Pershern

Buckley Rumford Fireplaces
Pershern Rumford & Oven

From: "Andy Pershern"
To: buckley@rumford.com
Subject: A 48"Rumford in CDA, Idaho, and 24" Bake oven
Date: Mon, 30 Jan 2006
Hello, My name is Andy Pershern, I was informed of you when designing my house here on Harbor Island near Coeur d' Alene. Jack Parent, a very close friend, on Matts Matts bay in Western Wa. informed me of your website. I looked up Rumford on the web, bought the required parts, had a mason install and build it after I had a back surgery when starting the house.
We have an incredible 48" Rumford in a 2800 sf Timber frame type home, Thick Slab on grade w/radiant heat. The fireplace is in the middle of the main room and has an attached Bake oven at counter height facing the kitchen @ 90 degrees off the fireplace. The whole fireplace structure is in the middle of the house. The whole unit acts like a radiator!
The Rumford has burned steady the past 2 winters here from the 1st of Oct to @ May 1st. It contributes 60% + of the heat in the winter for the house except for upstairs isolated areas behind walls. We burn logs to 4' long standing up teepee style w/ no problems whatsoever. It radiates heat in a hallway leading to a staircase on the backside. It warms the whole open lower area of the house so well the radiant is hardly used except for when the floor gets cold!

The bake oven has been used extensively also. We primarily Burn a hot fire for @ 1.5 - 2 hrs, let a bed of coals burn down red to @ 4" deep and grill Steaks, chops, fish and chuck roasts, right on the red bare coals. An onion or two are put in 20 min prior and green Chiles or Red bells @ 5 min prior to steaks and all comes out magnificent.
Steaks are best done rare to med in this operation, but they will taste like nothing you have ever had. I have cooked on a fire in the open and in fireplaces my whole life. That gave me the incentive to put the Bake oven in w/ the fireplace. This has been a incredible addition to a grand kitchen and rustic home. The neighborhood and any guests have been amazed when having steaks, when someone first hears they are going straight on the coals. But when they taste them- well it's a whole other story!
I have had only 1 problem w/ the bake oven. The Superior clay arch and 1st flue piece are falling apart some. I will be working on it sometime this spring. I am fully capable of repairing it. But I would like to find a double insulated door for it. The handle burned off long ago and we just handle it w/ welding gloves now. Even they are not insulated enough for very long contact.
You have a very informative website and it helped us design an incredible Kitchen & open family area. I hope you enjoy the attached photos of the Fireplace and the tending of steaks in the bake oven. It only takes @ 2+ min per side!
Best regards,
Andy Pershern

From: "Andy Pershern"
To: "Jim Buckley"
Subject: Pics & Info
Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2006
Jim,
Yes you may use the Pics, and info for your website. Here's a few more. I am the one on the right w/ two guys in the Pic in this series. the other guy, a friend - Rick Kegley was the one tending the bake oven in the first pics I sent you. I have a few others, I'll look through them & find a few more good ones & send them to you. Say- Do you have access to someplace or know of to get a screen for a 48". We use a shorter one, but would like to find a full height one for nights w/big fires of crackling fir! I am glad to enjoyed the info, it truly is an amazing steak cooker!
Best regards,
Andy Pershern*

Jim,
This is most of what I have on Digital at the moment. I will try to get some larger views so you get a better feel for what the whole rock structure is. You can walk completely around it. It has a stone bench on the back side @ 19" off floor behind the fireplace, ending where the mass is thicker towards the kitchen where to back oven is. It really warms up nice on the back radiating up a stairway to the upstairs open loft on the back side of the fireplace.
The stone all came from NW Montana, except for one piece of Basalt at the right side in front, sort of a staging spot for kindling and separator for standing logs close to, but out of burning range for storage. That basalt stone has a "saddle top" and is perfect to sit on to warm up also. It is VERY comfortable. I hand picked it in a basalt field. It weighs @ 500 lbs. The Service/serving counter on the bake oven is high server height as counters go - so you don't have to bend down to look or work inside. The material here is a slab of Idaho silver quartzite, flat with a smooth/rough surface w/ @ 1/8" amplitude, it works very well to warm plates for serving while you are cooking in the oven.
It is quite an entertainment piece, some of our good friends that summer here and are from Santa Fe, N Mex. have 3 Rumfords in their house down there. After the 1st time having steaks w/us, they were very exited about it. I was home alone one weekend while finishing a slab in my new shop, they walked by w/ friends from N. Mex, and told me to go light the fire! They were coming over for Dinner, and I was to cook! Well they brought the steaks for 7, Peppers, FRESH N. Mexico green Chiles, All the other salads, breads, Wine, ect and we had a feast!
It was his partner from Santa Fe who is a Developer/Banker/Builder, they were all amazed with the dinner after being somewhat skeptical prior seeing where the cooking was to take place! Any how, they stated that they had just had the best steaks they had ever had anywhere. That is the usual comment we get from everyone- even non steak lovers. So now, we also skewer marinated shrimp, fish, wild game tenderloin pieces, veggies and fruit. It all sears very fast from the heat radiating off the roof of the oven, sealing in the flavor & Juices. Kabobs on a 4' long steel skewer works well - you can't get much closer to it!
Well, We really love the whole combination of the Fireplace and bake oven. It has made this quite a house to enjoy cooking and gathering, not to mention the heat gain in the house. In the summer we use it less, But stop mostly only in the dog days when it is 90+ degrees outside. We can do a quick fire and cook, shut the door up and it doesn't heat the place up much at all if we keep it quick. We have cooked in it @ 30-35 times in almost 2 years. We don't have AC, but with the shade of big timber very close to the house, a concrete mono slab on insulation and slate floors in comb w/ the stone in the FP/BO it stays cool very well.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Best regards,
Andy Pershern