Wood Stove Contest.."Plumber's Friend"

[realityguy]

You guys are lucky..my two like to bring the critters in live to show us and play with..especially in the middle of the night.If Kaipo's meowing at 2am,it means we have about 2 minutes to get up and take it from him before he lets it loose.That butthead never kills anything.. He prides himself on watching US recatch his critters.

[cadyak]

Helluva nice design. Many well thought out details. What did you cut your stainless with?

[zelph]

I had one cat that caught a rabbit half her size and proceeded to have at it and saved some for leftovers. she hid it under the deck for safe keeping.

The KFC mouse is halarious, thanks RR

[realityguy]

I have a metal cutting bandsaw that I used for the hinge area on the door,but a hacksaw with a bimetal blade would work as long as you back the door with a piece of plywood clamped to it because of the edge,cutting through both to control the ss bending.Otherwise ...the top chimney adapter was cut with a hole saw.I ended up recutting the top hole to a larger size and first cut a hole in 1/4" plywood to the larger size,then clamped that to the steel shelf over the other hole,not using the spur bit but the outer hole in the 1/4" plywood as a guide to cut through the shelf and stove body.The stove body is pretty thin stuff but cut okay.
I then removed the shelf..linked the stove pipe adapter to the stove with a ring made of gasket material and bent every other 1/4" flange of the adapter against the inner stove body against the outer ones,sandwiching the stove material in between.I added some sheet aluminum to the inner sides of the shelf when screwing the shelf back on.I use self-tapping screws(usually used for metal stud drywall work or ducting) which saves a lot of work,time. and headaches..instead of bolts.If they pop out,I'll use poprivets or bolts..but it's nice to be able to disassemble parts quickly for cleaning,changes,replacement of parts.
A person could cyut the stainless for the chimney adapter with a pair of wiss metal snips or shears..but the hole saw is quicker,easier,and more accurate..just cut slow and let it work through the metal with less force than you would otherwise.
Tools to make one..cordless drill,hacksaw,screwdrivers,1/2 drill bit(for vent holes),1/4" drill bit(for bolts things spin on),1/8" drill bit(for smaller holes,spring handle holes,etc.The 1/8" aluminum damper plate I had but a person could use simply a round steel cover for an electrical work/lceiling fixture box.The aluminum bar door handle comes from Lowes.The metal loop catch is a long bolt with the head cut off,bent into a U and secured with 4 nuts.Legs are 6" of threaded rod with acorn nuts inside the stove and wingnuts outside(loosen the wingnut and take off the acorns for removing quick..that may get reversed with the wingnnuts inside the stove if the acorns get gummed up and hard to remove,just a regular nut outside and wing in)..sexbolt feet..not necessary but I had them...usually used by me for installing panic hardware and door closers on hollow/fire core steel fire doors on commercial jobs..lowe's might have them.They are just something larger to keep the stove from sinking in dirt..nuts and washers would work also.Spring handles..jus a roll of cheap wire wrapped continuously around a bolt to form the "spring effect".Supposedly,the metal loses heat in the coil the farther away it is from the "mount" point so you can grab the lower end of them which will be cool.The damper one probably hangs too close to the stove to cool off,but I can rotate the mountbolt it's on to sit sideways so the thing can hang straight out from the stove for cooling..something I'll need to play with.Continuous chrome plated brass hinge for the door(lowes)..I have a lot around here..marked and cut on the bandsaw,sanded the back edges to follow the curve of the outside edge of the stove door/mount portion.There may be a tiny air leak there..insignificant what little leaks there.
Cutting metal sheets..I use the metal cutting bandsaw blade..but if I didn't have it,I'd get a cheap metal cutting blade for a skilsaw and use that for any long straight cuts or cutting the stove pipe and sand the edges afterward.It'll make the cleanest cuts and fast for any expense of about $3-7 for a 7-1/4" blade that'll last a lot longer than making one stove..but it might blue the edges..otherwise the hacksaw or yellow handled wiss snips for most.I can cut the heavier steel corrugated plate with the yellow snips but it maxxes them out.
Crimper for the stove pipe ends..think I mentioned that above..Lowes and Home Depot carry a simple crimper pliers that uses one blade that goes down between two blades in the other jaw..cheap but work great for stove making(aluminum cans crimped to fit together),ducting,downspouts,or stove piping.I wouldn't bother spending big buck for a 5 bladed one..got mine at a thrft store for $5 while the pricers were scratching their heads.."what the H*ll is this used for?"

[realityguy]

Okay..did a burn today..let it go for about 1-1/2 hours while racking leaves..cooked some ramen for lunch with the hot water..
Boil took about 20 minutes as expected.Ran into some problems:
A) The glue supplied with the gasket material( ) foamed up and hardened(what! )..so I need to get some other stuff to redo the gaskets behind the door.I need to use some steel wool and get some of the other residue off to make the door work easier again..
B)The handle bar for the door needs to be recut/redone to make it work better.I really have two latch points..so I can "1/2 shut" the door for a better start up(more air).That's creating some latch problems because of the tight-arc swing of the door.No big thing,just have to have the bar mounted more loose so it'll fit either slot better,wider slot.The handle aluminum bar gets extremely hot..HOWEVER..the spring portion stays cool as it should,can be handled by that without gloves.
C)The damper handle,will need an extension to get the spring for it away from the front of the stove(to keep the spring cool)damper plate again is aluminum and gets extremely hot..which the spring leans against as it is(not a hard issue to fix)..otherwise the damper works fine.I had loosened the damper plate mount bolt some for drilling a couple more holes and I need to tighten the nut a little bit on the back for smoother working,forgot to do that.
Everything else worked fine.I get enough air for the flue through the damper holes unless it's entirely hot,hot HOT inside,stacked with wood,and fired up.I do get some small back draft puffs out the holes when the damper is fully open at that HOT point.Dampered down a little it doesn't backdraft.
I was using dry cedar kindling for wood,about 8" long..fired right up no problem.Eventually I tried larger branch wood,then in the end added one more wetter burl over the coals..which burnt fine also.After about 1-1/2hours,I dumped out what was left of the coals(little bit still burning).I figure I can get it going with some coals in the bottom and maybe put 3/4s of a 4" round x12" long cut in quarters in there and maybe get a 1-1/2-2 hour burn or better,maybe more.
This definitely will heat a tent because the 6' of stovepipe becomes hot also..to the point you can't keep your hand on it at the exit point of the tent say 1' down from the cap.
2" flue..definitely the way to go!...Drafts great!I can vary the burn to an almost clear heat wave out the top but do get smoke when firing up or dampered down.
Cooking..no problem but it'll take longer to get hot enough..It can boil water(20 minutes for 16oz) and retain a boil/simmer..so you can cook eggs or bake on the thing.
When I first fired it up..lots of smoke off the stove.. ..I forgot there was white paint on the inside of the aluminum panels under the sides of the shelf portion(Duh )..it burned off and went away.If the video shows sections of smoke coming off the stove near the beginning..that's what it was..There are some small puffs out the door damper also.
I cut the video into several sections..and reduced its length ...put it back together.Hopefully it'll work okay(crossing fingers).Might take some time to load it here.
Bear in mind that the stove is extremely light with a 6' stack hanging into space.using handles can be pretty tippy without a top of a tent to solidify the swinging portion.It can take 2 hands to open a stove door or do whatever whereas in a tent that problem won't exist as much with the chimney stationary at the top.The foamy glue got a little sticky also...GRRRRR!
I'm happy with the burn..about what I expected.The 2" chimney made a huge difference.

[Ridgerunner]

The bigger the box, the bigger the chimney. The stove works good, cuz. What is all the popping noise in the background?

[realityguy]

I don't know..breaking sticks..neighbor's d*mn foo-foo dogs barking..I can't listen to it right now(tv movie stereo comes through my computer speakers..Invictus DVD).I added the "start up video" just now....check back there..

[Ridgerunner]

starts about the 1:10 mark....might be your wood popping in the stove?

[sudden]

So far it looks like all the stoves have ~2hr unattended burn times; can be used for cooking; can be used for heating; are lightweight.

Has anyone figured out an ash pan yet? Or, do all of them have enough capacity to hold 3 or 4 loads of ash (assuming 6-8hr overnight heating)? I don't think an ash pan would be a good idea inside a tent. Seems it would be better to let it go cold, empty ash (carry the stove out) and refill for the next night.

I'm not sure if a grate below the fire is needed. It might help with the burn and airflow but that may only be important for the first lighting (assume you are cooking dinner at that point and want some high heat). After that, a slower burning fire for overnight might be better (think logs sitting atop embers, no airflow below).

How do you deal with a hot breakfast If nothing disturbs the stove, you could leave it unattended and hot when you leave for the morning.

[zelph]

I really like the way it's drafting. You lucked out finding 2" downspout. I tried several places yesterday and bombed out. Everyone had 3"

A guy on ebay has 2" stainless pipe for 5 bucks a foot + shipping. We'll see what price he gives me for shipping charges.....waiting for word.