My quest to make a beautiful rocket oven

Consider using an 8"x 8" square of Morgan superwool.  
Water glass (sodium silicate) will glue the wool to your barrel directly over the riser.
This should eliminate the super hot spot, yet still let plenty of heat thru quickly!

If this sounds like something you would like to try, PM me your address and I'll send you a square of super wool for the shipping.

The advice from Paul was to clean out all those piled up flakes, as they are creating an insulative layer and thus making the situation worse.  If there are no flakes, the heat can dissipate into the oven better, and the metal won't get quite as hot and maybe won't spall as much.

Thomas, I think your idea is terrific, and I would love to take you up on your offer.  I'm not sure how to access the spot, though.  The heat riser is cobbed onto the barrels, with hardware cloth reinforcing the cob.

I asked Eliot if there's a way to access from the back, because you can open the barrels up there, but there's a wall in the way.

Stainless steel would spall in that location, too, unfortunately. The temp at the top of the heat riser is going to exceed the working temp of any [affordable] metal alloy one could use there. (Inconel or 330 series nickel-stainless might work, but the cost is just *outrageous.*

One thing that might help would be to use high-alumina castable refractory — and coat the inside and outside of the barrel wall in that spot. The spalling itself is a result of oxygen attacking the metal when it’s white-hot…causing those oxidized chips of metal to flake off. In theory, if you can prevent the O2 from contacting the metal, then the spalling would be mitigated.

Edit: I didn’t see the 2nd page button of this thread. My post was meant to reply to Greg’s post at the end of the first page:

Greg Martin wrote:Do you think it would be hard to find a stainless steel inner drum that size?  Otherwise, I wonder if an internal stainless steel bent sheet deflector would work to help distribute the heat a little to help eliminate the focused hot spot and avoid the spalling?

 I'm inspired to use some beautiful plates I have that I never use for this -

What a brilliant idea!

Hey Julia Winter, do you have a copy of the plan for the stove, especially the bottom section where the firebox is?

try this .....https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TPoB067R7AjZXp_BnwmiHFkEg2wu0Bw8/view

Glen Thomson wrote:What a brilliant idea!

Hey Julia Winter, do you have a copy of the plan for the stove, especially the bottom section where the firebox is?

There was a whole Kickstarter, but you can still buy the DVD or view the video that describes the build here: https://permies.com/wiki/rocket-ovens

You can get the plans here: https://permies.com/w/rocket-oven-plans

Hi Julia, do I understand correctly that you bought this oven and moved it to your farm?  How did you move it in one piece? Isn't is super heavy and not to mention awkward?  What was needing to be finished after you bought it?  What is the oven part made of? Are plans available to follow to make another one like it? I don't mind the 'ugliness' as long as it functions well.  Thank you for sharing your creative way of decorating the front of it.  It turned out very nice.

Hi Denise!  The oven came in a van, it's about as heavy as two 55 gallon steel barrels, so, too heavy for *me* to lift, but not too heavy for a couple of strong men to lift.

You can watch a movie about these ovens and you can buy the plans as well.  The links to both are in my post right above yours in the thread. (This thread has gone to multiple pages, which can be confusing.)

The work of beautifying the rocket oven continues, and I cleaned out all the metal flakes from the bottom of the oven space.

Glad to see your oven is still doing well! I just read the permaculture rocket oven book and I was a bit concerned because the book made it sound like I'd be rebuilding the oven every other year almost. It seems like that hasn't been the case with yours.

Oh yes, the oven is still in use.  I haven't been out to the farm much lately but the tenants are using it. I'm told it should have a larger roof, I think that makes sense.  There's just barely enough room to stand right in front of it during rain.

This really did turn out beautiful.  I would love to make a rocket stove as beautiful as this one.  I just started watching the wood oven movie and am learning a lot.  I got some great tips on selecting a barrel and how to not blow myself up.  If you want to make a beautiful rocket stove you should absolutely check this movie out,  Here is a quick excerpt to give you a peak: https://permies.com/s/barrels

I love your mosaic!  It’s always so hard for my husband to wrap his brain around this Permaculture life because so much of it isn’t necessarily beautiful and he needs that aesthetic. He wants a pizza oven in the backyard and I want a rocket stove. You’ve proved that we can both have what we want!  Thank you!