Joy amidst some serious trials

Thanks. I have 6-8 cords of 3 year good seasoned wood, oak, cherry, ash and locust, at my home in Johnstown, but I'm living 45 miles away at my parents home in Hollidaysbrg, and I no longer have my Expedition and 16 foot duel axle trailer to move it. I couldn't load and unloit now if I did. That's my main frustration. I have a new, pretty ingenious rocket stove design ready to build here.

 

Brian thanks for sharing the link. glad you are still improving.. don't underestimate your ability to write teach and educate... you have done so for me immensely!

 

X2

 

Glad to see your still very active Brian, and your mind hasn't lost a step despite your rocky road

Rocket stove pics would be appreciated when you get it going.

 

I just picked up firebrick for the body of the stove today as well as a bench/bell. They're 18"x9"x4 1/2" firebrick, heavy(!) and came out of a refractory factory that made bricks but closed in the 1960s. A local salvage yard that deals with commenrial and industrial building supplies had them half buried in the back of their lot. They were only 75 cents each!! I doubt you could buy any this large now, or if you could, they'd cost a small fortune.

I'm going to use the vacuum formed ceramic fiber riser, and cut another one of them in half and cut a 2 1/3 inch channel for the rear of the firebox. With these huge firebrick, it should simplify construction. They also had a half dozen 5" terra cotta type chimney pipe rings for fireplaces/stoves/furnaces exits. So I'll use two of these on the barrel to simplify the manifold and two on entrance to the bench. They had 15 feet of flex chimney liner I'll use to connect the barrel manifolds to the bench/bell.

 

For anyone interested, I was on the EWTN Radio network this afternoon with Barbara McGuigan talking about my recent essay about the strokes I experienced in light of redemptive suffering. They have over 360 stations. The show is available as an MP3 file, with my segment starting at 55:15;
http://listen.ewtn.com/~JW/~JW...

 

Lol....My favorite bartender in the whole world is named Barara..Just saying...

 

Thanks again Scotty. I managed to built some stake sides on Tim's ( TurboDiesel 's) 6.5'x22' aluminum trailer and managed to move about 2 cords of well seasoned wood over to my mom's in Hollidaysburg from my backyard in Johnstown. It's about a third unloaded and stacked here now but I've moved about as much as I'm going to be able to given my limited physical reserves. If you're able to leave some ash, or something else relatively easy for me to split with my Fiskars, it would be greatly appreciated.

This was my first big project with power tools since the strokes. I'd like to think it turned out fairly well, especially since I was working by myself with scraps leftover from a carpenter who built a carport next to the back porch for my mom:

 

Excellent job! That's got to feel good getting that accomplished.

 

Yes, thanks.

It's hard to express just how important it's been to my morale.

(You should see a guy with a cane dragging around 16' lumber!)

 

LOL. That's determination good sir!

 

That certainly paints a mental picture, one I would have liked to witness!

My cane is a new specialized type I use more for balance than support. The forearm sits in the crook and the hand grasps the regular handle:


Tim's trailer holds a LOT of firewood!

 

That truck had NO problem pulling it. Even with well over 160,00 miles, it's a TurboDiesel beast!

But I started loading the first half last Thursday, a beautiful bright sunny day, and I wasn't watching the weather. We had torrential rain all night and I finished filling it Friday with some help. We created some big ruts in my backyard getting it out, but we didn't get it stuck, thank heavens.

Sue and Tim think I'm nuts for moving it, but it's at least 4 year seasoned combo of oak, ash, locust, hard maple, and cherry.

 

Wow look how far you have come....You are doing awesome...