Building a simple Rocket Stove

[Dirk Van der Auwera]

We use a simple rocket stove for fast cooking with small pieces of fire-wood.

Instructions for making your own rocket stove can be found here

[RoseLinUK London]

Sounds interesting!
Thanks for the links :)
Rose

[Henrique Merino]

Hi people!

I just noticed Dirk's discussion about rocket-stoves and decided the one i'm using the last weeks.

It is a very basic approach,causing it to be a little more smoky than expected for more state-of-the-art ones and therefore my trousers are getting some stains from the bottoms of the pots, now and then. But not so bad, it's washable if not too much grease is allowed to spill out of pans or pots while cooking.

The unsophisticated way I use to place the pots accordingly to their diameters forces me to some manoeuvrings with hot brick splits and tent sticks, specially for coffee.




About the building:

I used 2 non massive bricks, circa 20 cm large, placed 12 cm apart (afterwards i filled the holes with sand for better thermic isolation); the back is made of a bigger brick.

The inner space is square, but later I placed a rusty bean-can inside the upper part and 'glued' it with clay. The small portico posed some problems during construction but I can't remember if any trick was needed. There is a wire (vineyard type) around the bricks, keeping them together, while the portico forces them a little outwards.

At the base of that portico I placed a smaller brick, having some doubts about leaving it removable or not, because of the eventual need to removing ashes. It's holes provide underneath aeration and the wood pieces rest on it. After using the stove for weeks, I didn't yet need to remove this brick and aeration is not being obstructed.

The top is a ring of massive clay but for some brick splits and small stones.

About the clay:

I got it at base of a thick and old weathering zone, above granite, exposed at a high road-cut. The quartz grains provide a nearly ready-to-use mixture but some sand is needed to avoid cracks (no straw!). In the case of this one, the upper massive ring was made without enough sand and cracked while drying.

About the wood:

In the area there are a lot of mimosas (acacia), to. Sadly (it's an pest), but it's good wood to burn, very good indeed. And easy to break by hand and knee, the branches providing a good collection of gauge. A forest may bee cleaned systematically, no need to look around.

Results:

I think rocket stoves are not the best solution to quickly make coffee in the morning while you are sleepy and anxious to have a cup. For cooking applications I invoke the opinion of a friend, a very demanding cook, because I'm not exactly that type of guy, who says it does the job. Believe me, that is a lot.

Thoughts:

This type of stoves used to cook is not traditional around here because there was never lack of wood; on the contrary what was needed was to get rid of this kind of small-gauge biomass, not useful for the floor of stables, roofs or whatsoever, but present by heaps, as a nuisance and dangerous leftover in forests. Thicker stems where valuable when transformed into coal and where sold or fabricated.

Those people where very clever. They only didn't think about registering the finding (or their entire life) as 'permaculture' or anything alike. They don't mind not taking the credits, I'm sure, but perhaps Ethnography and History of our common and humble grandpa's may be a valuable source for modern 'alternative' research.

H.