With the pieces assembled, tie it together with some sting. Reassemble to see the ignition hole, is it big enough, you may need to cut a little more out to make it easy to light the tinder bundle! That little hole for lighting the fire inside the rocket stove This will be the place you ignite the fire, the ignition hole, and the breeze will fan the fire through this hole. Line up the logs, holding them together (as above photo) and then cut out a v-shaped hole on two adjoining pieces down by the stop cut. Making a rocket stove – view from the top of the parts Then use your axe to split the wood from the middle of the logs, all the way down to the stop cut you have just made, using a similar approach to above. Approximately 100mm up from what will be the bottom of the rocket stove, use your saw to cut across the centre section of each piece (see photos above). The next stage is to hollow the log – but not all the way down the length of the log. Making a rocket stove – alternative view of the parts Yes, you could just swing the axe and split the wood as you might do for chopping firewood. Alternatively the other way around if left handed. Be safe, ensure that if the axe swings away from the log it isn’t going in your direction! I usually hold the axe so that is goes from left to right in front of me, so that when it swings after being hit, it will go to the left (I’m right handed). To do this I place the axe on top of the log, hold the handle with my non-dominant hand and drive the axe bit into the log, by hitting it with the knockometer (a heavy log or mallet) held in my dominant hand. By all means experiment with more pieces, especially on larger logs. Split the log into four pieces length ways, all with reasonably equal segments. In fact while you’re there, you may as well split a few more for your campfire! Splitting, cutting and chopping If once you split the log you find it’s a bit damp, well just leave it a while, store it somewhere a gentle breeze will dry it out, probably best under some cover. Other woods that will work well include pine and spruce – just as with larch they need to be reasonably well seasoned, dried out. This worked well, but you can just as easily use one that is taller or wider, but you will need to be able to spilt it! I find that larch burns brightly, creates good embers and lasts a while, more typical of a hardwood, although perhaps arguably a soft wood., so it sits in the middle. Anyway, that log, I’ve chosen one that is approximately 350mm tall and 150mm diameter. In this example, I’m using a seasoned larch log. Things you’ll need – a log, an axe and knockometer (a log) or mallet, a small hand saw, string or perhaps some wire, a tinder bundle, a few thin sticks and something to ignite the rocket stove! Rocket stove burning nicely – ready for a brew perhaps The log However, this version, the rocket stove, will burn hotter, because of the airflow directed into the heart of the fire through the hole at the bottom of the log! It’s a lot like the Swedish Fire Log, a log split or cut, then set on fire in the gaps between the segments of the log. There are a few ways to make a rocket stove, you can cut a log and drill holes into it, make one from a bundle of sticks, and this version where we split a log and do some sawing and chopping. What is a rocket stove? It’s a hollowed out log with a fire inside, that has a hole in the side to direct the breeze which fans the fire, and hence it burns like a rocket!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |