Mortar progress
A picture of the mortar while it was drying. It hasn't had the top on it for a few weeks now. Lots of rust, but nothing terrible.
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First Fire
It has been a week since I mortared the fire brick into the fire box and let it dry. Today I decided to do a first fire to check it out. The top has been soaking in a flour and vinegar paste to get the rust off. I have been slowly trying to clean it without breaking out a sanding machine. The top isn't screwed down tight yet, as I want to get some more insulation to seal it with. It also doesnt have a chimney yet to draft, but I gotta say, it does cook hamburgers just fine!! After hamburgers were done, I put the handles back on the doors and got the air control dial working. Pictures in the future.
Internal Repairs on the wood cookstove
This morning I spent time rebuilding the interior air baffle that "turns on the oven heat". When open, smoke goes directly up the chimney. When closed, it forces smoke to go around the oven, heating it up before going up the chimney. The fire box got a new layer of high heat ceramic wool insulation, the same kind used in metal working furnaces. The shiney metal sheet side is towards the steel walls. I have placed some recycled brick in it to see how it will look when done. With the bricks I'm choosing, it will give a deeper fire box so we can use longer pieces of wood.
