"if you are looking at RMH designs we could work one up for you that looks like this. we could even put in a baking oven the only problem is the barrel being hard to get to for yearly maintenance. now a masonry stove is another critter, much more costly but they are designed for baking and such. if you have the foundation for it. RMH's are primarily for heating your house. not so many bells and whistles.  "

"Ernie - would still love to see how he built this. I would like something similar in my house but have a cooking oven as part of the design."

"thank you John!

we will keep it up as best we are able; we love our work so its not
hard to do. thank you for the encouragement

."

"very impressive, keep up the good work....John."

"bees wax melts at low temps so it tends to make the bench sticky. soap
with its converted fats melts at far higher temps. Erica and i have
had to find things to handle the heat so i Dont use linseed oil cause
it smells when it heats. i do use dung plasters and burnish them just
like a lime plaster. I do sometimes use real raw tung oil since it
tends to smell better and i put a little bit of lime in my dung
plasters. the lime will lighten up the plaster a little, but thats ok
in the long run the effect you want is the lime converting back to
stone."

"Right.  I've been using the traditional recipe of linseed oil and beeswax; do you recommend this over the other?  Rubbing with a glass bottle - nice touch.  I've been using manure in the plaster; the glass bottle would keep my hands from smelling like a barnyard for days after... ;-)"

"LOL we have below zero here. toasty with our stove ;)"

"yes it is and it heats :)"

"great idea, good conversion of old fireplace  I was wondering about this - very HOT!"

"now i want one for my dining room - today it is 5 degrees in the Big Bear Lake, CA mountains. brr "

"Thank You David.
I will let the crew that worked on it know."

"very beautiful, great craftsmanship!"

"yep we melt olive oil soap in water and rub it into the surface of the
Cob. this soaks in and then we rub it down wit a glass bottle
(Burnishing). it makes a nice smooth surface that is water and stain
resistant."

"Ernie - burnished with soap?  I'm intrigued.  Without burdening you to write too much, can you give a quick comment on that?  Cheers -"

"we would love to; however we need things like finances to travel. Nippon is an expensive place to get to from here till my boat is done. when the boat is finished then we have a way to get to places far easier and cheaper in some ways. for now the 3000 for a airline ticket is a bit steep."