Homemade Woodburning Stove
This stove took a weekend to build. The second stove like it took a day. These aren't something the Scouts can put together in one meeting, but there are no special skills or tools required. It's hard to build them wrong, the stoves will work regardless of the experience of their builders. Gather up some materials, schedule a day outing and let the Scouts go at it. The Scouts will love using these on your next snow or canoe campout!
This stove was built from 7 pieces of 10x22" 24ga sheet metal donated by a local contractor plus about $15 in other parts (3" downspout, steel poprivets, hinge, latch, etc.). Another good example of a homemade woodburner is at http://www.hadfield.ca/Gear/stove.html (cut & paste into your browser's Address field).
NOTE: Galvanized sheet metal is what you're going to be able to get, unless you're willing to cut up and reshape old 50 gallon drums. Be sure to prefire your galvanized stoves out in the open before cooking with them to burn off most of the zinc. The zinc fumes are harmful! After being fired a few times, you can apply stove black or a high temperature (BBQ) paint to prevent rust and increase stove life.
Also, it is common practice to use these stoves in treated COTTON tents in the North Country, with appropriate precautions. As with all cooking stoves, DO NOT USE THESE STOVES IN OR NEAR A SYNTHETIC TENT! Sparks will melt holes in your rain fly. Heat from the flue or the stove itself may catch the tent onfire.
Thanks to Grass Valley's Troop 4 for the construction photos, and be sure to look for their stoves at the next Klondike Derby!
The finished stove supported on its snow legs. The snow legs are supported on branches or small logs to keep the stove level on frozen ground or snow. The stove is 18" long x 10" wide x 8" high; sized to fit this Troop's snow sleds! All fasteners are steel 'pop' rivets. The flue sections were cut from a 10' length of 3" diameter metal downspout material.
This stove was intended to fit in the nose of a toboggon and leave room for 2 - 24" long gear bags. It's shown here tied into the sled. It also fits well in the Troop's plastic sleds, shown in the background. Based on reports from North Country authors, this stove should be able to heat a 10x10 wall tent in below zero weather. Larger stoves are common, but don't fit so nicely in the nose of a toboggon! Again, don't use any stove in our near a synthetic tent!
The snow legs, flue pipe and even wood floaters for snow store in the stove for transport. One end of each piece of flue pipe has been crimped with needle nose pliers so the pieces can be connected together. The completed stove weighs about 15 pounds with the snow legs and flue pipe (3 pieces). The door is two layers for stiffness; the inner layer is the cutout from the front with 1/4" lip bent around it. A 2" hole has been cut through the door for an air vent. The air vent slider is closed in this photo.
On the first firing of the stove you can see the zinc coating oxidizing as the stove heats up. Even the first section of the flue pipe is oxidizing. Stove black or a high temperature paint should be applied after the first few firings. The round wood sections intended for snow floaters have been painted orange to remind the Scouts not to use them for firewood! With just a few chuncks of scrap wood the stove brought a quart of water to a roiling boil in just a few minutes. A 3 quart pot (patrol size) fits well on the stove top and is much more stable than a larger pot like this on a backpacking stove! Even after nearly an hour of operation with the air damper wide open, the metal snow legs were cool to the touch. The stove drew well with just 2 flue pipe sections (abour 32" total length) with no ash or sparks, probably due in part to the smake baffle.
The stove was made mostly with hand tools, including sheet metal bending, riveting and cutting. A power drill was used for the rivet holes and a jig saw was used to cut the door opening in the front.
The snow legs use 1/2" angle iron to connect the sheet metal legs. The angle iron is set about 1/4" below the top of the sheet metal legs to keep the stove from sliding off to the side. The sheet metal legs are set about 10-1/4" apart to just make room for the 10" wide stove. The legs are notched to sit on branches or wood pole sections to let the hot stove 'float' over the snow.
The flue collar is made from a 2-1/2" piece of the 3" downspout. The first inch of the collar is slit with the tabs bent at 90's and then riveted to the top of the stove. A 2" holesaw was used to cut the top of the stove. The edges of the 2" hole were notched to 3" and bent up for a bit of extra support (as shown). Note that the collar is offset to one side allowing a pot to be warming to the side of the collar while cooking with another on the front of the stove.
The interior of the stove is fitted with a smoke baffle to increase efficency by recirculating exhaust gasses into the hot fire. The baffle also creates a warming area at the rear of the stove but still allows for a hot cooking area at the front. The baffle is secure to sheet metal angles riveted to the sides. Note the riveting of the flue collar tabs and the off-center location of the flue collar.
The smoke baffle is fitted with a reinforced edge using a scrap of sheet metal bent around the 'live' edge of the baffle and riveted in place. This increases the live of the baffle and keeps the edge in the hottest flame stiffer.
To increase the stove life, a bottom heat shield was added before attaching the front. The heat shield is supported up off the bottom with the rivets securing the bottom (shown) and two sheet metal angles riveted to the bottom of the heat shield. A 10" wide replacement heat shield will just fit through the 8"x6" door for long term maintenance.
The door has a bent over edge for stiffness. The air vent slider is friction fit under two pieces of sheetmetal riveted above and below it.
Send us pictures of your stoves in action, we'll put them on the web!
This page revised December 7, 2007