My new part diy cooker

[petrochemicals]

I have finally started my new cooker. I wanted the ability to burn wood with ease, and utilise it for another type of fuel. To begin with I had a primus spider, and an 8 inch fryingpan.

I had looked for a shop bought woodstove but they seeem to be either small, meaning difficult fueling problems or difficult to construct, or tall and thin or heavy.

I chanced upon a cadbury roses tin and found that my frying pan fitted inside snugly, so this would make an excellent windshield for the pan on a stove. So I firstly made a very small shield for the primus out of a little tin cup, I then drilled vent holes in the lid and base as well as slits for the primus spiders pan supports. I also cut a door into it to accommodate the handle of the frying pan and a small hole th allow the burner head to fire through

As a windshield it is good, very efficient, as you can put the lid of the tin over the frying pan, it's a stand alone unit virtually unaffected by wind. As a wood burning container, it works, but all the holes I drilled in it are redundant as the air rushes in at the door that I cut, leading to smoke, and a cold side opposite the door side. - will have to fit a door closing thing to make it more of a woodgas. There where quite a few ashes left N but it works as a firepit

There is still a bit of work to do on it. It is a bit cumbersome and a bit heavy ( bob if your there bob)

 

[petrochemicals]

I have now knocked up a make shift door. When burning wood I wedge this in and it leads to far less smoke ( though admittedly I am still learning to feed one of these things for best smokeless results) and far fewer coals, if your there bob. As for an insulator round the skillet it works well as you would expect, basically being a true and tested principle. One thing is that when using it on stone protection the pot is a little difficult too suspend

 

[crosslandkelly]

Looks like you could use charcoal in it as well.

 

[petrochemicals]

Looks like you could use charcoal in it as well.

Could do but then I'd have to carry a bag of that with me. I scavenged the wood. Maybe a grill though for a barbecue

 

[petrochemicals]

Last night's efforts


Too little ventilation I think, I do not think the holes where alligned, a lot of smoke, a lot of white clogging ash and a lot of coals left over.

This was it last night the wind blowing from left to right really chilled the one side of the coals, well at least it blew the smoke away!

Edit

Night afters efforts

Holes aligned correctly, but I ended up with a lot of smoke again and a brimming full box of coals before it burned away over night. Different wood birch compared to oak, I think using high quality wood ie split logs over semi rotten brittle sticks makes a difference, they burn slowly and light more difficulty, and leave a lot of coals and ash that seem to clog the fire, as the bed of coals gets deeper. Smoke and coals what not what I'm after. The coals light the following day with a flick of my lighter though, restarting my fire becomes very very easy. I think a bit more ventilation, or a lot more will remedy this problem.

 

[petrochemicals]

New effort
made out of old stainless cooking fat drums, weighs 570 g compacts down to an 8 inch by 5 inch bundle, credit card for size. It is 9 inches at its narrowest and fits my 8 inch frying pan. At the moment no holes and I ended up with too much coals, hopefully it will cure the problem. Not the best fit but ironing out the gremlins for a titanium attempt.

 

[Goatboy]

Hey I hadn't seen this thread before, looking good. Can definitely see a progression in the workings of it. What's the wood your using for fuel, timber type as well as the ventilation may be the reason for the build up of coals. Though I suppose it depends if you want it to be a quick cooking fire or a heat source for an evening.
Still its a cool project to be working on over the winter months, means you get to have endless brews in the name of "research"
Cheers for posting it up,
GB.

 

[petrochemicals]

Here it is wit the holes drilled and pot supports made from welding wire, in meths mode and wood burning mode. The hexagon format seems to be a very good balance for packing, ease of construction and utilisation of space that so much metal gives you. Took me a while.

 

[richardhomer]

How are you finding it boiling water for brew. Dose it heat the water quick ?

 

[petrochemicals]

It heats water fine, but the nicest rthing is you can add a piece or two of wood to it and leave it to burn away for at least 15 minutes.