Seeking gear testers for wood stove prototype

[James Walter]

See below

[James Walter]

Hi all,

I love cooking over a small wood stove in the woods and have been designing and producing wood stoves for my own use for several years. Over the last few years I have refined the design and feel it may have commercial value. So I am looking for for folks that would be willing and engaged product testers to give me honest feedback on the design and whether or not it would be marketable at a modest price point.

The stove is windscreen style, one piece construction, is high performing, multi-fuel, large capacity, easy to use; weighs about 4 ounces and takes up almost no room when packed. I have boiled two cups of water in less than 4 minutes and had effective heat for almost an hour from the larger version on one load of wood. I have designed three sizes and two styles with adjustable diameters, but am not sure they are all needed. Below is a link to a short video showing the stove. Please let me know if you would be willing test, evaluate and give me useful feedback and I will mail you out one or two samples to test.

jrwalter911 at gmail dot com

 

[Adam Kilpatrick]

That looks cool, and light. I’d give it a shot (you won me over with the BOT) but we are in fire danger season here now and I’m in Aus so its not worth sending one to me.

[Erica R]

<span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>at times of wood stove is going to become Black and sooty. How do you keep the soot away from the other items in your pack?</span>

[DAN-Y/FANCEE FEEST]

He teaches/shows the best way to stack and light his stove. Looks like he knows what he’s talking about. I like the size of it. He may have learned from the best. I recommend someone taking him up on his offer. 

[James Walter]

Erica

First, the amount of soot is normally surprisingly low.  Only the tops of the pot supports get sooty with the body having only a little bit of fine ash.  If you are burning wet or green wood you will get much more soot.

Second, when stored it coils so that the soot is inside the coil.  So you can handle the outside with NO soot.

Third, when you coil it around something else you can first wrap a piece of cloth, paper, tyvek or similar sheeting around the item then coil the stove around that.

One of my favorite methods is to use a sock.  For example I will store the stove around my air pad (shocking, i know).  First I put a sock over the air pad all the way to the bottom, then coil the stove around that and then pull the top of the sock all the way down over the stove.  In this way it is encased by sock inside and out.  If I proceed with manufacture I can see myself producing a skinny (buff style) cloth gaiter for storage that will get used like the sock but with open toes.  Hope that makes sense.

Jim

 

[James Walter]

Thanks, Zelph!  I learned that and more from you!

[DAN-Y/FANCEE FEEST]

That looks cool, and light. I’d give it a shot (you won me over with the BOT) but we are in fire danger season here now and I’m in Aus so its not worth sending one to me.

Adam, take James’ offer. I’ll pay for the postage. You can test it in town somewhere that’s not under a fire ban :-) Inside someones BBQ grill ;-) Use charcoal in your first test 

I like his design and you will also. When you are finished testing it, send it to Roger and convert him over to wood for fuel. He can keep his canister stove as a backup…..maybe ween him off that and into meths for his back up fuel. 

Thank you James, you make me proud 

[James Walter]

A couple pictures: (sorry my pictures are getting turned sideways)

A load of short oak sticks ‘thrown’ in…

Shortly after lighting…

After 43 minutes of burning with NO added wood and still to hot to hold hand over stove more than 4 seconds…

It burns pretty hot…

hot coals well into burn of one load of wood about 30 minutes later…

With different loading techniques and different sizes of wood/twigs you can vary the intensity of the burn higher or lower and burn longer if desired.

 

[Todd Stough]

That looks like a nice setup.

[Kevin Babione]

James – I’m glad you were able to get the photos and video to post so that the rest of us can see it too.  I don’t think I’m a good candidate for a tester, but I’d be very interested in buying one that would work with a Vargo 750ml mug when you’re in production.  And if you could make it in Ti and get the weight down to 2-3 ounces that would be even better!

[James Walter]

Thanks for your comments and interest Kevin.  That is encouraging.  I think I can accommodate your needs but first let me explain a little bit more what I am trying to do.

I have worked on this project for a few years and am trying to decide if it has commercial merit and if so what version of my stove to bring to market. Beside little tweaks I have to make a decision about what sizes to produce if more than one; which style to produce if more than one and what thickness material to make them from if more than one.  I am hoping to gain insight from testers on all these issues. BTW, I have enough testers now.  Thanks to all.

-I have a cylindrical stove in three heights  4.25, 5.3 and 6.4 inches tall with adjustable diameters between 4 and 5 inches.

-I have a conical stove in the two smaller heights. They have a wider base for greater stability and a smaller circumference top for small pots without need of the Ti stakes.  However the cylinder store somewhat more easily.

-These are both built out of 0.01″ SS and a quite light already.  The smaller are 2.4 oz the medium is 3.1 oz and the large is 3.8 oz. However I am considering increasing the thickness to 0.012 SS. They are very strong right now and I have put 70 lbs on top of them but I think some might think they are too flexible  or flimsy.  If I do this it would add about 20% to each stove  so they are still quite light and the smaller one would be at your target weight at just under 3 oz even made of the thicker SS.

-Another issue is whether to have an adjustable diameter or not.

Here are pictures of the two small stove in each style.  You can see how they fit into an Olicamp mug that is a little over 4.25″ tall.  I don’t have the Vargo pot to compare but hope this helps. So if you want a pre-production unit I would be happy to sell you one.  Sorry for the long answer.

 

[Kevin Babione]

I’ll send you an email, but I’d love to buy one of your smaller ones, even in the lighter SS.  I’m pretty careful with my equipment (I’ve used the same aluminum Caldera Cone for years without any issues) and I’m used to the challenges of rolling a cone.  Thanks!

[DAN-Y/FANCEE FEEST]

James, are you going to makes these if you get to a production run or will you job it out to a commercial metal fabricator?

Your photos indicate you are very talented to have made them by hand.

What is the cost of the pre-production ones shown?

The smaller 2.4 oz =

the medium 3.1 oz =

the large  3.8 oz. =

After taking a second look at your video I see there is no grate at the bottom of the stove. Will you include one for the production run?

 

[Adam Kilpatrick]

An optional base pan or grid would be nice. I’d definitely use a solid pan for LNT purposes, especially if it extended a small but past the edges of the cone.

[James Walter]

Having a base plate or pan is under discussion.  I did not want to at first for the sake of simplicity and because I had an adjustable diameter.  Also, I questioned their effectiveness/value because when I used them the embers were contained but the heat still affected what was underneath.   I do have one designed and prototyped but I’m still working on it.

Dan, I am not that good.  I had a small run cut by laser but they did not come out as well as I hoped.  I will consider that and water jet cutting.  I could never sell these if hand made.  It takes me too long with hand tools.  I am not sure of costs yet.  It will depend on my inputs of course but I am hoping to come in well under the other big name stoves on the market.  I am polling my testers on that as well.

[Brad W]

I would also be interested in some sort of bottom plate as where I camp is LNT and no ground fires. Raising the stove off the ground with rocks will help with scorching the earth.

The bottom plate could be an accessory as many would not need/want this.

[James Walter]

Thanks for that input!

[DAN-Y/FANCEE FEEST]

Laser cutting looks nice! I want a laser cutter for xmas 

Make sure you give all the good tips on how to build a fire in the stove;-) Knowing how to do fire is what it’s all about. You can have the best stove out there but not knowing how to do fire isn’t going to do the stove justice ;-)

 

[DAN-Y/FANCEE FEEST]

This is good fire. We want it on all sides of the pot, not shooting out one side like the Inferno.

 

Inferno:

Inferno not good design.

[Adam Kilpatrick]

agree the even spread of flame is a good idea

[James Walter]

I believe I have come up with a good ground protection system to go along with the stove.  My thought is one perforated plate to support the fuel above the ground and another solid plate installed lower but just above the ground.  These plates attach with small tabs (protrusions from the plate) and fit into slots in the body of the stove.  It is designed so that they can be placed at any height to facilitate multi-fuel function as well.  In addition, I could offer a piece of carbon felt (welders cloth) to put under all the above.  That could also be used if needed in soft soil or sand prevent the stove from sinking down.

 

[Peter8]

The last post on this was Nov 2018, what  tester feedback did you get and has this been brought to market since? Full disclosure: I have been working on a similar variable size cylinder stove concept and just come upon this Forum thread.

[Penny Vann]

If you are still looking for testers, I am game. I like cooking with wood especially in the winter when you need more alcohol to boil anything. Also one does not have to worry about running out of fuel because of making a hot water bottle to sleep with.

[DAN-Y/FANCEE FEEST]

The last post on this was Nov 2018, what  tester feedback did you get and has this been brought to market since? Full disclosure: I have been working on a similar variable size cylinder stove concept and just come upon this Forum thread.

A clever “lead in”, PETER8/@peter8rossi pairs up with TODD F/@latherdome to create a thread on your “NOVEL “WRAP-IT” STOVE ON KS” : DISCUSS?.

Your method of advertising reminds me of 2 other members here on BPL that made their rounds to numerous sites to advertise esbit stoves and stoves that burn ISO alcohol.

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