The inspiration

On a recent camping trip with BushcraftUK I was very taken with a small woodburning stove one of the members, Jack, had brought along. It was made from an ammo box and as I shivered under my tarp, I got to thinking about making one for myself

What I thought could be improved on his stove was as follows:

• stability - the legs were very tall and quite close together. On soft ground it wasn't a problem as they could be pushed in
• portability - the legs were fixed length and although bits of the flue fitted inside the stove, the rest didn't - I wanted mine to be completely self-contained
• size - for car camping it was great but would take up too much room in a rucksack. I wanted one that would fit inside a rocket pack on my Bergen
  

The design

With the above thoughts in mind, I got to planning how my stove would look. Unfortunately, I didn't have a suitable ammo box to convert but I did have a metre length of 5" enamelled stove pipe in the shed that came "free" with my domestic woodburner. It wasn't going to be used and I thought a suitable length of this would be perfect for the body of my stove.

I sketched out a rough design on the computer:



For the flue I initially thought about using sections of exhaust pipe but even mild steel ones were quite expensive and I didn't want to invest a lot of money in a project that might not work. I considered scaffolding pole but it's really thick walled and thus very heavy.

I eventually found a length of 45mm steel tube lying in a nearby wood and salvaged it. Aside from some surface rust and mud, it was in pretty good nick and about 2mm thick

For the end plates, I decided to cut out circles from some 2mm steel shelving I had cluttering up the shed. These were eventually cut roughly to shape with the angle grinder and then finished on the lathe

I set to work with the angle grinder and a pack of thin cutting disks.

I cut a 330mm section of stovepipe as this would allow me to make 2 more stoves and would still fit inside the rocket pouch.

I cut a panel out that would form the door and reattached it with some small metal hinges. To minimise the gap around the door, I cut another piece of metal slightly smaller than the door and rivetted it inside.

The bottom plate was (badly) welded onto the bottom of the main canister and the gaps were sealed with fire cement. An M8 bolt is tightly screwed through this to attach the legs to

The top plate was made oversized and then hammered onto a 5" piece of plywood to form a lip

The throat plate was eventually cut straight as it was easier. My original thoughts had a top plate that flipped round to reveal a handle underneath but I realised that this handle would be covered in soot. The top plate is held on with two butterly nuts that locate onto bolts welded inside the tube. The throat plate rests on the heads of these bolts

I was then trying to work out how to connect the sections of flue together. I wanted at least a metre and worked out that I could comfortably fit 3 sections inside the stove. In the end I cut some 2mm flat plates and hammered them into tubes which were welded and then welded onto the sections of 45mm tube (don't worry, there are pictures coming up)

I then wanted a grate and used a piece of perforated steel from inside an old exhaust silencer. This was hammered flat and then turned in the lathe to make a disc of the right diameter. To space it at the right distance (i.e. just above the air holes), 3 M6 screws were bolted through it (I believe these were the bolts used to attach Land Rover Defender rear side-facing seat backs)

The finished article!

I reasoned that a hot stove would melt the synthetic material of my Bergen pocket so made a heavy canvas bag out of an old seat base that I'd dyed green. This had to be sewn by hand as my sewing machine wasn't up to the job:






Then it was off to the woods for a photo session!



As promised, it fits inside a rocket pack. The stove weighs just under 5kg so is fairly portable




Carry bag held up...





The packed up stove:





A closer view of the top plate fixing system:




The components stored inside:




The component parts:





Legs assembled - these are made from an old warning triangle that the AA ran over on the M6. They can be pushed into the earth for greater stability





Stove standing the right way up






Grate installed - this is stored the other way up to maximise flue length that can be fitted inside





Throat plate installed - this should stop heat just going straight up the chimney




Top plate installed and screwed down




Flue sections added - assembly complete!




Top is big enough to heat a Crusader style mug (but not much else):




All packed up again:




Leave no trace!:

Burn, baby, burn!

You may notice from the previous pictures that I didn't actually light the stove - this was because I was on someone else's land and didn't have a lot of time so didn't want to have to manhandle a hot stove.

You can also notice that it wasn't painted... it is now!






A small fire was lit inside - it draws really well and there wasn't any appreciable smoke coming out anywhere but the chimney






Bit of a gap in the door - the catch is a bit flimsy and needs remaking:





Top certainly gets hot pretty quickly:




Chimney remains a bit cooler

Future improvements

I'm pretty happy with the performance of the stove but it does burn a bit quickly. I am going to construct a variable air control for the bottom air holes and a flue damper as well - should make it last a bit longer

A downside of a small stove is that the fuel has to be fairly small to fit in and you can't get big logs in that will last for ages. It's also got limited cooking space but I didn't have the means to neatly produce a longer top plate

With the single bolt fixing, the stove does sway slightly - I see this as an advantage as I'm planning on sewing a silicone sheet into my tarp that the flue will fit into - will help in windy weather

All in all, I'm pretty chuffed and can't wait to try it in the field!