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Wood Gas Stove (build a long)

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    Wood Gas Stove (build a long)

    With the upcoming Granger Meat and Potatoes Hunt, I have a project I've been wanting to build. I thought I'd knock out a wood gas stove to take and try out. I'll add more later about the principle behind the stove and how it works. For now I'll get going on this project.

    Here is what you will need for starters:
    A quart paint can from Home Depot or Lowes
    A Progresso soup can or a pineapple can
    A chunk chicken can

    I would suggest starting with the quart paint can so you can take it with you when buying the other canned items. I happen to already have the chicken and pineapple cans at home and they are the perfect size.





    I prefer a side cutting can opener. I used this to remove the bottom from the paint can.





    I did the same for the pineapple can.





    I will need to drill a lot of holes in the cans and need to back up the cans from the inside so that they don't bend. I grabbed a scrap piece of wood and I'm machining a radius on one edge. This could easily be done on a sander but I had a machine here not being used. I'll enclose another picture of the profile when it's complete. I'm making it to mate up with the ID of the pineapple can. 3.3" diameter in case you were wondering.






    Here is how the pineapple can fits inside the paint can. I'll JB weld it in place when the time comes.






    The chicken can fits on top like this and becomes the pot stand.






    More to come...........................

    #2
    Here is how the ID of the cans line up with my wooden drilling aid.

    Pineapple can





    Paint Can


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      #3
      I'm curious now.

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        #4
        I will be following.

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          #5
          Here's my setup for drilling holes. I need to figure out my spacing and mark my cans and then I'm ready to drill. I'll do that from the comfort of my recliner tonight.

          The vise ends up doubling as a stop for the cans.





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            #6
            Got side tracked by an Aerospace conference but back in town now so I got a little more work completed.

            I printed out some drilling templates and got to drilling.











            The main body pieces





            Here is how they fit together and showing the drilling holes for air draw during burn.





            The top can is drilled but I'll need to cut out the top and open up a section to feed fuel into the stove. It would be better to use a can that has two sides that could be cutoff with the can opener vs this one that only had one side that could be cutoff with an opener. This particular can will cause me more work, but it's what I had.





            I've got a lot of hole de-burring to do.

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              #7
              It dawned on me that the belt sander would make quick work of removing the bottom.





              And showing the pot stand now that the bottom is removed.





              The pot stand will fit up inside the bottom of the can when not in use.


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                #8
                I'm digging it. Curious to see how it all works. Have you ever built a coke can stove? If not, you should. Quick fun project.

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                  #9
                  Originally posted by LeanMachine View Post
                  I'm digging it. Curious to see how it all works. Have you ever built a coke can stove? If not, you should. Quick fun project.
                  I've got a lot of different stove's I've built. Maybe at the end of this I'll show some of them.

                  I might do a video of this stove when it's done but I'll definitely test it and post the results.

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                    #10
                    I didn't want to drill a bunch of holes in the bottom of the inner chamber, and I want to be able to change out the bottom in the event it becomes worn out from use. I opted for gutter guard and it's only about $2. Using a cutoff wheel I cut the bottom of the can leaving 4 tabs sticking up. the sharp corners were ground off and the tabs were carefully hammered over 90 degrees. Next the gutter guard was rough cut and sanded round on the belt sander. I made it to press fit in so that it stays in place.











                    Here is a shot from the top. Getting closer to JB Welding the two cans together.


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                      #11
                      I was lost until that last picture, is this is like a charcoal lighter system that uses newspaper to light charcoal briquettes? The holes in the bottom suck in the air and work like a blow torch to get it hot. Not that I need one, at my age roughing it is Holiday Inn Express, comfort is a little more than that.

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                        #12
                        There is a coating on the inside of the paint can so I made sure to sand it off on the inside of the lip where the two pieces will mate together. They are a press fit, but not tight so I'm JB Welding them together. Only time will tell how well this will work. There is definitely the possibility they could come apart. I have a solution for that in another version if this doesn't work to my liking. I sanded all parts that will be glued together and then wiped them with denatured alcohol. JB Weld was mixed up well and the parts were bonded together. Those pieces should be ready to go tomorrow. I only need to finish up the pot stand can and the stove is ready for testing. I hope to have a report this weekend after I'm done running all over Houston for my daughters' lacrosse games.





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                          #13
                          Finished it up today now testing it is all that's left. Not sure if I'll do anything tonight or wait until tomorrow. I kept the lid for the paint can along with the cutout bottom. This allows me to pack things inside the stove and use a rubber band to hold it all together. I'll end up with some sort of stuff sack or something to hang on my pack.





                          As previously stated, the pot stand nests up inside the bottom of the stove.









                          Ready to rock and roll. I'll post my burn results tomorrow night.

                          Thanks for looking

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                            #14
                            I ended up having time tonight to test it out. I was digging through my different cook pot sets and this is the one I decided to use for a boil test.





                            As you can see when removing the smaller pot that can double as a lid, my wood gas stove fits perfectly inside.





                            I got it setup and put a lot of small broken twigs inside. This is a top burning stove so I threw some torn up cardboard pieces in it. They proved to not work so well so I dropped a few small wadded up pieces of toilet paper and that got it kicked off nicely. I'll use some sort of fuel starter next time. Probably a Vaseline coated cotton ball.











                            Once burning well, I put the pot on top. Outdoor temp was 75 degrees and I added 24 ounces of tap water to the pot.






                            You can kind of see in the next picture how the inside holes create a type of jet flame. You definitely have to keep feeding the fire, but it's not bad. If you have fuel ready prior to starting, it's easy to stay on top of.





                            24 ounces of water reached a rolling boil in 9 1/2 minutes which I'm very pleased with.





                            Once I achieved a boil, I left everything alone to do other things. I came back shortly (wish I had looked a the time that passed) and everything was out and you can see the remains that were left. The stove itself was not hot either.





                            I think I'm going to like using this stove as one camping alternative. One thing to be aware of is that there are coatings on the inside of the cans and it will need to burn off. Make sure not to stand around and inhale the fumes as it's burning. I'll do several more burns to make sure it's working well and look forward to using it in the field.

                            I'm sure I'll make another one and I'll change it up some to see if I notice much of a difference but I'll play around with this one for awhile first.

                            This turned out to be a great little project and I'm glad I finally got around to making one of these.

                            If you followed along, I hope you enjoyed the build.

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                              #15
                              Cool project thanks for sharing

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