How to Make an Outdoor Wood Burning Stove
Outdoorsmen have long used wood-burning stoves. Whether they are relied upon to heat a canvas tent in the depths of a Rocky Mountain winter or simply an efficient means to cook campfire cuisine, outdoor stoves are useful. Several commercially produced outdoor stoves available, but a homemade version may be more desirable. It is less expensive, recycles other items that would take up landfill space and lets your learn a useful skill for outdoors living and survival. Since most outdoorsmen are interested in handicrafts, that's a benefit.
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Things You'll Need
- Steel 30-gallon drum
- Oxyacetylene cutting torch
- Empty one pound coffee cans, 3-9
- Tin snips
- Sheet steel, 1/4-inch thick, 2 feet by 2 feet
- Sheet steel, 1/8-inch thick, 1 foot by 1 foot
- Electric copper-wire feed welder
- Heavy-duty steel door hinges
Instructions
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1
Use your cutting torch to cut a 30-gallon steel drum in half along the short radius. Use the appropriate safety gear, including eye protection/safety glasses and heavy leather metal-working gloves.
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2
Place the open end of one half of your 30-gallon drum onto the 2-foot-by-2-foot sheet of ¼-inch thick sheet steel. Tack weld the two together with your wire-feed welder.
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3
Mark an 8-by-8-inch square in the center of the side of the barrel half. Use soapstone to make your marks to ensure that the marks do not melt away when you are cutting it out.
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4
Cut the marked square out of the barrel half with your cutting torch. This will be the door of the woodstove for feeding in firewood.
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5
Weld one half of the two heavy-duty hinges onto the side of the door cut-out. Weld the other halves onto a 1-by-1-foot sheet of 1/8-inch thick sheet steel. Use a single-jack sledge hammer to roughly beat the sheet steel to match the angle of the barrel half.
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6
Install the door hatch of the woodstove onto the hinges.
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7
Use your cutting torch to cut a hole in the top of the barrel half that is the same diameter as the 1-pound coffee cans. Tack-weld one of the coffee cans to the edges of the hole to make a stovepipe base.
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Use tin snips to snip multiple 1-inch deep cuts into the lips of the coffee cans. Use these cuts to connect and disconnect the cans together to create an improvised stovepipe.
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9
Cut a series of six small holes, approximately ¼ inch in diameter, along the bottom edge of the side of the barrel hole just below the door hatch. These are the draft holes for assuring oxygen intake into the fire.
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Tips & Warnings
Add a 2-inch layer of sand to the bottom of the stove before starting a fire. This will help prevent the fire from burning through the base of the stove as quickly.
Outdoor fires may be unsafe and restricted during certain times of the year in some locations. Please consult proper authorities for your area to determine all pertinent local ordinances prior to use of your outdoor wood-burning stove.
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Comments
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Wish there were photos with this article to show that it actually works.(roughly beat the sheet metal to match....)
