BWCA DIY tent stove, rocket style Boundary Waters Winter Camping and Activities
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redoleary
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12/20/2014 07:40AM   (Thread Older Than 3 Years)
Inspired by Pekka Leskela's Box Rocket Stove I thought I'd try to make one in a steel 5 gallon can, and it works wonderfully. I'm still tweaking it trying to find a good placement for some secondary air holes but it works just fine without any. I also tried to us a 3" chimney, it still works but doesn't draw nearly as well, so I'll stick with the 4" chimney. I've got about $20 invested into this stove as the can was free (being thrown away at work). My plan is to get a clamp on style lid that will have one less ridge in the edge witch will allow me to get a bit more area on top of the can for greater cooking surface. The chief drawback with this stove is the lack of cooking area but it puts out nice heat. It's pretty efficient too, I took and reasonably dry oak log, about 4x15" (at the most) and split lengthwise into several pieces and kept the stove going for over an hour with just that small bit of wood. Anyway, it's a fun project and I'm a testament to the lack of skill required to build a workable model. It's fun to play with even if, like me, you don't have a tent to put it in but just like to play with fire. :) It's a cheap option for someone looking to get into hot tenting with minimal investment in the stove.







 
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ArrowheadPaddler
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12/20/2014 08:28AM  
Excellent redoleary! Could you please provide some details (pics, dimensions, etc.) on the insert? Do you start and maintain the fire by dropping all combustible materials through the top lid opening? I don't know a whole lot about rocket stoves. Thanks for posting.
redoleary
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12/20/2014 08:32AM  
Theoretically just the tips of the wood are burning down at the bottom of the stove, once the stove starts to draw the flames are sucked horizontally into the second chamber. You can get some nice long pieces and have them stick out the top of the can and they semi-self feeding as they burn at the bottom of the can. It is not that hard to start but it takes a little heat to get it to draw, so a good vaseline cotton ball or nice piece of fatwood or similar is recommended to get it going. I've even just poured a little 1/2 oz or so of alcohol in the bottom and lit it, only takes a second to get it to draw..

The insert was made with a piece of 12x24" steel purchased at lowes, it was enough to make the whole insert with minimal cutting. I used the 3/8" side of one of these folding tools for the flat bends on the top and sides and that just happened to work out so no trimming was required down the length of the pieces. In other words the 12" wide metal with 3/8" flange bent on both sides = the width of the can.... at least my can. I made cardboard templates before I cut the metal, so that helped as well.
Any more questions, feel free to ask.
ArrowheadPaddler
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12/21/2014 07:25AM  
Thanks for the additional info. Has most of the paint burned off the outside of the pail?
redoleary
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12/21/2014 08:55AM  
Not yet, most the paint has burned off the top but the sides are still holding strong, all the stickers have burned off tho. :)

One last thing regarding the internal dimensions, since I have a 4" chimney that was the dimension I worked to maintain internally, ie: the size of the hole between each chamber is 4" tall. I didn't get all crazy and try to calculate the actual area of the rounded chambers etc I just hammered the thing together with some SWAG on sizes because I was anxious to try it out and start fiddling with it. I may try to make the wall between chambers 2 & 3 a bit taller so the heat has to go closer to the top of the stove were my cook pot would sit, I run the risk of choking it too much if I make it too tall, but the fun is in the experimenting.
ArrowheadPaddler
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12/21/2014 09:47AM  
Thanks redoleary. I might have to give this a try.
 
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