I’ve been holding off on doing any more work on this cookstove due to the persistent winter. It’s still 0* or below every day, but let’s face it- it’s not getting any warmer yet, and there’s no use sitting around so I suppose I might just as well get moving even if I can’t cob or cast. Not to mention, there has only been a couple of new builds on here over the winter, so I hope this brightens everyone’s day.
Step 1: You gotta relax and have a homebrew.
Step 2: Put some more wood on the fire. It’s snowing merrily outside, good day to relax with some homebrew… got some pork cassoulet simmering away there on top of the barrel.
So here’s my Craigslist score of the week, free bedframe:
I’ve been looking for some angle iron for the stove frame, so take what I can use and scrap the rest. Ended up with some nice 1 ½” pieces.
Cut some 45*’s in it on one piece for a base.
Then bent it around to make the bottom frame.
Bolted a cross bar to the back and the bottom should hold some cement board nicely.
Put it in place and fabbed up the bottom and surround.
Adding some extra angle iron to the corners to support the weight of the top.
A second bracket was added towards the back. I figured 4x the CSA for a half-assed second bell idea. I’m going to fasten a second sheet of cement board to it with a flue hole/plenum at the bottom once I put some insulation across the bottom of the whole thing, before the core is cast. The 4x CSA worked out perfectly with the 6” exit flue. I calculated the needed area of a circular segment (not including the math here but I’d be happy to share it with anyone if interested) to maintain that 4” CSA at the exit at the top of the stove.
Set the top in place…. Should work nicely.
Put the core mold in for a mock-up. Looking real good.
I have to say, and I hope I’m not jinxing myself, but so many things have just sort of come together on this thing so far. It’s kind of creepy. It’s like the parts I’ve been able to scrounge up were all made with this final purpose in mind. It just fits there so well.
Planning to cob it all up once the core is cast in there to make it look nice and add some mass.
I can just barely reach to the back of the burn tunnel inside the mold with my scrawny chicken arms so it should be even easier once the form burns away. Can’t wait to move farther on this thing, but here it sits for now.
"Knowledge is power. Arm yourself."