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- Nov 18, 2010
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- 6,118
Okay folks here it is. Finally got it finished this weekend, burned some random stuff in it, but didn't really get a chance to use wood until this evening. I took the boy outside, we gathered a couple of sticks, and this is the result.
I took my ferro rod and my trusty BK14 and a PJCB and lit this sucker up.
It went out fairly quickly after it started, but when I went to relight it, there was a distinct "fwoosh" of some type of gas igniting. Woodgas. Word to your mom.
Woodgas.
Fwoosh.
In the belly of the beast.
The end is nigh.
What we are left with.
GRATUITOUS BECKER PIC!
And finally, my first ever video clip. It is short, and not that great cause it is from my cell phone, but you get the idea.
[youtube]OCzhaj5NSK0[/youtube]
UPDATE:
Okay, since Bladite lives under a rock, here are some more details. Basically, when you burn wood, it gives off gases that are normally just released into the air, making for a very inefficient burn. What a woodgas stove does is to add air to those gases, thus making them burnable as well, making for a much more efficient fire. More heat off of less material, and less waste left over in the process. Hence why this stove, off of a little over two handfuls of sticks was able to burn for approximately 30-40 minutes, and also why there was nothing left but very fine ash once the burn was complete.
As far as the construction, here is a diagram that depicts the process a little better.
What you have are essentially two chambers, the inner and the outer. The inner holds the material you are burning (charcoal, corn husks, wood, etc...) and has holes at both the top and the bottom. The outer chamber has holes at the bottom. Together, with the way they are made, air is able to flow with the gases that then exit at the holes in the top of the inner chamber, where they are ignited.
Several different version exist, from the homemade to the commercially available. For the DIY'er, using a quart paint can and a progresso soup can is a quick and easy way to make one of these. For someone looking to buy one, the bushbuddy is a fairly popular one that can be purchased. Widerstand can say more about the bushbuddy, he uses his regularly.
My desire to make one happened shortly after my brief stint at alcohol stove making, and was the direct result of forgetting to add the term alcohol to a search of a bushcraft site. (For reference, here is a picture of my alcohol stove(s) that I have made.)
The one on the right is stainless steel, the one on the left was the first I made, just as proof of concept.
So anyways, the idea was seized upon by myself, so I set out to try and make one. I wanted something that came apart, would be versatile, and would fit in some manner either inside or outside (or both) of my cookset.
Here are the pictures showing my design ideas.
As you can see, not too far from the end product, however there are less holes, and smaller holes. The idea is that I could make more and/or enlarge them as needed.
Anyways, as the wood burns in the inner chamber, air is drawn in and up through the area between the inner and outer chambers, and is forced out through the holes in the top of the inner chamber. There it mixes with the gases given off by the burning wood, and ignites, resulting in more fire.
After I initially lit the stove, it went out after a couple of minutes due to me not having enough material on top to properly catch. However, when I went to relight it, there was that same "fwoosh" you get when you light a regular gas stove where you let the gas run for a bit. Meaning the gases were still hot enough and mixed enough to generate flammable woodgas.
As you can see in that picture, it is made of two parts, a stainless steel pencil holder made by a company called StainlessLux, and a 2 quart stainless steel utensil holder I picked up at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Total cost for those two items would be approximately $20+. Then I used the dremel to cut the top hole in the outer chamber to size, and a drill to make the rest of the holes. (Use a step-bit or uni-bit drill bit for the larger holes. It is worth it if you have access. Otherwise start small and work your way up in size.)
And there you have it, that is the story of the woodgas stove. Not really native to my people, unless of course you mean the bushcrafty types. In which case it is.
I took my ferro rod and my trusty BK14 and a PJCB and lit this sucker up.
It went out fairly quickly after it started, but when I went to relight it, there was a distinct "fwoosh" of some type of gas igniting. Woodgas. Word to your mom.
Woodgas.
Fwoosh.
In the belly of the beast.
The end is nigh.
What we are left with.
GRATUITOUS BECKER PIC!
And finally, my first ever video clip. It is short, and not that great cause it is from my cell phone, but you get the idea.
[youtube]OCzhaj5NSK0[/youtube]
UPDATE:
Okay, since Bladite lives under a rock, here are some more details. Basically, when you burn wood, it gives off gases that are normally just released into the air, making for a very inefficient burn. What a woodgas stove does is to add air to those gases, thus making them burnable as well, making for a much more efficient fire. More heat off of less material, and less waste left over in the process. Hence why this stove, off of a little over two handfuls of sticks was able to burn for approximately 30-40 minutes, and also why there was nothing left but very fine ash once the burn was complete.
As far as the construction, here is a diagram that depicts the process a little better.
What you have are essentially two chambers, the inner and the outer. The inner holds the material you are burning (charcoal, corn husks, wood, etc...) and has holes at both the top and the bottom. The outer chamber has holes at the bottom. Together, with the way they are made, air is able to flow with the gases that then exit at the holes in the top of the inner chamber, where they are ignited.
Several different version exist, from the homemade to the commercially available. For the DIY'er, using a quart paint can and a progresso soup can is a quick and easy way to make one of these. For someone looking to buy one, the bushbuddy is a fairly popular one that can be purchased. Widerstand can say more about the bushbuddy, he uses his regularly.
My desire to make one happened shortly after my brief stint at alcohol stove making, and was the direct result of forgetting to add the term alcohol to a search of a bushcraft site. (For reference, here is a picture of my alcohol stove(s) that I have made.)
The one on the right is stainless steel, the one on the left was the first I made, just as proof of concept.
So anyways, the idea was seized upon by myself, so I set out to try and make one. I wanted something that came apart, would be versatile, and would fit in some manner either inside or outside (or both) of my cookset.
Here are the pictures showing my design ideas.
As you can see, not too far from the end product, however there are less holes, and smaller holes. The idea is that I could make more and/or enlarge them as needed.
Anyways, as the wood burns in the inner chamber, air is drawn in and up through the area between the inner and outer chambers, and is forced out through the holes in the top of the inner chamber. There it mixes with the gases given off by the burning wood, and ignites, resulting in more fire.
After I initially lit the stove, it went out after a couple of minutes due to me not having enough material on top to properly catch. However, when I went to relight it, there was that same "fwoosh" you get when you light a regular gas stove where you let the gas run for a bit. Meaning the gases were still hot enough and mixed enough to generate flammable woodgas.
As you can see in that picture, it is made of two parts, a stainless steel pencil holder made by a company called StainlessLux, and a 2 quart stainless steel utensil holder I picked up at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Total cost for those two items would be approximately $20+. Then I used the dremel to cut the top hole in the outer chamber to size, and a drill to make the rest of the holes. (Use a step-bit or uni-bit drill bit for the larger holes. It is worth it if you have access. Otherwise start small and work your way up in size.)
And there you have it, that is the story of the woodgas stove. Not really native to my people, unless of course you mean the bushcrafty types. In which case it is.
Last edited:
in order to do this you have to play with airflow. This is obviously affected by wind and that varies day to day use.. 
