Woodstove mk4, Mini Stove

Another day another modification!!

I was looking at pot sizes thanks to a question asked on Outdoors Magic and it seemed that if I really cut down on the size of my stove that it would fit into a Tibetan Titanium 900 pot. The pot measures H93mm x Dia115mm, my mk3 stove measured H125mm x Dia98mm (Firebox H80mm x Dia7omm). Clearly by reducing the size, particularily the firebox, the heat output would be reduced, the question was would it be sufficient. The 2nd issue was that I wanted to be able to use a Trangia meths burner as a back-up and I wanted to store it in the base of the woodstove, pic 1. I decided to make the outer can H90mm and as I needed 25mm to store the meths burner my firebox could only be H55mm, had I decided to forget about the meths burner I could have increased the size of the firebox to H75mm. I made the inner and outer cans as I had previously done the only change being shortening the outer can by cutting off the upper smooth section rather than the bottom section which saved me having to drill the base air intakes through a double skinned section (the double skinned section is now at the top) I flattened the inner lip on the firebox can to allow the trangia burner to fit, pic 2, the grate was left loose to allow it to move up when the trangia burner was stored, pic 3. The end result was a stove smaller than an Alpkit Mitymug.

I tried the stove, again using the Mitymug with 400ml of cold water, I managed a strong rolling boil in under 14mins without a secondary windshield, I had to remove the pot briefly to get the fire going after overfilling it so not too bad given the size. I'm now thinking about swapping the Trangia burner for something like an MBDC Mini Atomic


pic 1

Inner can (Firebox) with Trangia Burner in stored position.

pic 2

Trangia burner fitted to Firebox ready to use.

Finished Stove, Firebox pressed into outer can. Compared to a Mitymug

Woodstove mk3

I was working on my woodstove again, I managed to get a bit of mesh for the grate so made a new firebox to fit the mk2 outer can. The improved air supply made a big difference both in the burn rate and the amount and size of the pieces of wood that I could use without choking it completely.

I had thought about making a smaller stove, same diameter but shorter so I made a new firebox and outer by cutting the smooth section off the base, removing some of the ribbed section and pressing the smooth section back on, I did that for both cans. Again I used the mesh grate but left it loose in the bottom of the firebox. One other thing I discovered was that if I flattened the inner lip at the top of the firebox (the lip is left when the pull-off lid id removed) a trangia burner fits perfectly and works as a back-up. The Trangia burner can be packed away in the base of the stove as the grate being loose simply moves up out of the way. I made a slightly different windshield/potstand but it probably doesn't make much difference. I tried an Alpkit Mitymug 3/4 full and managed a strong rolling boil in about 12mins, not really fast but I wasn't using a secondary foil windshield, the temperature was below freezing and the firebox is pretty small.

Reasonably happy with the result but there are a few modifications I want to try on the mk4 model.

Mesh Grate, about 20mm. Slightly smaller would be better as the kindling has a tendency to fall through.

Alpkit Mitymug, Rolling boil.

Full Power.

Trangia Burner

First Time Tarping (or should that be Ponching?)

A while back I bought myself a German Army poncho and sleeping bag with the intention of trying the poncho as a tarp. I eventually got around to trying it with a mate who had a Hennessy Hamock. It all went pretty well considering we had a bit of snow on the ground and the sleeping bag was warm enough considering I was fully clothed and wearing a duvet jacket. The only problem was my feet were freezing and that kept me awake for a while but I've since bought a pair of Nanok bivvy boots from 'Genuine Army Surplus' for £5.99, that should sort the feet. One other small detail, I had my mobile phone in my trouser pocket but I'd forgotten to switch off the alarm, it went off a 4.00am and I couldn't get to it as the sleeping bag has arms which effectively meant my arms were outside the sleeping bag!!! had to let it play itself out..........twice!!!

I used my Swedish Army stove conversion with the hanging kit which was great, 1st thing in the morning, what with having sleeves in my sleeping bag I didn't have to get up or out to make a cuppa, lovely.

Wood Stove mk2 Test

I tried the stove, 1st time I let it run too low on fuel, then added too much at once and choked it, never got a rolling boil but warm enough for a cuppa but it took nearly 20 minutes. Tried again, filled it up with smaller pieces of wood but couldn't get it to fire up, lack of air I think (need a proper grate) Started again with just enough wood to get it going and then kept adding wood, little and often. There was enough heat to keep the lid lifting off the pot but again never a rolling boil.

Still it worked after a fashion, both tests done outside, no breeze temperature around freezing. I'll stick with my Swedish Army Trangia conversion or my MSR Whisperlite Int.

Wood Stove mk2

Still messing around trying to make a wood burning backpacking stove. Made my mk2 model this morning. The pic's tell the story.

These are the cans I decided to use. The cat food can I used before, the outer can is a 1250g dog food can. Cost me £1.25 and I don't have a dog!! The can is too tall but I figured I could cut it down.

Marked out the can for the air holes using a 6mm allen key as a spacer.

I drilled a series of 6mm holes around the top using a wood bit which makes a nice clean cut, I then punched a load of holes in the base. I'm going to remove the base at some stage and replace it with a mesh grid to improve airflow, I got that advice from Derek Goffin on Outdoors Magic forum.

The wood bit I used to drill the holes.

I marked out the base of the outer can and cut out a circle to allow me to press in the inner burner. I cut it out a few millimeters at a time using a stanley knife.

The hole is a bit ragged but as it tapers in and is slightly smaller than the inner tin it works ok.

As the outer tin was too tall I cut it down to about an inch taller than the inner tin. I cut off the smooth section, then cut a ribbed section from the can.

With a bit of footering I managed to press the base back on.

Drilling the air holes in the outer base was slightly more difficult as the base is now double skinned, I had to use a block of wood to support the inner skin but it worked ok in the end.

All that remained was to press the inner burner into the outer section and make the windshield.

The stove complete with windshield, it fits into a Gelert Ascent 11 pot.