Rocket Stove: Renewable Cooking

[bennelson]

Today, I stopped over at Greg's house again.

I didn't get too much done. I wasn't there long, but I did do up the grill tabs.

I cut some angle iron into three 1" pieces to put around the top edge of the grill. I arranged the tabs, clamped them in place, and Greg hit them with his arc welder.



These three tabs will hold a round grill, just below the top edge of the stove. That way, there's something to keep my sausages from rolling right off the grill!

Also, I'm getting a little jealous of Greg's fancy oak sideboard, so I dug up some materials at home that might make a nice little tabletop mounted to the stove.


(For scale, the aluminum square on the left is roughly 9", the wood table on the right is about 4' long.)

From left to right:

1) Aluminum plates with deck tread pattern - good for the industrial look. Thick enough to be pretty sturdy.

2) Stone (bee-zon stone?) A hunk of stone from the outside of a building that I got from a mason friend. I have more bigger pieces of it, and he says it's easy to cut. About an inch thick. Heavy.

3) Slate. Two natural edges, two cut edges. I really like the color. That might go great with the rusty steel look of the stove. Pretty big piece too. Not sure of the best way to cut it.

4) Hunk of wood board room table. Originally part of my "Pirate Bar", which no longer exists because my current home doesn't have a basement. I don't remember what species of wood it is, but it's a great color. Potentially, I could actually cut a hole the size of rocket stove right in the middle of this table top, and have the whole thing surround the stove.

The other thing I was considering is to use the threaded ports on the side of the stove to mount a table top. I would run a short section of pipe out to an elbow to a vertical section of pipe, to a pipe flange, which would hold the countertop material.

I don't have the pipe, nor could I hold the chunk of aluminum and the camera properly at the same time, so you will have to use your imagination while looking at this photograph.

Just imagine pipe coming out of that left port, then turning up to support the aluminum, which would of course be over more to the left, rather than actually sitting on top of the stove!

If I used the big wood counter top, I most likely would weld some mounting tabs right on the stove and mount it to multiple points on there.

[bennelson]

Earlier today, I asked the guys about the best way to remove the paint that's on the upper portion of the rocket stove.

The general consensus was just to run a hot fire to start to burn or bubble it, then scrape and sand the rest later.

I ran a fire in the stove tonight, with the lid on, spaced out by some angle iron to let the air through.

Think this is too hot?



That is all from natural convection - no bellows, no fans, no blowing air in.
This thing is about half a step from being a forge!

I can see why they are often made from concrete!

[Daox]

Haha, nice!

[dcb]

FYI, in case anyone is intimidated by the above construction, you don't really need such a production to enjoy a rocket stove. I made a table top sized one from sheet metal, I spotwelded it but it can be made w/screws or careful folding of tabs, or a reused can of substantial size like below. It is also great camping, has a little grill on top, can boil 1 liter of water with 180 grams of sticks, and makes for very consistent results.

at home it sits on a couple bricks on a metal porch table for cooking chunks of what-have-you, or just a quick fire fix.

this isn't mine but its about the same size, I don't have the extension, just a grill a couple inches above the inner can outlet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0rywiPHZEw

[bennelson]

Originally Posted by dcb

you don't really need such a production to enjoy a rocket stove.

Absolutely! Some rocket stoves are quite small. They can be made from sheet metal, cement, brick, and other materials. Apparently, the best-selling one in the world is about 9" tall and made of sheet metal and firebrick.

Mine is going to be a replacement for a traditional American LP gas grill, so I wanted it at standing height. A friend of mine already made one real similar, so it was easy to copy the design.

In the above video, it's worth skipping to about 4:21 to see the duct-work extension put on that stove. It's pretty cool.

[dcb]

yes sir, that looks like a solid piece of work you have there, it could easily replace a gas/charcoal grill and be a lot of fun for many years

[bennelson]

I stopped over at the hardware store and picked up two pieces of pipe, an elbow, and a flange.

Then I returned them, and got the RIGHT size!



Since the stove has two ports in the sides, I unscrewed the one and then screwed in the pipe, elbow, other pipe, and flange. That "sidearm" will be the support for the side table.



But what to use for the tabletop?!

In the style of American Idol and America's Got Talent, YOU get to VOTE on my tabletop!

Here goes!

Aluminum tread plate.


Steel tread plate.


Beezon Stone. (I have bigger pieces, use this one for an idea of the color and texture.)


Slate.


Wood countertop. (imagine a hole in it for the stove to go through.


Well, what do you think?
Besides the table on the left, I think I will also add a smaller table on the right - at least something big enough to hold a beer!

[Daox]

What do you plan on using the table for? Just holding stuff?

[bennelson]

Most gas grills have a little table space on at least one side. I usually use that to hold a plate that I carry food to and from the grill on.

It's nice to have a place to set the plate down on while loading and removing food from the grill.

It might also be cool to do a wok top for the stove. In that case, I may even want to be able to have a cutting board right at the stove.

Also, I need some place to set down the tongs, grill fork, and other outdoor utensils. Those might be nice to have hang somewhere.

[Phantom]

I like the slate with the curve, you could also just have another pipe stick out the other side and use that to hang your tongs ect. just not sure how hot that would get. I wonder if you painted the chimney with ceramic paint for exhaust manifolds if it could hold up to the temp and help hold in some of that glowing heat.

I think I might try making a coffee can version after vacation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-BQMpaW-E0