by matt walker » Thu Aug 16, 2012 6:08 pm
Thanks Guy, I'm very excited about the potential of this method of building stoves. The large barrel you can stuff a LOT of wood in. It definitely is way less efficient, but like you said, you can get a long burn and a more traditional feel. It can get very, very hot, as you suspected. Not too hot for the cooking area due to the baffle, but you can run it real hot for sure. What I like about this method of building is it is very scalable and configurable depending on what you want from the stove. The small barrel, no window version I built for cooking when I don't want to use a lot of wood, and it is very efficient. I smoked a pork butt last night and made pulled pork. It cooked for about 8 hours and I used one armload of maple sticks. Not even splits, just branch pieces about 1"-2" in diameter. Two at a time, about 30-45 minutes between loading.
As for the front feed, I'm enjoying it because I can get away from the stove for a longer time, and use wood that is less "perfect." In my inside, top feed stove, I have to have the wood split just so, no snags or knots, no curve, etc. The front feed allows me to use the stuff I can't burn in the top feed. The trade off is, I think, efficiency. The top feed, small tunnel version only lets you put in a little at a time and it all burns at once. Front feed stuff can kinda fall off to the sides and not burn as hot. I do think that this method of construction could be used to build a stove that is just as efficient, just by shaping the inside of the barrel with a bit of clay. Like, build a clay "platform" and some low side walls before plunking the half barrel down into that, thereby taking up some of the volume of the barrel. I sort of did that with the small one, built up the platform and stuck the barrel about 2" down into it. I also packed clay along the inside back and sides, under the riser. It burns great.
I also love that you get away from the expense and limitations of the brick, and the flue pipe for the mass. That does away with almost all the items that need to be purchased. One of these can be built with just a few short sections of flue for the riser liner and exhaust, and a bag of Perlite. There are even ways to do it without those two "bought" items. If you are curious at all about rocket stoves, I encourage everyone to try this out. It's really, really quick and easy, and it's forgiving as well in that it naturally creates a strong form for the clay, and a shape that just "works" right out of the box.
Can you tell I'm excited? Sorry for the long ramble, and I might just have to call my next video "I'm real excited" since I say that every 22 seconds. LOL.