I had a little time to put together a little gram weinie wood stove.

It's made of stainless steel mesh

It weighs 45 grams/ 1-1/2 ounces

I made two test burns. filled the stove 3/4 full of twigs. Lit it with help of a little denatured alcohol just to speed up thing a little.

It boiled 2 cups of water in an uncovered aluminum pot.

The stove turned out to be totaly cool. You can watch the flames flicker while its burning. Just like an open fire. The mesh prevents ash flakes from flying up and out everywhere. The fire gets plenty of oxygen, very little soot build up. I usually use a little campfire with a tripod made of sticks to hold my pot of water. This little stove may change my ways.

The last photo shows the stove after the two test burns. The mesh held up very well under the high heat of the wood fuel. I did not wash the stove off after the tests. What you see in the photos is how clean it burns, very little soot.

The stove is flexible. Can be squished down to 1 inch without creasing it. Have not tested it to see how much weight it will hold. I have to do some further testing.

Edited by zelph on 06/27/2007 10:50:32 MDT.

Very nice! can ou provide dimemsions? and specs for the mesh used?

wow, really cool Idea.

the only problem I see is that there is no floor to the stove, and it could leave some nasty scars on the ground or rock where u set up the stove, I am all for the leave no trace, so I wonder if you could find some sort of can with the same diameter as the mesh tube, and cut around the side about 3/4 of an inch from the bottom, so you have a small aluminum dish resting at the base of the wire mesh tube.

also, when using the alcohol to light, some may drip down to the ground and spread out

so the aluminum dish idea would help to keep the fire where it is suposed to be... in the stove instead of around it.

Jim:::The mesh count is 16 threads per inch. Dimensions are 4-5/8 high X 4-1/8 diameter

Ryan:::I'll be sure to find somthing to use under the stove to leave no trace.

Let me guess ..... you got the mesh from McMaster-Carr?

what type stainless steel?

Awesome design. I like the use of mesh to provide lots of oxygen to the flame.

Jim Colten, guess no longer. It is made from an after market,lantern globe replacement. This is what the box looks like that it came in:

Next week I'll try to show some photos how to cut it with an exacto blade. I used a diamond impregnated cutoff wheel in me Dremel Tool to hac mine. I did this one in a hurry that's why it's crude. Wanted to do a quick test to see how it would fare through the high heat. It did ok!!!!

I was hoping one of you Stovies would've recognized what it was. NO Stovies here = )

Edited by zelph on 06/28/2007 16:16:06 MDT.

That looks excellent, Dan. My only worry is - if it can be squished down to 1 inch, is there a risk of it subsiding with a heavy pot of boiling water on top?

Steve:::I did use the stove over this past weekend(family campout). I did three test burns using 6 cups of water in the enameled steel pot that you see in the photos. On the third test the screen collapsed. The log stand was not level, the weight of the pot and contents shifted the pressure to one side of the stand and away she went. Hee-hee. I like testing stoves!!!! The pot and six cups of water weigh 4.25 pounds. The squishibility is meant to represent having soft sides, no sharp,hard object poking you in the back through your pack. Im going to spot weld some stainless support pieces onto the upright sections of the stand. Will post photos when available and make some available if anyone is interested. This year the 17 year locusts/cicadas emerged to make us aware of the presence.Photo included. As most of you know, all materials need to be heated to the point of gassification in order to ignite. You hear talk of the small double walled stoves that are suppose to be gassifiers(bushbuddy for one)Any wood burning stove has to gassify the fuel before it will burn. A true gassifier has chamber/think pressure cooker, that wood is put into and the chamber them sealed to allow only the gas given off when heated by a fire under the chamber. The gas produced would be channeled off to a combustion engine in the case of the ones used during WW2. These people that are selling gassifier backpacking stoves have got consumers by the shorts. Read somewhere that a guy paid around a hundred bucks for a bushbuddy. Thats ok. He was perfectly happy with the stove. Great craftsmanship, no doubt. Take a look at the gassification that is taking place in this simple mesh wood burner. Is it worth a hundred bucks??? NO!!!

Edited by zelph on 07/03/2007 06:28:32 MDT.

Thanks for the reply! I'll give you credit for testing it to breaking point!

Here's a thought. I wonder if you could thread the supports through the mesh, with or without the welding for additional strength.

I think threading would work for awhile. The kinks caused by threading may weaken the mesh in a different way. They may get loose after a few burns and fall out. I'll weld two and thread one and see what happens. Compromised,we have.

I really like the idea and your creativity..........

Have you tried to make the nimblewood nomad collapsable stove? Slightly smaller than the original design and made out of titanium and it would be ideal in my book for the ultralight backpacker:

http://zenstoves.net/Templates/NimblewillNomadStove.pdf

Still, this mesh idea is cool also.........

I just love burning wood when camping.......

Alan::::: I hav'nt given much thought to the nimblewoodnomad. I'll take a look at it again and give it some thought. I like burning wood also, my favorite way to cook.

I took a look at the nimblewoodnomade and a quick thought came to mind. Why have a four part stove to assemble when you can have a one piece mesh stove with no assembly? I like things to be Kept In Super Simple designs.

good question about the nimblewood nomad:

my thoughts:
1. a flat stove is more easity packed in your pack and less likely to get damaged. Many of UL stoves need to be housed in a pot for protection in the pack. NN stove doesn't need that.......
2.I have used one and it is quite durable.......

For a one person stove you probably need only a mesh stove the size of a a soup can?

I am excited to see you your stove works with the supports.

Thanks,
A

Alan::::: I agree a flat stove packs more easily. It looks like the NN needs to be put into a puncture proof sack before putting it into a pack.

A soup can size would have to be filled at least three time for it to boil 2 cups of water, and would need constant attention or it will quickly die down to a point of needing tinder added in order to ignite the twigs.

The size of mesh stove in this thread needs only one filling for 2 cups.

A three piece hardware cloth design might be good for some folks to use, do-it-yourself project. Here are some photos of a little stove fashioned from hardware cloth and hinged into a three section pot stand.

The burner is 2 inches in diameter by 3/4 inches high. Has screw on top to provide maximum protection of fiberglass wick during storage and transporting.

The pot stand folded up is 2 inches square. When opened it stands 2 inches high. Has three sides, giving access to burner when necessary without removing pot.

Boils 2 cups of water in 6 minutes, using 1/2 ounce denatured alcohol, under optimum conditions. K-Mart grease pot used for tests, shown in photo of flame pattern.

Burner weighs 26.7 grams

Pot Stand weighs 11.3 grams

Fuel capacity is 1 ounce

1/2 ounce is completly absorbed for safety factor.