Wood Burning Stove with chimney

[Franco Darioli]

This is more of a fun project than anything else but it works.
I have been making alcohol and wood burning stoves over the last few years but this is my second version (only) of one that take a chimney.
The idea was to have something that is somewhat space efficient when stored but also relatively light and most of all simple to assemble.
This thread by Ed Tyanich inspired me …
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=19345


The chimney and bits for it are from TiGoat.
The weight as is with a 7' chimney is 940g, would be about 800g with a 4' chimney.
Disassembled , it is 26.5 cm long ,16.5 wide ,6 high. The pipe is 30 cm long .
The stove is made out of two "steam trays" from a shop that supplies the hotel/catering trade.
$8.95 each. The legs are bits of chop sticks with an Easton collar and some screws and nuts .
I did my first boil last night.
It started beautifully fast but I let it slow down so it took about 30 minutes to boil 1 liter of water.
I will put a video of it together , again just for fun.
Later I will do another one with 1/2 liter and some better wood.
Franco
Here is the video

[. Callahan]

That's excellent!

I've seen these pans used for a stove before, though not as well as on your stove.

Great result.

[Tim Marshall]

could you use a kettle (like the BCB) over the chimney hole with the wood stove chimney on top of the kettle's chimney? I like the idea of a tent (hammock)heater but want to make my own that is light and can still utilize the other things i like to carry, sure i could just bring the mug but the kettle is new and sexy.

-Tim

[D G]

Nice stove Franco!

Did you get a tigoat stovejack also?
Henry making a new tipi in 2011? :)

[Franco Darioli]

Hi all
Yes I did get the stove jack from Ti Goat but have no tent for it as yet.
I do have a mid that I can try out but it is yellow and the jack is grey so I will have to wait for Henry to make his mid. (about year 2026)
This was more of a theoretical project than something practical because wood burning is not allowed in a lot of areas here, so a bit of fun for me.
I have seen the various designs, cylinders and flat pack but wanted something easy to assemble with a flat top.
Those steam trays come in different sizes. Those are about right for what I wanted
This is the other version I made.

Burns really well but I need to work on the heat transfer.
It is a commonly available water jug .

I might get a piece of copper foil so that I can have that flat on top instead of the aluminium bars with some foil
bent back and inside the slits to make direct contact with the fire.
Tim
you probably could sit the kettle on top of it instead of the chimney (not INSIDE a shelter) I may test that when I get my kettle, still in California at the moment.

[. Callahan]

Franco,

Where did you buy your steam trays from, do you recall the store name?

Thanks.

[Franco Darioli]

Hi
They are sold by shops that supply the catering (hotels/restaurants) trade.
Funny thing is that I had been into the local shop several times and found all sorts of almost right pots/ baking trays but eventually they received a batch of this stuff.
One thing that made it easier for me was that rim around it so that I could drill the holes for the legs.
Much more stable (for me) to have the legs straight down and I do not need to screw them inside the tray itself.
It was all done with a rotary drill (a Ryobi version of the Dremel…)
(I don't have a workshop or many tools either)
Franco

[Eugene Hollingsworth]

Geeze Franco, I think you outdid yourself. I've wanted to find a simple, solid DIY stove design for early winter base camping and now banging my head on the desk. Nice. Very nice. You could even put folding legs on it easily because of the wide lips on those trays. A double-height stove would be just as easy to make by stacking them.

IMO you have really hit it for simplicity and low cost, great function and style. And you used that great roll-up stove pipe!!!

Sweet project!

[Franco Darioli]

Thank you Eugene.
The legs are two parts, The top is a bit of Easton tent pole with a screw and a couple of nuts inserted.
Both screw and nuts are a snug fit. The bottom part is from chop sticks ( I wanted something fast…) and are just pushed in so that the screws rest on them. You could use longer legs.

I envisage making a couple of two inch wide strips of plywood to rest the legs on snow. (with a small indentation to take the tip of the leg)
Again not that I will probably ever use it for that.
Should be easy to add a warming tray to, but I may leave that to someone else..
Franco

[Eugene Hollingsworth]

…I rescind my comment about folding legs. They would be pretty useless with your take down design. The way you used the bolds both for leg support and holding the stove together is better.

[Franco Darioli]

Not necessarily…
I just used what I had on hand. If I could come up with good folding legs I probably would, it would save screwing my legs in.
The idea to make my own stove came from Ed's thread
I liked his way of thinking and just wanted to do my own version.
The legs,stove opening cover and the bottom air inlet were the hard bits for me.
So one night I set down and put the all thing together on a piece of paper and did that the next day
Now I need to do some more burns…
Franco

[Ed Tyanich]

Franco,

Your stove looks very nice. You did a great job!

Ed

[Franco Darioli]

hi Ed
well thank you for the inspiration…
I discovered that drilling stainless steel is a humbling experience without specialised tools, that is with crappy drill bits.
However I am very pleased with my little Ryobi rotary drill for the cutting and some sanding.
Franco

[Devin Montgomery]

This is way cool, Franco! I think that's a really smart use of existing materials. MYOG gives one a unique perspective on things – the kind that makes one look at warming pans and think "thin wall aluminum – sweet! I bet that would make a great, collapsable wood stove. :)

It would be pretty cool to see the Boiler integrated into the chimney system – everything goes better with Boiler. :)

[al b]

Do you think a stove like this could be less than 9oz (252g) (excluding pot), presuming is sized to suit a AGG 3 cup pot / MSR kettle / mug size pot?

[Franco Darioli]

Ed would be better at answering this because I really don't have a clue about what I do, I just do things…
My steam trays were $7.95 each and about as light I could find to do what I wanted to do.
The problem with a smaller stove is continuous feeding and when stored the chimney and bits would not sit inside so you end up with some wasted space.
But do keep in mind that I was aiming for "cheap and easy" not state of the art…
In other words something that most could do without investing too much time and money.
At the same time, having bought another Dremel cutting set, a couple of drill bits, some SS screws and wing nuts , I could have purchased the TiGoat cylinder stove for about the same.
But I would like to see a video of someone putting that one together in real time…
Franco

[Eugene Hollingsworth]

The square shape with no forming or extra pieces turned me on to your stove. I had not thought of difficulty drilling or cutting the stainles steel. Does anyone know if the stainless is these trays is harder because of it's (probably) cold-formed mfg? If that is the case, will it be softer after being heated? I'm thinking that by hitting the areas to cut with a propane torch and letting them cool slowly…

Ed, your stove is just as nice in all aspects, and if I was going solo or with just one other person your configuration is very compact. The larger square stove, I'm *thinking*, is ideal for a larger pyramid or teepee and 4 guys with hunting gear – always wet, cold, tired, and hungry.

When I was younger – yes I digress – my dad and his brothers would crowd into a 9-man canvas arm tent with a space heater. Nothing like coming in to that after a cold day sitting in a tree.

[. Callahan]

Franco said;

"At the same time, having bought another Dremel cutting set, a couple of drill bits, some SS screws and wing nuts , I could have purchased the TiGoat cylinder stove for about the same."

I'd been buying differing size ti sheets, plates, M3 ti threaded control rods (for stove legs) other ti rods, tubes, fasteners and wire, plus stainless steel fittings etc for a while, then, about two months ago I calculated what I'd spent and what I still wanted (Ti-Goat stovepipes, dampers etc) and realized that I could have bought a Vortex Stove…

I'd avoided factoring in the cost of the Dremel 8000!

To be honest, I'm really enjoying the entire MYOG stove experience, and am happy at how my cylinder and box stoves projects are evolving, albeit slowly.

Its a great learning curve…

[Rob Hubbard]

Hope this doesn't count as a thread wander!

If you were to use a Storm Kettle as part of the chimney would the damper work at the top of the kettle instead of at the base? I'm intrigued by this integration idea more for car/base camping and think it could be very workable with slight modifications. You would need a tap at the base of the kettle or else it would be difficult to get the water out without 1) filling the tent with smoke and 2) burning yourself.

Any thoughts? I may have to put together a drawing.

[. Callahan]

You REALLY don't want to run a chimney kettle dry because it'll melt and collapse, bringing the extremely hot stovepipe with it, amidst clouds of smoke!

Even if you were to use one of the stainless steel versions, you'd encounter problems if you ran it dry.

[D G]

A step drill works really good for drilling holes in stainless. It helps to drill a small starter hole using something like an 1/8 inch drill bit and then use the step drill to enlarge the hole.

[David Adair]

A nice bit of design. Achieving simplicity, it seems, is often a tricky thing to accomplish. Forgive me, but being a recurring mini wood stove tinkerer myself I can't help but stick a couple fingers into the pot…

One of the problems inherent with all these little wood stoves is their tendency to cool too fast, making it hard to sustain a low fire. The obvious UL solution would be to line the firebox with some of that ceramic foam they developed for the space shuttle tiles (they gonna part that thing out?). The other common choice is bending some sheet metal into a zig-zag shape to lay in the bottom. That should help the airflow some too.

For increasing thermal conduction to the pot the oldtimers often cut a round hole in the top of the stove for the pot to sit snuggly into. A pail shaped pot probably helps but maybe a silicon ring might be used on a straight sided pot to control the depth. One downside being the need for a particular pot to fit in the hole. These little stoves require a lot of feeding so the hole might serve double duty.

The Swedish army used to use a vertical stove for tent heating? – I will be wandering off in that direction now.

[Rob Hubbard]

Completely agree with you, I never run any pot dry. You would have to make sure the kettle always had some water in it. For a base camp/car camping model I would envision using the largest kettle as I'm assuming it's more than one person. It would effectively become a hot water tank of sorts. If I like the small box stove I'm designing at the moment then I may have to explore how to add the kettle to a larger version. An instant brew whenever you want would be great!

[Connie Dodson]

We are discussing your nice design, over at bplite forum: http://www.bplite.com/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=4955

I have had a long running thread "small wood stoves for "hunter's tents" http://www.bplite.com/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=4539 over at bplite forum. You may be interested in seeing other wood stoves meant for backpacking and more tipi's collected from around the internet over there.

http://www.bplite.com/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=4873 has online calculators for "smokers" that compute the intake, firebox volume, and stovepipe diameter relevant to wood stove design.

Also, now that two diameters for Ti-Goat Stove Pipe parts are offered, it is easier to see a 3" stovepipe isn't the only available option.

I offered this information, because it is so true:

"The problem with a smaller stove is continuous feeding and when stored the chimney and bits would not sit inside so you end up with some wasted space".

What are the dimensions of the steam trays?

[Franco Darioli]

Yes. Same reason why I always suggest not to use the Trangia kit with a wood burner and the same for the Swiss volcano set up.
I can "see" how a damper could be added under the kettle but I really think that we are aiming for a Darwin award here…
BTW, I am all in favour of the Darwin awards as long as they include me out.
Franco

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