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With any luck not. While for many they are an essential part of life and wellbeing, thankfully they are also a must have item in the country residence of anybody well off, i.e. those who make the rules, which ought to offer them protection outside of densely populated areas. Similarly I can...

They've held their value well, hundreds (possibly thousands worldwide) preserved and a handful still in commercial use in the UK. Marshalls advised against using power start cartridges except when there was real need- first start of the day in cold weather, as a lot of soot and strain on things...

Yes an early one (series 1). It's been there for decades, no idea what the story is as I imagine dozens if not hundreds of poeple have tried to buy it, a valuable and sought after machine.

I keep hearing this arguement, and understand where it comes from- yes a lot of use use social media, yes a lot of us carry smartphones everywhere, yes the government and corporations already have loads of data stored on various systems. But I still don't see that as a reason to give in and...

Great photos, nicely captured the feel of this time of the year as things start to change. A reminder to make the time and head out for mushrooms!

There's all sorts of stuff on the Aprovecho website- a lot of which is more faff than you need but you can copy the principles- these are designs which are used daily in real life in other parts of the world. In this list of stuff take a look at 'Capturing Heat', there is the original cinder...

The rough inch per hour is for normal bricks, clay and other similar densities. High density firebrick and night storage heater bricks conduct faster. Sand isn't a particularly good material for thermal storage- it's full of air pockets so the heat transfer isn't great. Used only because it is...

Give it a whirl then. Spend a month or two of weekends building one, and post up the results from the IR gun.

It depends entirely on the heat energy going into the bench vs. the heat energy lost from the bench due to surface area and outside temperature. If the channel is simply 'warm' you are likely not going to be sitting on a warm bench even after several hours of firing. And those are going to...

Cinder blocks won't last long, any cement based products will eventually spall and crack from the temperatures in the riser. Bricks will last better, firebricks even better. Insulating firebrick for the heat riser mean a very fast warm up time before getting into a clean smokeless burn. For...

With regard to benches, a rule of thumb often referenced is that heat takes an hour per inch to travel through the masonry of a hollow bell or piped bench. I can't see a heat exchanger transfering energy to a mass faster than it would lose heat, i.e. the bench is unlikly to get warm even after...

Got it, thank you! That makes a lot of sense. I assume your kitchen is well ventilated?

I've built quite a number of mass heaters over the years as new ideas have been developed by enthusiasts. Masonry stoves have been around for centuries, but 30-odd years afo hippies developed an easy and cheap to build version with very clean emissions and low fuel consumption. These 'rocket...

That's a new one on me. So many questions! Is the cabinet open at the bottom, or does it have a floor? Obviously you keep the doors open to allow thigs to dry, when do you close the doors? Why are doors needed? Do the contents get transferred to other cupboards/drawers once dry?

I also think it's a bit daft ignoring the weather- easier to legislate but there will be plenty of years where prolonged wet springs or summers massively reduce wildfire risk. The predictions of ever increasing heat and drought might not be right.

No help at all to DD, but it's scary how full of sattelites the night sky is now. Not so long ago they were an interesting happening, like meteorites. Now it's hard to scan the sky without seeing one. Negative effects for astronomers too of course.

Off grid here. I bought a cheap smartphone to tether (and only for that purpose, I don't do apps and stuff), before that I was using a little wireless box thingy. Beware- data only sims are usually a rip off, try and find a way to be able to use a normal contract with minutes/texts included...

Agreed- cleaning, scouring, walloping etc to consolidate. Fuller's earth and or urine used during degreasing and bashing. The process was mechanised when water powered fulling mills were devised. Fullering is also a metalworking term- the reduction of the thickness of stock, often using...

Thanks for that @Toddy, really interesting. I've yet to do family history research, but there is Scots there so this knowledge will be useful.

The male surname tended to overwrite the female surname at marriage, so even if women attracted surnames related to a craft, they would be lost on marriage.