[Cob] Rocket oven - deliciously clean fire

[Erica [Ritter] Wisner]

Hi cobbers,
We just got to spend a scrumptious month in Montana, bake-testing this
highly efficient rocket oven at Wheaton Labs.  It's made with recycled
steel drums and good insulation, and a tiny bit of cob in the seals and
firebox.

This lighter-weight, insulated rocket oven preheats way faster than a cob
oven.  Although, as you'd expect, the baking temps fluctuate more too.

It burns incredibly efficiently - very little if any smoke; and we rarely
needed more than 3lbs of wood (a single firebox load, plus a few sticks to
maintain temp) to bake multiple batches of cookies, breads, roasts, or
what-have-you.
A full night of personal pizzas (a couple dozen pizzas at 500 F) took about
6 lbs of wood, or less than one armload / cardboard crate of sticks and
kindling.

A lighter-mass oven can be an excellent tool for single-family cooking,
small groups (up to about 20 people) that don't bake every day, or a more
portable lifestyle while you're searching for your Place.

For photos and video, please check out this Kickstarter page, and support
the creators:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/paulwheaton/rocket-
ovens-feature-length-documentary?ref=6fpde9

Full disclosure: This is an affiliate link, meaning that a percentage of
your Kickstarter support will go back to the person responsible for sharing
this link with you.  You can request your own affiliate link from the
Kickstarter creator if you like.

Cob confession: In the example shown, only a very small amount of cob was
used to seal the edges of the metal and insulation area, and it is not
really a "cob oven" as such.
For a more earthy look and feel, if you don't need the oven to be portable,
you can build it with a brick or cob firebox, and/or wrap the oven's outer
skin in earthen plaster.

Thanks for letting us share our latest project here!
More photos, and a shortcake recipe, are at Ernie and Erica's blog here:
http://ernieanderica.blogspot.com

Or you can see Erica baking and chatting on the Kickstarter videos, here:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/paulwheaton/rocket-
ovens-feature-length-documentary?ref=6fpde9

Happy baking, and best of summer to you.

Thanks,
Erica Wisner