Woodstove improved for cooking

chimpac · #1 10-27-2009, 07:49 AM

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I like take down box stoves, the Kifaru for example or the one I am working on right now for the homemade stove and shelter thread. These are not the very best heating (still can run me out of the shelter) but rock in terms of cooking and packablilty. Toss in a warming tray and it is like having a kitchen on the fly.

The top picture shows a red hot chimney stack robber on a stove without a baffle.
The chimney gets red hot and not the cooking surface when there is no baffle.
A baffle is harder to do in a horizontal stove without smoking in the shelter.
The thermosyphon action is not as strong as a vertical stove

The following stoves have a baffle, which makes the cook top hotter than the chimney and stops fly ash getting out and burning holes in the tarp(no spark arrestor needed).

This photo shows were the connector latch pin spears thru the smoke port channel, formed when the baffle was put in. This can is a cookie tin, bigger than a coffee can. It was chosen because it had a slip cover and fits tight to the stove . It is important to have the bottom tight to limit the air for a slow gassifier burn.

The grate in the cone shaped bottom cover can be seen thru the feed door.

The ash catcher/ shield is off. This bottom door is closed when burning a full load of wood and open wide to burn out the charcoal or keep a small fire hot.
I will post easy to do instructions of how to put a baffle in a coffee can or any can in the next hour.

honda450 · #2 10-27-2009, 08:04 AM

Nice set up Chimp.

Hunter Trav · #3 10-27-2009, 08:43 AM

That stove looks pretty sweet. What size of Kifaru stove is that in the pics? I have a para-tipi with a small stove, and have thought about how one could rig a baffle into it. Would your homemade stove fit into a para-tipi and still leave room for 2 guys?

chimpac · #4 10-27-2009, 09:16 AM

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The following is my method of installing a baffle in a 6" can to make the cooking surface the hottest part of the stove, to give control for a slow steady burn and to eliminate the need for a spark arrestor.

baffle in shortest possible 6" can

Spacer is used to mark the added flexible edge that follows the inside of the can and spaces the baffle from under the cook surface.

vinegar bottle treatment to counter sink hole for strength when hot.

baffle bent ready to go in

tallest 6"can I have found. Front feed door cut out leaving tabs on top edge. Slits for door jamb are cut after tabs are bent in. Door jamb with slide door beside.

Smoke port cut out, tabs left on lower edge for baffle

Baffle pulled tight to the back and tabs bent around smoke port tabs

Ready to roll up tabs to make a channel for smoke connector latch pin (nail).
Rolled up tabs can be seen on short stove beside.

If anyone wants to make one, the only way I know of to get the size right for the pattern is for me to fax or mail it to you.

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chimpac · #5 10-27-2009, 10:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hunter Trav

That stove looks pretty sweet. What size of Kifaru stove is that in the pics? I have a para-tipi with a small stove, and have thought about how one could rig a baffle into it. Would your homemade stove fit into a para-tipi and still leave room for 2 guys?

Kifaru makes an expensive stainless steel stove with a lifetime garantee which might be void if we mess with it. I could spot weld a baffle in the stove if my 12" tongs on my spot welder reach inside. It is risky, a spotwelder sometimes blasts out a hole if everthing is not set right. If we did, I would put the baffle smoke hole as close to the front as I dared, or maybe no hole just square it off. We should experiment with a cheap hoizontal stove of the same dimension. You are welcome to borrow one of my old stoves to try a new idea. Google chimpac check out my posts and album. I can fix you up with a stove for your tipi, My chimney would be your centerpole. I like a lower tunnel shaped shelter
Baffles have been used in for ages. The old cook stove that was in our house when I was a kid had a lever to change the baffle inside to make the oven hot.

Hunter Trav · #6 10-27-2009, 10:26 AM

Thanks for the offer, but I think I'll just leave my Kifaru stove as is. I sent a PM to you about getting your plans to make another stove. I have my ice fishing shack setup so I can use my Kifaru stove in it, but I like the one you built as I think it would be a better fit in the shack.