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Re: Kominka

Posted: Sat May 07, 2016 12:53 pm
by BrettRas
This old clock was in a closet. Cleaned it up and wound the mechanisms... still works very well!
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Re: Kominka

Posted: Sun May 08, 2016 11:16 pm
by iamsen
BrettRas wrote:Do you mean the shoji to the right of the tokonoma? Those were there, I just cleaned and re-papered them.
Oh, nice. Only shoji I've ever seen are the typical gridlock ones.

Re: Kominka

Posted: Tue May 24, 2016 4:11 pm
by BrettRas
This past week I had the floorboards up to level a section of floor that wasn't quite right. I decided that while everything was cleared out I would go ahead a build a hori-kotatsu to make the colder winter days a bit more comfortable. I had also just received a half-size tatami mat from a neighbor, which allowed me to take up exactly a half-mat's space with the sunken space in the floor.

Nothing fancy, used all recycled materials, floor boards and other random wood found upstairs in the house.

A small hibachi with charcoal sits down in the bottom at your feet, and of course the table and blanket go over the top.

Really nice place to sit in the winter! I really like this type of charcoal heated sunken hibachi!
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Re: Kominka

Posted: Wed May 25, 2016 6:36 am
by Zasso Nouka
That looks great Brett, really nice work :thumbup:

Re: Kominka

Posted: Fri May 27, 2016 6:06 am
by xxxxtom
Good one Brett , you might have to up charcoal production. It's good you can sit and keep your toes warm . What is the ceiling above or is it that almost no smoke will build up and not be a problem?
Cheers

Re: Kominka

Posted: Fri May 27, 2016 8:47 am
by BrettRas
Hey Tom, thanks.

Yep, might have to do an extra batch next time. It'll be interesting to see how much more I actually do use.
The ceiling above is wide & thick handcut floorboards with large spanning beams spaced a meter or so apart. There is a removable section above where the irori sits. However the charcoal burns without smoke, so it's not necessary to have a place for it to escape to.

Re: Kominka

Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2016 1:03 pm
by BrettRas
Fired up the kamado today. I had been planning to run the chimney outside through the wall and then up the side of the house. Originally it had gone straight up out the roof, but that had apparently caused leaking problems. When I got here, the kamado obviously hadn't been used in years and the chimney was not connected outside any longer and the leaky section of roof had been repaired.

After thinking about it more, I realized that I might be making it way more complicated than it need be. Why couldn't I just let the smoke up into the rafters? After all, that is how things were before this version of the kamado was even built. And anyways, there really isn't much smoke made when using it.

So I tested my theory today. It went like I thought! Not much smoke even coming out, and what did just lightly hung about a bit upstairs, enhancing the kominka atmosphere. I had worried that passerby's not accustomed to people using fire to cook anymore might think the house was on fire, but there is nowhere near that level of smoke. Nothing at all was visible from the outside of the house.

I think this is going to work out just fine :D

(Click video to start playing)

Re: Kominka

Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2016 4:33 pm
by BrettRas
Now starting the journey to compacted earth floor for the doma. Step 1, concrete removal:
https://gotoexperience.wordpress.com/20 ... e-removal/

Image

Re: Kominka

Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2016 6:22 am
by Zasso Nouka
How do you get rid of the concrete Brett ?

Re: Kominka

Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2016 6:52 pm
by BrettRas
Zasso Nouka wrote:How do you get rid of the concrete Brett ?
I'll haul it to the nearby disposal yard the town runs. It'll probably cost 500 yen or so.