How to make a flat-pack Wood-burning Stove.

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Swissnic

Member
May 16, 2006
29
2
52
London
Hi Chaps,

I saw some plans to make a flat-pack wood burning stove on another site. It looked interesting, but flimsy and complicated. I wanted to make something simple and sturdy, and this is what I came up with...

Firstly, I ordered a couple of 300mm x 300mm x 2.5mm sheets of aluminium from Chronos Limited .

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We need to cut the sheets in half (30cm x 15cm) to give us the 4 sides needed for the stove.

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I recommend you mark out all the sheets before you start cutting. Getting something the wrong way around is a real bugger!

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The base slots into the sides to surrport the weight of the fire. By using a locking slot, this negates the need for locking pins.

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Note the base slots are made a few cm's above the bottom, to allow air to easily flow under the fire, and also to minimise ground-burn.

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The back fits between the two sides and locks out the whole stove.

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Now all thats left is to drill out the air holes and remove the plastic protective coating.

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And fully made - it looks like this:

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This is the end product - in bits. I haven't done a pciture of the plans as I made it up as I went along. For those who want to give this a try - maybe you can use the picture for planning. I will happily email you a higher quality pic if you want. PM me.

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The reason I went for a 30cm length is to accommodate my 3-part billy can. Here you can see it fits nicely onto the stove, allowing 3 cooking compartments.

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I really like this flat-packable stove. You can use it with natural materials, and use it where camp fires are not allowed (in my case - Dartmoor). And it only cost £17.00 to build - not bad I think!

Tools: I used a portable work-bench to work on, with a couple of clamps to hold the Alu down when cutting/drilling. I used a std jig-saw with a metal blade to cut the edges, and a dremmel to cut the slots, and generally even up and smooth the cut edges and holes. I used a 6.5mm drill-bit to drill the holes, and that is it! You don't even need a big toolkit for this job! :D

Hope this helps a bit if you plan to do you own. I'm happy to answer any qu's you might have.

Cheers, SwissNic.
 

Dougster

Bushcrafter through and through
Oct 13, 2005
5,254
238
The banks of the Deveron.
Great idea, well thought out and put together. I'll get cracking on mine. It's these little ideas that give us a hot tea, a fire and something to talk about when there could be a sad absence of all three.
 

wingstoo

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
May 12, 2005
2,274
40
South Marches
That, is the MUTTS _ _ _' _ .

Well done, will have to have a go...have some 3mm chequer plate out the back...

Not tonight though...

LS
 

Ogri the trog

Mod
Mod
Apr 29, 2005
7,182
71
60
Mid Wales UK
Errmmm,
Not quite as big as yours, nor nearly as neat. This is my attempt straight off Zenstoves website.



Notice I used a slightly different method of locking it all together and the pegs come in useful as extra pot supports.

ATB

Ogri the trog
 

PhilParry

Nomad
Sep 30, 2005
345
3
Milton Keynes, Bucks
Erm....silly question.

Doesn't the aluminium get too hot (i.e. melt) if you have an fire going for some time??? :bluThinki

Phil

Smile, it makes people wonder what you've been up to!
 

Swissnic

Member
May 16, 2006
29
2
52
London
I will try to put some plans together - but I made it on-the-fly... really depends what size you want.

Re. aluminium - it's melting point is around 600c! Remember Trangier, and most cooking pots and pans are made from aluminium too, not to mention some car engines! The heat is nowhere near hot enough to melt it unless you use coke and a big fan to get the temp up to blacksmith temps...

I just gave it a go, and boiled a billy full of water in about 5 mins, plus made some beautul chick satay kebabs! Yummy! Starting it was SOOOO easy - just some dry grasses, and a few twigs got the split oak burning really hot! one thing I noticed, the three sides channel the heat out the open end, so if you have the open end facing you, you get a nice lot of heat in one direction!

Cheer, Nic.
 

fred gordon

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Mar 8, 2006
2,099
19
78
Aberdeenshire
Can I make a suggestion? I made a similar stove a few years ago and was looking for a rack of some sort to put on top to place pans etc. I found one in IKEA, only they called it a pot stand for placing hot pots on. Cost less than £10 and adds greatly to the versitility of the stove. Would love to see the plans too!
 

wingstoo

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
May 12, 2005
2,274
40
South Marches
I posted a wire rack I made on a thread a few weeks ago...

It would go well with most solid fuel cookers, like hexi...

Now where did it go...

LS
 

Alchemist

Forager
Aug 1, 2005
186
1
45
Hampshire
Brilliant stuff mate. I had exactly the same idea a while age but I chickened out because I didnt think my small range of tools could do the job. You have inspired me!

One question- Do you need to have an open end?
 

Swissnic

Member
May 16, 2006
29
2
52
London
I'm not sure the open-end is obligatory... :p ... but I did design it that way for a reason - so I could burn logs that are longer than the length of the stove. I also discovered if you have the open end facing you, you get a lot more heat thrown at you - saves wasting all that heat into the open nights... :D

Thanks for all the kind words chaps - I was really just inspired by the Ogri the Trog's original thread... . :lmao:

Also, thanks to Fred Gordons's suggestion, I went out and got some wide-guage mesh to fit the top... Sainsbury's do a nice cake cooling tray which fits the bill perfectly - only £3.99! ;o))) I'm thinking grilled bacon and a brew for brekky next time im on the moors!

Cheers Nic.
 

Trevody

Member
May 30, 2005
33
0
59
North Lincolnshire
PhilParry said:
Erm....silly question.

Doesn't the aluminium get too hot (i.e. melt) if you have an fire going for some time??? :bluThinki

Phil

Smile, it makes people wonder what you've been up to!

I too would be interested in how the aluminium stands up after a number of uses,
I made a stove not that disimilar to this some time back, I made it out of sheet steel, in use especially with a bit of a breeze the metal would just start to glow a nice dull red.
I suspect that there may be sufficient heat for the alu to start to sag after time, Just interested to know as an Alu one would be far lighter

Trev :D
 

Swissnic

Member
May 16, 2006
29
2
52
London
Hey Trev,

Steel turns dark red at 700c. Alu melts at 660c. Wood fires burn at their hottest (in the center, not the contact surfaces, and without forced ventilation) at 620c.

:confused:

In a breeze - maybe I will have a problem... :(

One saving grace - if the bottom does sag a little, it is totally reversible, so the next fire can correct any sag. :D Am looking for some titanium sheet now for the next model... Only problem is - its about £100.00 per 30x30 sheet!!! :eek:

Cheers,

Nic.
 

nobby

Nomad
Jun 26, 2005
370
2
75
English Midlands
I made the original Nimblewill one out of some very thin aluminium and it did buckle eventully - sides sort of bowed out - I bought some sheet steel from B&Q to make another and never got around to it. Got side tracked into hobo stoves.
Your plan is better IMO so I'll make that.
I found that a small upturned lip, about 20mm, on the bottom at the open end kept any longer lengths of wood slanting in towards the fire, galvanised mesh like used on rabbit hutches makes a good grill for toast, and a blow tube from brass pipe and plastic pipe is handy.
Enjoyed the post ... thanks for taking the trouble to put it up
 

iamwill

Member
Apr 11, 2006
22
0
45
Leeds, UK
Wow, what a great solution, simple as most great ideas usually are. Just can’t believe I didn’t think of it myself. I have been thinking about how to make a fairly light weight wood burning stove for my tipi. I think I will adapt this design and stick a door on the open side and a top to take a flue out and room for one billy can. Have found some flexible aluminium flue which concertinas down and is very light from Homebase which could be suspended, probably duck taped to the support pole in the tipi.

My main concern is that of heat in a stove and the melting point of aluminium, may use stainless sheet for the base of the stove.

Will post results when I get round to the project, any advice would be appreciated.
 

Ogri the trog

Mod
Mod
Apr 29, 2005
7,182
71
60
Mid Wales UK
nobby said:
..... galvanised mesh like used on rabbit hutches makes a good grill for toast, and a blow tube from brass pipe and plastic pipe is handy.
Nobby, go easy with anything galvanised near a fire. It gives off poisonous fumes IIRC, better to use stainless. Good tip about the blow pipe though.


iamwill said:
Have found some flexible aluminium flue which concertinas down and is very light from Homebase which could be suspended, probably duck taped to the support pole in the tipi.
Again, be carefull with aluminium flue especially inside a tent. I don't know if dedicated tent flues are double skinned but it sure sounds safer to me.

Keep yourselves safe when playing with fire - it has a nasty habbit of biting back. :eek:

Ogri the trog
 

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