My First Rocket Stove

We have a BBQ grill that runs on Propane gas and a camping stove that runs on the little canisters of gas.  But what if I can't get gas?  Right now, we just run down to Walmart and exchange our tank for a full one, or buy one of the little green ones and we're good to go.  But what happens if we can't do that any more?  I have dutch ovens, if we can build a fire, but a fire smokes and people will know that I'm cooking. 

So, I started researching on wood burning home made stoves.  I found this article on line on how to build a rocket stove.  It's easy to follow, but a little difficult to make for a novice. 

So this is my first attempt.  You can go to the article above and get detailed directions, but the concept is real simple.  It's the cutting that was hard.

I used a metal coffee can (not the foil lined or plastic, as this will get hot), a green bean can, a canned potato can and 2 mandarin orange cans as well as the bottom of a sweet potato can (40 oz).

Here's what I did:

The top of the coffee can is the thin aluminum sealed stuff.  The seal had already been removed when I opened it to use the coffee.  I happened to have an empty green bean can and a potato can, but any 14 oz can will do.  It called for another "soup" can but I used 2 mandarin orange cans because that's what I had.  You leave one soup can with just the top off, but you cut the top and bottom off of the second soup can.  With the mandarin orange cans, you cut the top and bottom off of one, but the second one you cut the top and bottom off and split it all the way up one side.

So, you begin by holding the 14 oz can against the coffee can and drawing where to cut.  It has to be a tight fit.  I used a can opener, the pointy part, to get a triangle started and then cut around the sharpie line with tin snips.  I had to do some adjusting to get the can in, and by that time, I could see light through it.  So I used the heat resistant aluminum tape to cover the spaces.  Then you take another 14 oz can and put it inside, and figure out how high to make the cut.  You want it up a bit so air gets below it. Then you do the same thing, cut a hole so it goes in the side.  Now you have the coffee can, with a hole in the side, one soup can horizontal and sticking out about half way, with the other end sticking into the second soup can.  Line up the vertical soup can so it's in the middle of the bottom of the coffee can.

Now, you take the mandarin can that you split, and close it down tighter than it was originally and stuff it into the vertical can inside the coffee can.  Then you put the second mandarin can that has had both ends cut off on top of the split one.  This makes a chimney that will stick up above the coffee can.  I suppose if you could find a tall can about the same diameter as a soup can, that stuck up above the coffee can, you could skip this part.

Next, you fill the space between the coffee can and the soup with either kitty litter, sand or vermiculite.  I used kitty litter because it's what I had.  The article says to use kitty litter, but a video I watched said vermiculite, and all he had was sand and it worked fine.  The point is to put in something that will hold heat.

Last thing you do is to take the cut off bottom of the 40 oz can and bend it on the sides to fit snugly into the horizontal can (the feeding shoot) so that it sits about 1/3 of the way up.  You want air to go underneath it.  You can also bend up the front edge so you can take it out and put it in easily.

I have yet to try it, but I texted a picture to my husband and he can't wait to try it.  It says in the article that you put tender (like leaves or really small twigs) down through the top of the chimney, then light it with a small twig through the feeding tube (horizontal can).  The point of this design is that it gets hotter and will burn the wood gases as well as the wood.  The article says you can boil a quart of water in 15 minutes.  I can't wait to try it out.  I'll let you know how it goes.

As a side note, the plastic lid is only to keep the kitty litter inside the stove for storage.  If you want a more permanent lid, you can take the bottom off of another coffee can and cut a hole for the chimney and set it on top.  I plan on just having it open while it's burning.  The article (in case you didn't read it) says the first time you light it, to do so outside on a fire proof setting (rock or paving stones) and to not get your face close to any fumes that may come off of it.  Cans come with a coating that will need to be burned off.  After about 5-10 minutes, it's supposed to start burning the gases as well as the wood and not smoke.