Making this into a useable stove

[madelinew]

I picked this up at Woolworth's this week (no vested interest in the company)

Having read various things about how people have made their own hobo stoves from all sorts of things, I thought this could be adapted to make a posh version. I think, from what I've read about the ones on here, that it needs more and bigger vent holes as well as a side opening for me to poke firewood into.

http://www.woolworths.co.uk/web/jsp/product/index.jsp?pid=50983553

Sorry to have to post a woolies link but although I took some pictures to post in this message myself, I can't seem to load them into my posting.

Inside the bucket you see is another smaller bucket for holding coals. It sits on a mesh raised from the base of the outer bucket.

If anyone can explain how to put pics I've taken on here, I'll gladly put some better ones up.

 

[scanker]

You need to know the location of the image on the internet. In this case

http://www.woolworths.co.uk/product_images/14/01/86/14018621.jpg

I found that by right clicking on the image and viewing properties.

You then need to surround the image location with image tags like below, or use the insert image button which looks like a stamp with a mountain range on it. It should look like that below. Note the slash (/) in the closing tag.

[IMG]http://www.woolworths.co.uk/product_images/14/01/86/14018621.jpg[/IMG]

And then should display like this:

 

[madelinew]

But what about my own photos? I notice other people can post their photos. You can't get a decent idea of the structure of this bucket system so I took my own pics and I can't seem to download them from my documents.

 

[madelinew]

I'll see if this works and hope that if it does it gives people an idea of what I'm on about!

 

[John Fenna]

I sawe one of this in action last week.
Using charcoal the innner buckets holes proved inadequate and the fire suffered badly - a few holes rapidly punched with a handy knife sorted the problem....

 

[malente]

just make sure the blue paint is not realeasing nasty poisenous smoke when it gets hot...

 

[scanker]

You sorted out posting pictures then!

How big is it because it looks quite small in your photos but a lot bigger on the Woolies ones?

 

[madelinew]

It's about a foot in diameter. I had a go in the garden with it this evening trying out my new flint/steel striker with some cotton wool, dead leaves and twigs. Excuse me for a moment as I just say that I was ridiculously excited when I succeeded first time! Kids looked on and said something involving the words Mum, Pyromania, and Again.....

Anyway, didn't burn brilliantly despite reasonable wind and very dry tinder. Lots of fanning was needed to encourage flames to stay.

My plan is to make a few more larger holes in the bottom edge of the blue bucket beneath the level of the inner bucket support, cut a piece out of the side of both outer and inner bucket to get fuel in and make several larger holes all over the inner bucket. Will that work?

As for blue paint, the fire seems reasonably contained in the inner unpainted bucket at the moment but probably won't be so much when I put more holes in. Is it worth dropping it into a bigger fire and attempting to burn off the paint altogether?

I'd have though it would have to be non-toxic tho because it is sold as a BBQ set.

I resisted the pink version! I think it will be perfect on my local beach which backs onto woodland and therefore has a ready supply of fuel and make a good alternative to the boring old BBQs along there and great to take to campsites that allow fires where I can cook on it more efficiently perhaps than an open fire.

Forgive me if I'm rambling - I may have inhaled too much smoke

 

[Tengu]

Its also availible in red.

And a nice price too

 

[malente]

As for blue paint, the fire seems reasonably contained in the inner unpainted bucket at the moment but probably won't be so much when I put more holes in. Is it worth dropping it into a bigger fire and attempting to burn off the paint altogether?

I'd have though it would have to be non-toxic tho because it is sold as a BBQ set.

I'm no expert and I agree, It's probably safe. Don't take my word for it though

 

[Prophecy]

These are in Homebase for about £6...

 

[madelinew]

Homebase is far too exotic for the Isle of Wight. We can only stretch to Woolies here. Heck we only got leccy last year................. No wonder I'm such a dab hand with fire

 

[scanker]

Sounds good. Did you tease some Vaseline into the cotton wool? It makes all the difference.

 

[madelinew]

I tried with the vaseline before after someone suggested it but it seemed to just flare up and not last very long at all. I didn't bother this time and it worked OK

 

[scanker]

Strange, I thought you'd have found it the other way around. I've found the cotton wool good for catching the spark, but flares and burns very quickly. The Vaseline burns for a long time, once the cotton wool has caught the spark.

 

[SimonM]

We have just bought 3 of those to use with Scouts. Still in the packet at the moment - thanks for the tip about the extra holes needed!

Simon

 

[madelinew]

Scouts don't burn quite as well as twigs and they're a b*gger to light............

 

[John Fenna]

Scout leaders burn well - if you can "dry them out" first!

 

[SimonM]

Scout leaders burn well - if you can "dry them out" first!

There by lies the problem - they never fully dry out! A theory that I shall put to the test this weekend!

Simon