed by crudely-woven elm branches.
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