WoodGas Stove
A few ideas about a stove
developed by Ray Garlington
Late September 2003, Ray developed a page on a new "batch-loaded, inverted down-draft gassifier" stove. This type of stove has quite a following, but most of the versions are not designed well for the backpacker. Ray's design is just about optimal for the hiker. That report is here:
I did a little experimenting with the stove in the first weekend of the month. As I understand it, Ray folded up some chicken wire for the bottom of his can. I took another approach and folded four tabs up to make supports for a little shelf of hardware cloth. Here is a picture of this:
I was interested in fitting everything together. The can is a standard 14.5 oz vegetable can from the grocery store. I used a Dremel cutting wheel to cut the three sides of the tabs in the bottom of the can and to cut four slits in the side of the can. The stove's windscreen and air pre-heater is made from a piece of aluminum sheet. It comes apart so it can be rolled and put inside the can for transport. The aluminum foil for a pot wind screen is folded and put inside the stove. I carry a little bottle of lamp oil as a fire starter for the stove. I use about a half teaspoon (2 cc) to start the wood.
Instead of the pot support designed by Ray, I use four bent wires. The long end is threaded through the side slits in the can. The crook rests on the lip of the can. The ends support the pot and do not stick, regardless of how much sticky tar has accumulated on the pot.
Ray's page is quite clear about how to pack the stove with sticks and light it. I did a little experimenting, and discovered that one can use tinder instead of fluid to start the fire, but it is somewhat difficult. I tried to make the can shorter by only 3/4 inch, but it did not draw well enough to be practical.
This is what my testing stove looks like, except that when I use it, it has a tin foil windscreen around it. It reliably brings 2 cups of water to a boil and keeps it boiling for about 10 minutes. The pot on top is the AntiGravity Gear 3 cup pot.
A few other notes:
I found, after reading Ray's instructions again, that it works better to fill the can about half full of pencil diameter (7 mm) sticks and about half full of sticks no more than 2 mm across. This makes it much more likely for the fire to work its way down the can instead of beginning to smoke.
David Anderson made a suggestion to carry a pencil sharpener to make wood shavings to start the stove. This seems simple and is worth a try. It would eliminate all dependence on supply except for an occasional book of matches.
For the gearheads:
Weight of components:
| Can body Hardware Cloth grate S hook pot supports Stove windscreen Total Alternates and additions |
53 g 3 11 11 78 g
|
1.87 oz 0.11 0.39 0.39 2.75 oz
|
| Garlington pot support | 14 g | 0.49 oz |
| Aluminum foil pot windscreen | 7 g | 0.25 oz |
| Bottle of lamp oil (15 fires) | 29 g | 1.0 oz |
I made a number of test runs with this stove. It works well. Sometimes cantankerous to start, it uses very little fuel and burns just about the right amount of time.