A couple of Walker cook stove questions

Hi any and everyone! I have a couple of questions about Walker stoves.

1) I saw a video where Matt explains what kinds of wood he burns and for what purposea he chooses that wood. But what size of wood does the stove burn? Is it small wood, like other rocket stoves, or more traditional cut wood?

2) In a video, Matt explains why it's important to make e the core out of insulated bricks. Is there a reason to use insulated bricks on the bottom of the cook stove? Or could regular bricks be used?

If someone can answer my questions, I'd really appreciate it.

Take care.
Tiffaney in Brittany, France

Tiffaney Dex wrote:
1) I saw a video where Matt explains what kinds of wood he burns and for what purposea he chooses that wood. But what size of wood does the stove burn? Is it small wood, like other rocket stoves, or more traditional cut wood?

2) In a video, Matt explains why it's important to make e the core out of insulated bricks. Is there a reason to use insulated bricks on the bottom of the cook stove? Or could regular bricks be used?

1) Personally a mix is best. If I have it. 8-10" stuff is good for in between the door and the secondary burn pipe. otherwise 14-16" works well. I would say 14" is easier. Being that the stove is ultra hot when opening the door, its nice if it will always fit, without manoeuvring the pieces around.

2) I used insulating bricks everywhere. it amounted to 50+ insulating bricks for the core of the stove. The insulating bricks are great to work with. I wonder if you are talking about under the core?

To see my build .... https://permies.com/t/tiny-house-masonry-heater

Hi Tiffany;
As Jordan suggested 10-14" wood fits best.
The Walker firebox is not very large, your wood will need to be split down to "cookstove" size. apx 2"- 4" in dia.

The core portion of the stove is best built entirely of IFB, if cost or availability is a problem then you could get away with using heavy firebrick on the floor.
The rest of the stove is built using solid clay bricks.
Be sure to install a bypass to ease cold starts.

Thank you both very much for your answers. On the IFB question, I was talking about the layer under the core.