Got the small wood gas stove going better today.

[Troy Ammons]

Wrapped it with 2 layers of thermatec.

Here are some pics. I finally decided to get my new website going.

Trying out a new HTML WYSIG program.

Click on the "How to build a simple light small wood gas stove" link and there is a description of how to build this stove and some burn pictures.

I have still not gotten it to fire off as fast and as reliably as I want. It really sputters for quite a while until it goes into gas mode but I am getting close.

At any rate it burned for 23 minutes total on 1.2 oz of wood.

Link – how to build it…

http://www.hobohilton.com/

[liang kong]

Hi troy
Nice design,
This is my one single wall with the dimension 15cm(height)*10cm(bottom)

[Troy Ammons]

Nice pot stand.

I still have to work on that. I had a super light one set up to fit a big Heineken can, but it did not hold up.

[Unknown abc]

good job! those are some sweet flames…

How much does the rig weigh?

cheers

[Troy Ammons]

With the insulation, coil wire and alum tape as shown on the linked site, about 3 oz.

[Sean OLeary]

I've been working on a stove also made with a quart can and a vegetable can and I it seems like with such a small gap between the cans it wasn't getting quite enough air to use in the secondary combustion. With that taper of the hiney can going right up near your secondary holes on the inner can she might be running a bit lean. Two things I tried, both of which worked: 1. on one stove I made a second row of small holes about 3/4s of the way up the can giving more secondary air. 2. on another stove I just made the holes at the bottom bigger and that also solved my problem, plus allowed the secondary air a longer path to get heated up before combustion, so I ultimately went with solution #2.
Hope that helps, nice work by the way.

Good Luck
RED

[Troy Ammons]

I also made a big stove early on, not knowing where to start. Made with a soup can for a burner, but I thought it was too big. Put off a hell of a flame though.

I think ideally just guessing of course, since it burns from the top down, it seems like a taller innner can the better, IE at least 2X as tall as it it in diameter. Cans like that are hard to find though.

I still have my Tig welder so maybe I will fire it up one day and make the real deal, a drilled stainless steel version. A titanium can would be nice too.

About the 2nd or 3rd design was one of these sardine cans in a soup can, pretty much built the same way, except you have to cut a hole in the top of the can.
It actually fired off better. The steel outer can holds heat better but it was heavier.

I thought about adding a 2nd set of holes a little lower.

This current heiny stove would not work with just 4 holes in the base. Not enough O. Went to 8 and that helped.

Life span of the aluminum can is in question, but I will fire it off daily until it fails. Seems like its holding up okay though.

Of course you could always carry a 6 pack of Heinelken and some sardines on the trail.

Edit…….

The large stove I built was out of a large tall can, goya black beans and a tall olive can. Also goya or maybe Iberia I think. It has a recessed bottom too.

That inner can is not as big as a soup can in diam. Maybe 2-2.5" in diam. Bigger in diam and much taller than the sardine can.
It is a real burner though, just too big for me.

[Chris Harbert]

I recently built a woodgas stove from a 1qt. paint can and a 1 pt. paint can. It will run for 1 hour on two cupped handfuls of wood pellets and cooks with an almost blue flame. As soon as I can find some more 1pt. paint cans (unused) I will show photos of the construction process. Thinking about trying one using a 1pt. paint can for the outer can, but I am not sure there would be enough draft to ensure a good burn. Any feedback would be appreciated.

[Troy Ammons]

It will work if you have the holes set up right.

My inner can was very very small, IE the smallest sardine can and about 2" in diameter.

[Franco Darioli]

I have made a few wood burning stove including versions similar to the J Falk and some BushBuddy copies.
They all work, the problem is that after a while the cans will rust.
Franco

[Keith Selbo]

That is one light stove and excellent craftsmanship.

A couple of things I've learned from using the stove I made out of 0.005 titanium for the last two years might help you with getting your stove started. I put a pencil sized roll of fiberglass cloth under my grate (the coil in your stove). I put about ten drops of charcoal lighter on the cloth, light it and immediately drop a small handfull of 1/8 inch or smaller diameter twigs on top the grate. It always lights off. As soon as it gets going you can add pencil width chunks of wood. This works every time in my stove.

You don't need to carry a long lighter to light the lighter fluid. I put one drop of charcoal lighter on the end of a twig, light the twig and touch it to the cloth. The lighter fluid is virtually odorless and has twice the heat output per drop of alcohol.

I'd skip the stainless steel and go straight to titanium. It's fantastic stuff. It weighs next to nothing, cuts like paper, can take the heat and it never rusts. My stove is about twice the size of yours but weighs only 4 oz. One downside. 0.005 TI is pretty flimsy. Make sure you design your stove to fit inside a pot so it doesn't get crushed in your pack.

[Mark Andersen]

Troy-

Most of the wood gasifier stove plans I've seen call for holes toward the top of the outer shell, and toward the bottom of the inner shell, as seen here:

http://intotheborderlands.blogspot.com/2008/01/homemade-wood-gasifier-stove-revisited.html

The idea is the air passes by more of the hot inner can that way, and the hot air heats the wood, volatilizes combustible gases, and that is partly what keeps it burning so hot. I wonder if you were to put the holes just below the top rim of the Heineken can, and near or on the bottom of the sardine can, if that would preheat the air enough to make it take off more quickly, without the insulation…?

Just a thought…

[Troy Ammons]

Actually this is pretty old.
I have tried other mods since then and got it to work well with no insulation.

The outer can is about the same.

I changed the inner can and tried different hole locations.

Holes in the bottom, around the bottom edge, and at the top. Dont really need the grate.

It was starving for air when it burned down to the center so I added 4 holes in the middle of the inner can and that fixed it.

About 2 weeks ago, I tried a similar rig. Sardine can in a bud can, in a heineken can and that one worked really well.

They dont burn long though, about 20 minutes.

It also takes a few pieces of starter to get it going and I have been using pieces of strike a fire sticks from publix. Two on top and one in the middle. They work well but are heavy.

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