Wood Burning Stove

This is a guide on how to build a woodstove from scrap.

you can also read this in dutch:
http://www.engelweb.nl/houtkacheltje

First you need to pop down yer local chippy + get an empty oildrum + a pea fritter!

height about 50cm
diameter about 30 cm

depending on how big space you want to heat.

I have also tried various metal rubish-bins.

it doesn't matter if the metal is thin. that way it heats up the space much faster.

don't use anything aluminium. it will catch fire when tempreture gets high enough for spontanious combustion, melting or realy aggressive burning with hot sparks flying about.

then get a kettle and a saucepanlid with a lip and a metal handle, making sure your kettle has a bigger base than the size of your lid.

snip the edges then bend and bang inside so you've got a smooth edge with no sharp bits and hopefully your saucepanlid will fit nice and snug.

its best to burn the paint off the drum at some point. but then turn it upsidedown and draw round your lid on the base of the drum (fun bit when flame sometimes shoots out of hole in drum)

hopefully you can get hold of a bit of flexible chimney flue from somewhere or you could rivet lots of large baked bean tins together if your really keen or mad or just like beans.

then draw a hole for the flue right near the top of the drum. cut out in segments and bend all the sharp bits inside so they lay flat.

a trick to keep the heat in is an adjustable baffle in the chimney, just squewer a baked bean tin lid with a tent peg inside the chimney.

close the bottom of the drum with metal. and fill 1/3 with clay. this is to retain the heat.

make hole in the side to control the fire.
you can just drill holes and have big bolts to seal up holes when you want the burner to slow down.
You can also make a slide.

put some cardboard or paper inside and stak little stick on top, bigger sticks on that etc. (so instructable for making a fire). open all holes to let lots of air in. open chimney flab to let smoke go out. now light fire. put the lid on top, but don't close it all the way, just enough to stop smoke coming out of burner.
when it's going first close lid on top (or put the kettle on). close holes on the side or slide if you got one, te regulate the air intake and thus the speed of the burning. (depends on what sort of wood you're burning).

at first the clay may smell wierd, but that will wear off.

after a few weeks the clay will be all dried out and you will notice the burner stays warm for hours after flames have gone.

warnings:
- make sure no children can play near burner
- keep flameables well away
- don't have anything burnable above the burner
- make sure you got enough ventilation in the space you use this in.