I like using little wood stoves, but they are usually a bit heavier than I'd like (4-6 ounces) and some are a little bulky.

The body is 0.005" 15-3-3-3 titanium foil, the ribs and the triangular piece of the pot stand are 0.016" 6Al-4V titanium sheet, the pot stand rods are 3/32" 6Al-4V titanium shepherds-hook-like tent stakes, and the screen is 309 stainless steel. The stove body is 6" high and 4.5" in diameter. With the pot stand the pot elevation is about 8 inches. It fits neatly into a BPL firelite 900 pot (but only the screen is meant to be stored that way). The whole thing (with the stand) weighs 2.6 ounces (71 grams).

The little tabs on the sides, near the bottom, are for lifting/moving the stove while it's hot. The screen on the bottom is shaped like a bundt pan (like the surface of the lower half of a donut), and the openings in the screen are small (maybe about 15 wires per inch). The fine screen retains the fuel (even dry grass doesn't tend to fall through), but the bundt-like shape keeps the screen from becoming occluded (things slide to the bottom of the donut). Even with a lot of cinder at the bottom, most of the screen remains clear of debris.

I also put a big mouth-like opening on one side of the stove, with a "latching" door. With other commercially-made wood stoves I've used, I found it difficult (mostly due to lack of skill on my part) to get a good fire going with damp fuel when I could only light it from the top. The side opening on this stove makes it much easier for me to burn suboptimal fuel (wet leaves, etc.), and I end up needing less carried tinder (vaseline+cotton, dryer lint, etc.). I just use this opening for fire starting. Once it's going I feed it from the top. The door has a little bit of ceramic-fiber twine attached, and it can be opened and closed when the stove is hot.

The whole thing rolls up, the screen fits inside the pot, and the ribs are flat and pack easily between other things. Input is welcome.

That is absolutely outstanding!

Superb craftsmanship.

A work of art.

As you can see, I really like your excellent stove. (o:

Amazing. Well done.
That is a work of art...
Franco

Tinkering at it's best.

Amazing little stove.

Bravo!!

oo

Edited by diggity on 04/06/2012 20:56:16 MDT.

That is bloody brilliant Colin! I am a big fan of wood stoves and fire in general. I sure hope you are planning to manufacture and market this stove. I would buy one!
Come to think of it.. put me down for one of those as soon as you get production rolling!

Edited by Ice-axe on 03/13/2011 18:09:30 MDT.

from picking my jaw up off the floor! It looks fully functional, clever, light, compact and beautiful workmanship. Wow!

Wow. Impressive workmanship.

HJ

I HATE to be like this, but recent Kettle events here at BPL( the kettle Fiasco} suggest to me that you may want to take these pictures down-Is that technically possible?Ask support at BPL. You are hitting a bulls-eye on many targets, Weight. Storage, Fire feeding, re-use of stakes. Don't provide a template or measurements. Take orders if you want but I would look into a patent or sell the design with legal help. Personally this looks as good if not better than the Caldera Cone. I myself want a larger size but that should be easy. Please look at the paper trail on the kettles. Your best defense is Offense.

Edited by Meander on 03/13/2011 19:54:39 MDT.

Colin,

Origami meets titanium foil on Christmas morning! Put tab A in slot B while holding mouth just so. LOL ;-)

Seriously you have just made something new, different and light! I was just beginning to think that there was not much new that could be done to lighten our loads. Then you pop up with this gem of a roll up stove.

Get a copyright, patent or whatever it takes to protect your rights to this beauty.

You just struck gold!

Party On,

Newton

Holy cow. That stove is like nothing I've ever seen. Your design and production skills are off the charts. Well done!

First off, wow! This thing is incredible.

I'll second, third, fourth the others and say I'd buy one in a heartbeat if the price was right!

Although this is contrary to the reason you made this beautiful piece in the first place...I would actually like to see one of these made as one piece with a sort of hinged door for the feeder opening.

Very impressive, keep up the good work! If you do decide to sell these i think you'll have a winner.

will trade quilt for stove!!

-Tim

put me on the waiting/interested list as well- that's a dandy!

Thanks for all of the accolades. I actually first began working on this stove about two years ago, but time constraints forced me to put it on hold for a while. I don't think commercialization of this stove will be feasible for me while I'm in graduate school. If I had ready access to a laser cutting shop, and software to design the cuts, I might consider producing a limited run just to provide for interested people on BPL, but at present I don't have the time or the capital to invest in it.

I do plan to make a few modified versions over the summer, though. This version uses 0.005" 15-3-3-3 Ti foil for the body, but I think 0.003" CP4 Ti foil (which Steve Evans sells on his site) would probably be sufficiently stiff. A copy of this stove using 0.003" CP4 foil would probably weigh a hair over two ounces. If the stainless steel screen on the bottom were then replaced with a titanium screen, the weight should come down to the 1.8 oz range, I would guess.

15-3-3-3 foil used in this version becomes a bit brittle after the beta transition (which occurs at the first exposure to wood fire temps). I noticed a small crack in the foil at one of the edges. The CP4 foil is softer and should be less prone to embrittlement, but it might be prone to deformation during fabrication (which, for me, involves stout scissors, a dremel, and a punch).

Tyler, I'm not sure what you mean by one piece. The door and the body are a single sheet of foil. Do you mean a seamless cylinder that doesn't roll up?

Tim, I'm tempted to take you up on your offer. This little stove is nowhere near the value of your quilts, though. Maybe I could provide the materials (fabric and down) and a stove. It will have to wait a bit in any case. I won't have time to make another stove right away. I'll keep in touch with you.

Thanks again for the feedback. Ideas and input are welcome.

Edited by ckrusor on 03/14/2011 09:55:32 MDT.

Drawing up a pattern for your stove would be incredibly simple if you provided someone with your current design. Anyone with CAD software and a couple hours of experience could easily do that...if your college has an engineering department any of those students could probably do it for a small fee. Hell if you sent me the stove I could do the CAD drawings for a fee and then it is just importing that file to someone with a laser cutter.

This really is a great design. Time/money may be a bit of a constraint now but you see how impressed the people are here. You could always patent it now and then sit on the design for a year. When you have more time you could start a side business and see how it sells.

Edited by MikeyLXT on 03/14/2011 17:01:17 MDT.

Sorry Colin, I should have been a little more clear.

You assumed correctly though, I was thinking along the lines of a non-collapsible, all in one piece (minus the potstand)

if you want to talk about a trade shoot me an e-mail. I am sure an Epiphany-K might be worth a few stoves but we could at least kick some ideas around.

-Tim

I'm a buyer for a manufacturing company and we have a laser out in the shop. I can probably get these cut fairly inexpensively. If you're interested I can inquire, but I would need a CAD drawing to get it properly quoted.

@Colin,

I count five people on just this thread alone who are interested in purchasing your stove.

"I don't think commercialization of this stove will be feasible for me while I'm in graduate school. If I had ready access to a laser cutting shop, and software to design the cuts, I might consider producing a limited run just to provide for interested people on BPL, but at present I don't have the time or the capital to invest in it."

Mike wants to help with the CAD drawing.

Jake seems willing to assist you with getting them cut out.

Five of us interested people on BPL want one or more.

Grad students need funds. This could be a viable source of income for you.

Think about producing the limited run. You might like the results.

And yes I am very interested. ;-)

Good luck.

Party On,

Newton