"holey" grail stove

[cadyak]

I call this stove the "holey" grail It is pretty heavy duty in its construction. Also the mug itself is one of the nicer ones. (no leaks) I have tried a number of burns in it without the potstand. It works fine and will boil water every time without adding any wood. It is just slow. I believe that it might work better if we could get a few days or a week without rain. It has rained every single afternoon except for yesterday so I finally got a chance to get outside and burn some sticks. The wood isnt soaking, but it sure isnt dry. It makes for a slow start and patchy burning. The top loading videos and info got me thinking about the importance of how each load of wood is prepared. I have been taking care to break the thickest pieces as short as I can to fill in all the space around the base. then I stack it in there like normal. The stoves that I really aerated seem to work better than the more solid ones for use without the potstand. They are however more susceptible to wind.
I have always used these stoves without the potstand for baking, warming or for the kids marshmallows once it has died down after boiling. Some of the mugs have a distinct taper and some are straighter. The straighter ones seem to do a little better but there just seems to be an airflow problem between the pot and the stove.
One thing that occurred to me was that for a couple of years I used nothing but the skinniest pots. The potstand helped to keep the fire narrow. I have been testing using wider pots this past year and it makes a real difference in the flame pattern. SOO...I was thinking that the potstand can be for when you are interested in a quick boil or have a skinny pot.
I did remove the stoking hole from the potstand. It makes the potstand short enough (1-1/2") to fit inside the stove, but around the mug and it still allows the flame to accelerate and concentrate on the pot.

the pile of wood shown here was almost enough for 2 boils.



the potstand carries inside the stove around the mug.






Please see video below:

[zelph]

Very nice times on length of burn and boil. You'll get spoiled if you practice your top lighting batch loads. It's nice not having to feed twigs. What did you use as tinder to start your fire?

If you were to elongate the top holes with your punch by "nibbling" 1/4" at a time so they are elongated in the vertical direction you may be able to eliminate your pot stand and still maintain a good flow of fire for a faster boil. Elongate every other hole to a 1.5 inch length to start with. If you nibble a little at a time, it will make for a nice looking slot.

Other projects have taken me away from my wood stove development

[cadyak]

I use cotton facial swabs imbibed with about 75% beeswax and 25% vaseline. Pure wax is hard as a rock below freezing. They can burn on average between 7 to 10 minutes each.

I meant to mention that I have been trying the top loaded method which works well for lighting, but I run into the same problem when I place the pot on. Unless the wood is really dry, it lowers the flame a great deal. I wonder if the tops are just to narrow for the fire to evenly burn down as the stove width increases. If I had a way to make the integrated stand-offs longer that would be the ticket. I kind of like having both options available though.
There was No fuel added to the above mentioned burns after lighting. I just dont ever rule that possiblility out.
here is one that has some elongated slots. It actually works pretty well without the potstand and using the TL method.
Just not quite as well as with the potstand. Still trying to think of a name for this big one. 24oz. It has one of the highest quality inner cups of all of my stoves. (gasketed, ergonomic shaped lip, and screw bottom)
stove body-4oz, cup-4oz with top.

[zelph]

If you elongate the holes as I mentioned, putting the pot on will not slow down the burn rate very much. I'm speculating of course. Try to have the same amount of exiting holes/area as you have for incoming air. Stack your fuel so air can make it's way upward. a loose vertical stack might work well. Load the stove while laying on it's side as I show in one of my recent photos.

Nice elongated hole punch you have there. Nice and clean looking.

How are your punches holding up after using it a lot on stainless steel?

[cadyak]

I use a step bit for most stuff. They dont last too long with the stainless.

here is an updated video. around 3 cups of water right out of the well, kmart grease pot. 1 smallish pecan limb. took me about two minutes to find the limb, break it up and top load the stove. didnt include that on the video.....the stove is about 2/3 full.

[zelph]

Agree, stainless is hard on drill bits

I like how your stove concentrates the flame. Easy to light, easy to feed once the fuel gets low if need be. Burns nice and clean with pecan. I do belive that pecans grow further north along the Mississippi. Native Americans slowly acclimated them over a period of many years, slowly moving them northward to the colder states.

Does the pot support store in the bottom of the stove?

[cadyak]

Yep. the potstand stores between the walls on two different ones. It didnt really fit before, but going with a smaller mesh and nixing the top hole has allowed me to shorten it to 1-1/2". I am also drinking my coffee out of it right now. If I could get the spoke-stakes to fit in there that would great, but for now I just carry them with my tent stakes.
Albany used to be one giant pecan orchard. I have twelve old trees that produce pretty well. It actually makes good selfbow wood also.

[zelph]

the potstand carries inside the stove around the mug.


I went up to the top and took a look at your original post and now see how the potstand is stored. How many cups does your mug hold? I like the way it stores inside the stove.

3 cups of water on one load of fuel is great.

[cadyak]

Pretty day outside today. It is finally starting to cool off some.
Its been two weeks since it rained. I finally have some dr-y-y wood.
This mug holds 14-15oz.,has a slide top , is pretty heavy duty and easy to put together/take apart. The stove itself is very stout and can be carried by itself without fear of damage with caps on each end for nesting potstand ,alcohol & alc stove, windscreen, spoke-stakes, and tinder.

[zelph]

The weather here is beginning to be nice also. I think I'll be heading out for a two week jaunt in the next day or two. I need to get some time hanging in my new hammocks.

What is the dia. of the base of the stove and the dia. of the pot support?

Here is a little info on the pecan tree:

INDIAN ORCHARDS

Pecan trees (which can live for 500 years) originated in northern Texas and southern Oklahoma, and were spread along the canoe-trails of the American Indians. (The word "pecan" comes from the Indian word paccan : "food which has to be cracked out of a hard shell".) These nuts—once a staple of the Indian diet-were easy to collect and highly nutritious, stored well, and were good for barter.

It's believed that the native Americans planted pecans in the vicinity of regularly used campsites to provide "grubstakes" for their descendants. And—since the Indians preferred to plant the biggest and thinnest-shelled species—this "cultivation" not only increased the growing range of the beautiful shade tree but greatly improved the quality of its nuts as well!

But no one realized just how widely the tree had actually been spread until recently, when some fine examples of the "northern" pecan were found hidden away in the rugged forests of southern Wisconsin and in the northernmost regions of Iowa and Illinois. These old trees, which grow as far as 300 miles north of the currently available northern pecans, make it feasible to adapt the nut tree to much colder climates than modern growers had previously thought possible!