Post by Donkey on Dec 24, 2010 10:55:13 GMT -8
I posted this over at a different forum and after some reflection, figured it would go well over here.
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The house we now live in was still in the construction stages. The roof and walls were closed in but the place was totally raw, a thousand unfinished details, un-plastered bales, wires hanging, stairs leading to nowhere.. The wood stove, a work in progress, experimental ALL THE WAY, recently finished the working bits and tested ONCE to good effect.
My family had gone visiting for a couple days and I was alone, working on the house. It was a cold winter evening and after a long day of details, I was ready to warm up a bit, so I decided that it would be fun to start the cooker end of the stove, get a little heat and maybe make dinner on it.
Now, my stove (like most of the stoves I build) is rather unconventional and can be fed in a couple of different modes, from a couple of different directions. I gathered up some scrap wood and dropped it down into the stove from above, kindling first, larger stuff on top. I closed the top plate and having no paper at hand and being a little impatient, stuffed a LARGE wad of dry straw up from below. I lit the straw and expecting it to take off (like it did once before), stepped back.
The straw just smoldered half heartedly so I leaned in and blew on the mess to get it going. I kind of realized what I had done, plugged up the thing so it wouldn't draw, so I grabbed a stick and (while blowing on it) attempted to poke a hole in the mess through which it could breathe. After some effort blowing on the thing and ramming with a stick, it started to develop a little flame. What I DIDN'T realize was that I had filled up the chamber behind with flammable gasses and as soon as a little flame (and air) broke through the dam, the whole mess lit up! The thing sat quiet for a moment, then suddenly coughed a ball of flame that engulfed my left half, knocked me on my butt and filled the room with burning embers. I frantically ran around putting out little fires all over the place, it's a strawbale house and there was loose stuff EVERYWHERE which luckily didn't catch.
Well, lesson learned. The fire was now going well so I made the best of it. Baked beans from a can, a nights rest and a day later my wife came home, took one look at me and burst out laughing. I was missing most of my left eyebrow, my eyelashes, a couple inches of hair on the left side and my beard and mustache looked a bit lopsided. She didn't even ask... Gave me a peck on the cheek, shook her head, unloaded the car and herded the kids inside.
I think she's used to my escapades at this point..
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The house we now live in was still in the construction stages. The roof and walls were closed in but the place was totally raw, a thousand unfinished details, un-plastered bales, wires hanging, stairs leading to nowhere.. The wood stove, a work in progress, experimental ALL THE WAY, recently finished the working bits and tested ONCE to good effect.
My family had gone visiting for a couple days and I was alone, working on the house. It was a cold winter evening and after a long day of details, I was ready to warm up a bit, so I decided that it would be fun to start the cooker end of the stove, get a little heat and maybe make dinner on it.
Now, my stove (like most of the stoves I build) is rather unconventional and can be fed in a couple of different modes, from a couple of different directions. I gathered up some scrap wood and dropped it down into the stove from above, kindling first, larger stuff on top. I closed the top plate and having no paper at hand and being a little impatient, stuffed a LARGE wad of dry straw up from below. I lit the straw and expecting it to take off (like it did once before), stepped back.
The straw just smoldered half heartedly so I leaned in and blew on the mess to get it going. I kind of realized what I had done, plugged up the thing so it wouldn't draw, so I grabbed a stick and (while blowing on it) attempted to poke a hole in the mess through which it could breathe. After some effort blowing on the thing and ramming with a stick, it started to develop a little flame. What I DIDN'T realize was that I had filled up the chamber behind with flammable gasses and as soon as a little flame (and air) broke through the dam, the whole mess lit up! The thing sat quiet for a moment, then suddenly coughed a ball of flame that engulfed my left half, knocked me on my butt and filled the room with burning embers. I frantically ran around putting out little fires all over the place, it's a strawbale house and there was loose stuff EVERYWHERE which luckily didn't catch.
Well, lesson learned. The fire was now going well so I made the best of it. Baked beans from a can, a nights rest and a day later my wife came home, took one look at me and burst out laughing. I was missing most of my left eyebrow, my eyelashes, a couple inches of hair on the left side and my beard and mustache looked a bit lopsided. She didn't even ask... Gave me a peck on the cheek, shook her head, unloaded the car and herded the kids inside.
I think she's used to my escapades at this point..