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- Jan 28, 2007
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Don't pretend you haven't asked man's age old question! How fast can a gimp build a backpacking wood stove?
Let's find out.
1. Hobble to truck, drive to Canadian Tire (Lowes or something for the American readers.
2. Purchase a 1 foot section of 6" stove pipe and two caps, and a 12x18 inch piece of 26g mild steel.
3. Get in argument with other customer in checkout line after they trip on your crutch (optional)
4. Drive home. Rest.
Time so far: about an hour.
Irritatingly I am good for about 15 minutes of "vertical time" before my damn leg throbs so much I need to lie down for a while. The Canadian Tire trip actually took more like two hours because driving there was about fifteen minutes, so then I had to lie sideways on the bench seat with my gimp foot sticking out the passenger window. After about 10 minutes, I had to race into the store, show the gf what I needed, have her pick it up because my hands are full with crutches, and then race off to the counter to buy it. Afterwards, I had to lie down in the truck again before I could drive home. It is very, very aggravating.
5. Take one of the end caps and make cuts in the flange part so it can be inserted into one end of the stove pipe. Put the other cap over the other end of the pipe. I ended up putting four self-tapping screws in these to hold them to the pipe.
6. The next step was to cut a hole in one end cap for the fire door. I used a roll of duct tape to get a good circle, but I didn't cut the whole circle out. No, I left a rectangular piece in place to roll into the hinge.
7. Okay! Next I rolled the rectangular piece out to make the hinge. I just used a hex key that I thought would be a good size, attached the metal to it with some vise grips, and started rolling. See what I'm up to?
http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/1788/adsc0184rv1.jpg
8. The door: cut it out of that sheet metal. Used the pipe cap to draw a circle, and left two hinge-bits to stick off the side. Rolled them up the same way as the other bit, and presto...there is the door.
That's about all the work I could take for a bit, so I went back to resting. This all took about another hour, which, pathetically, is about my maximum "sit and do stuff" time. Then I have to stop doing anything, and get my foot elevated above my heart again. How annoying!
When I got back to work, I forgot to take pictures. But here is a brief description of what I did, and it should be pretty obvious:
9. Cut a hole for the chimney. I used the inside of the roll of duct tape to draw the circle.
10. Put eight small bolts through the body. You'll see them (at least the top four) in the pictures below. What are they for?
The bottom four are for the legs. Not that they themselves are the legs, but they fit inside the legs, which allow me to get it right up off the ground and any tinder that might be lying around down below the stove. What are the legs? The legs are two 22" aluminum arrow shafts that I bought for six bucks and sawed in half.
The top four are spaced in a four inch square. They allow me to put a 6" or larger pan on top of the stove, which otherwise is a round and tippy edge. Now it's a cooking stove! I laid out the bolts with a different roll of duct tape, by the way.
To be honest I am not 100% happy with this solution...they stick out and won't be super convenient for packing. I may get wing nuts and make them removable. I'll see how that goes. This all took about another two hours.
Anyway on to the test fire!
The chimney here is a temporary one...it's way too heavy. I have some thin stainless steel shim stock on the way but it hasn't arrived yet. Incidentally I had to buy way more than I needed for this project, so if you are after some for your own stove, let me know. I have a fifty foot roll on the way.
So how long does it take a gimp to build a backpacking wood stove? About four hours so you could probably do it faster!
Up next: test fire!
Let's find out.
1. Hobble to truck, drive to Canadian Tire (Lowes or something for the American readers.
2. Purchase a 1 foot section of 6" stove pipe and two caps, and a 12x18 inch piece of 26g mild steel.
3. Get in argument with other customer in checkout line after they trip on your crutch (optional)
4. Drive home. Rest.
Time so far: about an hour.
Irritatingly I am good for about 15 minutes of "vertical time" before my damn leg throbs so much I need to lie down for a while. The Canadian Tire trip actually took more like two hours because driving there was about fifteen minutes, so then I had to lie sideways on the bench seat with my gimp foot sticking out the passenger window. After about 10 minutes, I had to race into the store, show the gf what I needed, have her pick it up because my hands are full with crutches, and then race off to the counter to buy it. Afterwards, I had to lie down in the truck again before I could drive home. It is very, very aggravating.
5. Take one of the end caps and make cuts in the flange part so it can be inserted into one end of the stove pipe. Put the other cap over the other end of the pipe. I ended up putting four self-tapping screws in these to hold them to the pipe.
6. The next step was to cut a hole in one end cap for the fire door. I used a roll of duct tape to get a good circle, but I didn't cut the whole circle out. No, I left a rectangular piece in place to roll into the hinge.
7. Okay! Next I rolled the rectangular piece out to make the hinge. I just used a hex key that I thought would be a good size, attached the metal to it with some vise grips, and started rolling. See what I'm up to?
http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/1788/adsc0184rv1.jpg
8. The door: cut it out of that sheet metal. Used the pipe cap to draw a circle, and left two hinge-bits to stick off the side. Rolled them up the same way as the other bit, and presto...there is the door.
That's about all the work I could take for a bit, so I went back to resting. This all took about another hour, which, pathetically, is about my maximum "sit and do stuff" time. Then I have to stop doing anything, and get my foot elevated above my heart again. How annoying!
When I got back to work, I forgot to take pictures. But here is a brief description of what I did, and it should be pretty obvious:
9. Cut a hole for the chimney. I used the inside of the roll of duct tape to draw the circle.
10. Put eight small bolts through the body. You'll see them (at least the top four) in the pictures below. What are they for?
The bottom four are for the legs. Not that they themselves are the legs, but they fit inside the legs, which allow me to get it right up off the ground and any tinder that might be lying around down below the stove. What are the legs? The legs are two 22" aluminum arrow shafts that I bought for six bucks and sawed in half.
The top four are spaced in a four inch square. They allow me to put a 6" or larger pan on top of the stove, which otherwise is a round and tippy edge. Now it's a cooking stove! I laid out the bolts with a different roll of duct tape, by the way.
To be honest I am not 100% happy with this solution...they stick out and won't be super convenient for packing. I may get wing nuts and make them removable. I'll see how that goes. This all took about another two hours.
Anyway on to the test fire!
The chimney here is a temporary one...it's way too heavy. I have some thin stainless steel shim stock on the way but it hasn't arrived yet. Incidentally I had to buy way more than I needed for this project, so if you are after some for your own stove, let me know. I have a fifty foot roll on the way.
So how long does it take a gimp to build a backpacking wood stove? About four hours so you could probably do it faster!
Up next: test fire!
