Burlington Cook-along

[BrewerMo]

So... I have heat treated Burlington chert a few times successfully and a few times unsuccessfully in my Firecheif woodstove. Normally I burry my rock under 3 to 5" of ash and building a fire on top. This time I'm doing it a little different. I shoveled out a trench in the ash and lined it with foil. Then I set in all my rock and covered it with sand. Then I covered that with foil, then ash and built a fire on top. I'm a little worried that some of my rock near the top didn't get covered by much, but we will see...😁.  with the blower on front of the woodstove it's easy to over cook the rock if it's not deep enough. This batch is mostly flakes and chunks that didn't respond much to my turkey roaster.  I did put a few nice raw pieces in there tho. I will post the results here.🤞

[Parnell]

That's interesting...don't think I've seen anybody use a woodstove to cook rock, yet.

[bjrogg]

I'm watching 
Bjrogg

[BrewerMo]

It's been a small steady fire since last night.. I might open the blower a little more and raise  the temperature tonight.

[Chippintuff]

This is interesting. I want to see how this turns out.

Have any others of you tried cooking rock in a wood burning stove?

WA

[BrewerMo]

I let the fire burn out during the day today. All that's left now is coals on top and down in the ash. I'm guessing it won't be cool enough to check until Thursday..😁

[Chippintuff]

I use a turkey roaster, but a lot of people cook them in the ground like ancient people did. One time I tried it for curiosity, and it was easy and effective. If there is no prohibition against having an outdoor fire, and little to no danger of the fire causing damage, it is still a good way to do it, especially if the rock is a type that needs really high heat.

If your stove fire were built on the ground, I know it would work. I wonder what the air circulation below the stove does to the heat.

WA

[BrewerMo]

WA, I, have done this a few times now and had both success and failure. When it does fail, it's from getting too hot. The rock will get super brittle.

[BrewerMo]

So I checked it when I got home from work this afternoon and it was cool enough to pull. You can tell it took some heat but it definitely could have taken some higher temps. I was being cautious because you can always cook it again...😁. Some got slick and a little color but definitely not what I was hoping for this time. Next cold stretch I will crank it up a little hotter....

[Chippintuff]

I'll make a suggestion that I have not tried yet but will in the future. Put those in a plastic (waterproof) bag to keep till the next cook time. Maybe that will keep humidity from getting into them. That should eliminate the drying cycle on the next heating, and you can start the cook faster.

WA

[BrewerMo]

That's a good idea WA...

[bjrogg]

BrewerMo just curious. Have you ever tried putting them in a tin bucket surrounded by dry sand and burning fire arround them? I've been tempted to try it with a campfire. Might be hard to do in woodstove.
Bjrogg

[Chippintuff]

BJ, I think it would be easy to get them too hot that way, just a guess. Most rock requires 500*F or less.

I would like to find a good way to thoroughly dry the rocks before the cooker is ever turned on, but in a humid climate, that may not be a practical alternative to drying with the cooking.

WA

[bjrogg]

Chip I was thinking the same thing but from Zuma's pottery threads if I understand correctly that similar to how they cook their pottery. It's been awhile since I've seen that thread though. It does seem like it would be easy to overcook or heat to fast.
Bjrogg

[BrewerMo]

I would agree. Seems like it might heat up too fast and or cool down to fast. But I bet you could figure out a way to make it work. The few times I have cooked under an outside fire have went well and been relatively easy. The hardest part for me was tending to the fire. From what I've read, alot of Burlington does best when held at it max temperature for 72 hours. I will definitely cook some more outside when weather and time permit.