Log burner flue issue

[Orraloon]

You could make a brick rocket burner outside, with a cavity to put in a few loose fire bricks. Heat them up, then use metal-work tongs to transfer them into a grate in the studio. Sauna-style. My question to you is how do you split eucalyptus? I took down a big limb from a blue gum and cut it into log lengths. My splitter won’t go into it, my large Fisk axe actually bounces off it, and wedges just break chunks off the wood. I'm going wait until it dries out to try again. How are you doing yours?

The trick with splitting eucalyptus is cut the logs short. About 10''. I had a slow combustion heater for about 20 years and cut all my own wood. I used a block splitter. That said some is so spirally and twisted in the grain that only the chainsaw will split it. I soon learned what not to bring home as some species of euc are not worth the effort. There are many hundreds of species
Regards
John

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Years ago I logged a lot of elm - I very quickly got used to sawing much of it into blocks rather than splitting it.

 

[Garden Shed Projects]

Have you considered a electric storage heater to take advantage of cheaper electricity at night on an economy 7 tarif. Or maybe a solar panel to charge it. It sounds like a wood burner to meet your acoustic needs is going to be expensive.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

You need heavy overnight usage to justify e7, your daytime rate is higher. If you were to fit storage heaters throughout the house it might ........ might .... pay.

 

[WillM]

I'm reminded of how our stone age ancestors solved the problem - and (I believe) some "modern" Mongolian and Inuit groups live in the traditional way.

Basically a conical roof space with a hole at the top and the fire below. I assume it sort of works as a giant chimney with most of the smoke eventually finding its way out.

For many communities it may have been a compromise existence balancing lung damage against far faster demise through exposure to the inclement elements!

Unless you want to radically redesign your workshop, following building regulations may be the better option!

It was the middle England cottage house too. Open fire with smoke going out between the tiles. Everything black.