My Hot Hex - and Homemade Tent Stove.

Very Very much a work in progress, since I'm still waiting for glue to dry...

But I figured I'd share the experience so far...

http://bofh.ucs.ualberta.ca/beck/pictures/hothex

Your neighbor needs to paint his fascia board. Over time rot can develop and lead to more costly repairs. It appears that some of his shingle mold may be missing in this area as well. (snap back to reality).....
Oh I like your stove design. Down here where I live that could be converted to a smoker. Which Gollite is that?

Very nice, Phat! Fire it up and send me some smoke signals <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> That should keep you warm this winter, for sure.

BF <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

P.S. What about a base for the stove if used on snow.....

Looks like you need to leave the sewing to your wife. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> JK. The metal work is great though. I like it. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

It's a shangri-la 3 actually.

Well, currently the stove is on a temporary base of a couple of tent spikes driven into the
ground.

My current thought is I'm combing the junk bins for an aluminum arrow. When I find out I'll chop
it into some legs for the stove that I can thread and put on. On snow I'll just set the feet on a base
of some sort - like my little bit of foam carried to set my svea on.

However I'm not finalized on a leg design yet. for simplicity and lightness...

All and all a nice setup. I'm sure it will take the chill off and maybe even get warm enough to dry clothes.

Now from the cheapseats..........hope you don't mind some suggestions.

28 ga. is thin. I would add a grate to the bottom of the firebox - or should I say firetube. It's not a big firebox and you will not get roaring fire going, but, I'd be concerned about burning a hole in the bottom. A grate will stop this possibility. The fire will also burn better with some air from under the grate. You'll quite likely have to leave the door open without any draught holes, but this no problem. Just make sure there is nothing combustible in front that sparks will land on.

The stove pipe will need to be supported on the outside. I'd be concerned that any amount of wind could dislodge the pipe from the firebox and that would be a huge hazard. What are Kifari (sp) using on their teepee hot tents?

Now for the legs / supports. How about some 16 ga aluminum say about 12" high and 9" wide. Cut a hole large enough for the firetube to fit through. Two of these will support the firetube and provide a flat surface to put a pot over the firetube. You might need a couple of those spikes on top to act as kind of a grate for a flat surface for a pot. It may not get hot enough to boil, but it will melt snow.

What kind of bird dog is that? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Just updated after putting the boot on and doing a test fire...

Them's the idea. Actually after a fireup today - it gets pretty darn warm inside. the hex
is small enough to heat pretty good with that little stove. I'm pretty sure I'll be drying
clothes just fine, which was one of the reasons I wanted to take the pipe out and leave both the big vents in the top.



That's actually the intention - I'll probably double line the bottom, but it's been fine so far (I've fired it off about 5 times before trying it in the tent, and it doesn't show any signs of big problems.) Although actually only the door is 28 ga. the pipe is thicker, but i forget how much - it was extra bits. The door runs pretty much "shut" with a 1cm opening
around it and draws really well. it's not really ment to "shut" - I"m not going to try to
"hold" a fire in anything that small. it's just ment to be fed small wood..



I had a look at a kifaru once, and it was a lot like what I'm doing. there's no support per say on the outside, but the pipe is vertical and doesn't stick out too far. I actually left the stove
set up on the boot all day in a pretty stiff breeze and no problems at all. Since my pipe is
(almost) vertical, and supported near the top and the bottom, it seems really stable in the wind. that notwithstanding, I do have the stove right next to the vertical pole of the hex (I won't be pitching with trekking poles while using the stove! ) so I can actually simply wire the pipe to the pole on the inside of the tent without any trouble).



Hmm.. now *that*'s an idea. I had actually figured on putting a couple of machine screws though the top to act as a pot support. but that might work very well indeed.
I probably wouldn't use the big spikes, but putting a wire kitchen warming rack over that
would be lighter, and give me lots of room... we'll see what I come up with.



Springer spaniel - although he's scared of chickens <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Ok, I managed to sand the edge of my malfunctioning stove boot, re-epoxy on the velcro, and do another protracted test firing - things now seem to be going very well, and I've added some more pictures above.

Now to make legs. I like rick's idea of some sheet aluminium - but I'm also eyeing the stove at the moment because the lovely TiGoat stovepipe rolls up real easy and fits nicely inside it, and I can wrap the boot on the outside for one nice compact package. I'd love to get legs
that fit inside when packed up - so it's all a nice 6 inch by 1 foot cylinder.

Looks really neat. And it looks fun to build and use. I just had a similar idea. I though wrapping a hot rock in extra cloths or a blanket or even a shammy and sleeping with it in the bag would keep me nice and toasty—it's the same thing they do with pizzas! (although pizzas rarely complain about comfert)

phat
nice job
where's the spark arrestor? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
Looks like a nice hunting tent for deep winter. how could you make it hold enough wood and damper it so it would burn low all night?
It would make it awkward but more stable if the pipe was welded to the stove, or to a "rear piece" that the front connected to, thus using the stove as part of the stability and insuring that the fire goes through the tent, no wait a minut <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> thats wrong. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />
Jim <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Not shown, but actually I've used a little thing of 4 layers of hardware cloth inserted into the pipe at the bottom - this works well with poppy wod and doesnt' clog up like ones on
the end of the pipe. although I've found with that 6 foot pipe on that little fire it's unnecessary.



I'm relatively convinced it isn't possible without large stove to get an all night burn like that. there just isn't enough mass inside a 6 inch 1 foot long tube to do that. I'm pretty happy getting 30 minutes of heat out of a fill - my emphasis has been to keep it light, compact, for it to throw lots of heat, and affordable. So far so good, it heats the tent well, and is still compact and light enough to be backpackable.

as far as stability, I've wired the pipe to the tent pole near the stove, with that I'm confident it isn't going anywhere.

Good job Bob, a nice project well executed from start to finish. Photos really help it along and work as a great tutorial. Must be all that computin' ya' do all day <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

Well, it's not strictly done yet Eugene - I still have to sew my little beak on over the velcro boot hole, and make a silnylon patch of the same size, with velcro around the edges so that the boot will handle rain, and the tent will be weatherproof without the stove in it.

I spent 12 hours today with a huge roomful of computers and a power failure (no aircon! I was lettin' the smoke out!) so I'm now havin a beer and chillin' - but if I feel like sewing tomorrow I'll get that done and post more pictures <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Hit me with the whole dealie when yer done Bob if you would, per our PM. Makes a cool little igloo if you get enough snow <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

So for the full details see the pics at the bottom of
http://bofh.cns.ualberta.ca/beck/pictures/hothex/

but here's the summary. After Rick kind of inspired me with the above, I proceeded to wait until she who must be obeyed was out of the house an I "borrowed" the small kitchen cooling rack that she never uses.. It looked good but it was windy enough today I couldn't just try it on the stove, so I had to set up the tent again.. After some modifications and some wire the result:





Starting with 2 cups of 6 degrees C Edmonton tap water (it's coooold year round..) I ended up with this result:



in about 13 minutes from getting the stove going.. More than nice enough to cook on, and would definately do a fine job melting snow. It ain't as fast as my whisperloud, but patience is easier to come by when you're inside and warm in my experience <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

That is really impressive, phat. After seeing how you made "legs," my brain is a-boilin' with ideas for alternate uses for simple tent/tarp stakes.

my "legs" are still temporary.. those spikes are heavy..

I've not yet finalized my stove support method - however I'm looking at a way to
attach the stove on the back to the support pole, and then just have the front up there for stabilization.. either that or what Rick suggested earlier about using aluminum sheets...

You do realize that she is going to need that now that you chopped it up. I'd be practicing the line "I don't know where it is. You were the last to use it." <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Hey that's great. Nothing wrong with that boil time. You'll soon appreciate the splendor of sitting around a nice warm fire watching and waiting for water to boil. But most of all, watching snow melt is very interesting. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Some of those sticks under whatever legs you decide on will stop the stove from sinking into snowpack. Build a platform in log fashion style for support. If the snow starts to melt after a period of time put another stick under it as a shim, so to speak. If you don't understand this concept, let me know, and I'll see if I have a picture.

Phat, I like your idea for a stove/heater. A couple of questions. The stand pipe is 6' long? How will you carry it? I assume that you get all the heat from the chimney/standpipe? What does all this weigh? Will you just use it in the backyard or do you plan to carry it in the wilderness? Lastly, how will you carry all this and 200 lbs of water donkey meat? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I haven't put it on a scale yet, but I think the stove body weight about a pound or so, and
the pipe about the same. - so as it is it probably weighs something between 2 and 3 pounds.
Add that to about let's see 23 + 13 + 3 ounces == 39 oz for the shangri-la 3 so I figure it'll be 6 or 7 pounds for a workable hot tent rig, which I'm pretty happy with.

Oh, I see you're wondering about the pipe. I'll post a picture later but this is a rollup stainless
steel pipe from titanium goat (our sponsor) it's actually a flat piece of stainless steel shim stock
with some wire rings. if I roll it out flat, I can curve it up lengthwise to form a 6 foot pipe. When I
want to pack it, I roll it up in the short dimension and it forms a 12" long tube, which fits inside my
stove (I did my homework before I decided on my firebox length). so the thing I have to pack
is simply a 6 inch by 12 inch tube.

Will I carry it? heck yah. my winter kit ain't exactly light weight. Will I trade 3 pounds for the ability to dry clothing and sleeping bags? heck yeah. As it is the stove and hex tent will go onto my giant heavy brio pack just fine thanks <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

As for swamp donkey meat? - that's usually brought out on a packframe, or an ATV, or a combination of both <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

What do you think could be the smallest size firebox and chimney and still be effective? Maybe a lighter and packable unit? 2"- 3" Dia.chimney and a fire box 4" in diameter. I like the idea of having a woodburning stove. Too bad you can't just have a fireplace inside the tent but Poofffffffffffffff. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

Nice. Please post some temperature data when you get a chance. I'm curious to know how warm it is, at what outside temp, how long your fire is effective and at what distance etc. On a cold nite it will be nice to be able to contain the heat if even for short bursts. Cause as ya know it ain't R-16 insulated. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I'm not sure. I knew I could get a 3 inch pipe, not necessarily a 2, and I know 6 inches by 1 foot is about the smallest practical "micro sized" tent stove I've seen, such as the rollup titanium foil version sold by titanium goat. So - I wasn't about to try for something smaller than that. I'll let you know once it gets colder. based on my experience with stoves in larger hot tents (like an 8 x 10 foot wall jobby) I'd say what I have now throws out a nice enough amount of heat through the stove and pipe to keep me very comfortable down into some pretty nasty temperatures as long as I am feeding it fuel. The goal for winter camping is to have a place to warm up and get dry, and potentially melt a pile of snow for water without listening to the spectacular 45 minute nightly performance of the Grand Symphonic Suite For an Awful Lot of Sveas and Whisperlites. The goal is not to have a tent with central heating that will leave you in your shirtsleeves all night. So this doesn't replace having proper clothing and sleeping arrangements or anything like that. 30 to 45 minutes after I stop feeding it, I expect to have not a heck of a lot of heat coming off it.

Phat, I almost forgot. When are you planning to make mods so we can use it in a hammock. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

TGIF

Less silly than you think actually, I have used a traditional GSW wood stove underneath
a big blue tarp at a camp. it's definately not as toasty as an enclosed tent, but it does work and lets you have the fire right under the tarp if you take the pipe out at an angle and
make a tripod to prop it up on safely. So in theory you could do the same kind of thing for
a warmer hammock camp - but realisticly this little stove would be a bit underpowered for
that and probably not worth the bother, considering once you're in the hammock it's gonna be kind of hard to feed the stove (unless you're juggling it in your lap <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I get down to -5 to -10C with my deconstructed underquilt and a good bag in a hammock. beyond that I give up. Maybe someday if I'm wealthy enough to by a big old overstuffed speer pea pod I might go out colder with a hammock. but not for now. (plus I think you'd have a hard time getting me to give up this rig with a BA insulated aircore mat and blue foamies in it <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Jump over to hammockforums.net and look up some posts of a guy buy the name of Turk.

He took an extreme trip to northern Canada (way up north!) and I believe he used a modified Ti-Goat stove.

Let me see if I can find that thread.....I think this is it. there may be some more.

http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/showthread.php?t=2708


Tango

yeah, he basically made a hot tent to hang inside. I'm not so keen on that - you can't feed the stove easy from inside the hammock, and realisticly unless you're packing a full size airtight stove you're not going to get all-night heat out of it. So you're still hammocking in
whatever below - I can do that without the stove and tent, or be comfortable on the ground
(because at those temps I carry 3 pads) in the tent. don't get me wrong, I'm a card carrying hammock mafia member when it's not below -5 to -10. It's just below that to me, it becomes a matter of proving a point rather than actually being comfortable <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Sounds like your creating the portable home away from home.
Thought. If you frequent the same camping spot more than once, you could stash gear. Like cookware, furniture etc. I have done this before to create a fishing camp/stash. An iron skillit is great to cook fish in and will last years buried somewhere. If done right(pile on rocks) no one will ever see it. NOt the best LNT thinking but I have been to a trout stream and anglers were lined up almost elbow to elbow. But they never discovered my stash. I wait till they disperse and I get to stay the night and be first in the stream the next day.

Nope, I'm trying to create something I can carry, not stash. If I was going to stash or bring it in for a long time I'd use the 12x12 or 14x16 wall tent I already have <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Here's my tribute to phat. Still need to get my Shangri-La 6 sewn to take it, but this is an eight inch stove based on his. 5.78 lbs. with six feet of ductwork stove pipe. Would be a lot lighter with a Kifaru/Ti pipe. If you happen to use ductwork for pipe, Lowe's is much lighter than Home Depot (about half a pound per 24" section).

The door end of the stove comes right off and the legs and grill fit inside and it all fits in a sleeping bag sack. The stove pipe fits in a sack for a Thermarest base camp type pad.

Thanks phat!

Nice job on the door CCH! That 8 incher should probably throw enough heat to make your shangri-la 6 into quite the winter palace.

I like the square hole cutout - considered it for mine but with the 6 inch pipe I thought the hole would be too small - you can pull it off nicely with the bigger 8 inch stove.

I've heard of of galvanized steel being used for stoves for many years. The material is readily available, easy to work and cheap. I've not used it myself, but that is probably because I've not a made a stove like yours.

Here is a link to a post that describes a galvanized stove that failed. I bring it to your attention for safety reasons - you guys can be the judge. Read down to tonycc's post.

Stove Durability

Edited to reflect new location of the discussion mentioned.

The only winter camping that I've ever done was in BS. The winter camping site has inspired me to construct a stove. Now wheather I use it to acctually camp will remain to be seen. But a neet project non the less. Now for my question. How will sill nylon hold up with the heat of the stove? I'm considering sewing something similar to a hex type tent. No floor.

You have to be really careful <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I cut the stove boot hole in the shangri-la with a soldering iron, as you can see in my pics. My stove boot and location of he hole seem to work ok. but I tested that slowly and carefully. silnylon is flammable, so you'll need a good stove boot and you won't want the stove near a wall.

Silnylon is flammable. Pretty much everyone I know with a stove and silnylon shelter has a few small holes (generally pin size) from cinders coming out from the stove pipe. If they're big enough to leak, they are easily repaired with a drop of silicon. I don't know anyone who has set theirs on fire. As phat said, a good stove jack is key. Burning good wood helps. No pinecones! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> You can get stove jack material from Kifaru or Ti-goat -- it's a heavy, inflammable cloth.

I couldn't get through that link to read about stove durability but did speak with some very experienced stove builders and users while building mine, one of whom used to make commercial stoves of this sort. Although it certainly won't last as long as a good stainless steel one, the consensus was that ductwork is quite suitable for stove building -- just be sure to burn off the galvanized finish before using it in a tent as that stuff is toxic. I had to use a propane torch for spots that didn't heat up enough from burning the stove itself. The main cylinder is the part most likely to wear out. It cost me $9 for a piece big enough to build at least three stoves. I'd imagine that the rest of the pieces will be reusable for quite some time as the ends don't seem to get nearly as hot as the body.

Try that link again CCH - I fixed it.

Hey Rick, I never saw that site before. Thanks for the link. I just spent quite a while looking at the site, reading the forums and also looking at some of the gear mentioned in the posts. Lots of great info on winter camping. Probably the best site around as far as deep cold camping is concerned from what I can tell. Not exactly UL by any means, but at those temps, easy to see why not.

What surprises me is how much of the old school clothing people were recommending-cotton anoraks and all that sort of thing, plus those cotton tents with the stoves in them, like the one you made.

So, how's the weather up your way? I was listening to something on NPR (our version of the CBC) about a woman who had been doing research up in the NWT before it was Nunavit. She said the way the radio announced the temperature in winter was "in seconds until frostbite."

Rick, thanks for fixing the link. Interesting discussion.

By the way, this stove building is addictive. My wife thought I was crazier than usual while at Wal-mart last night. I held up a stainless steel bathroom waste basket mated to a stainless burner cover and asked her what it looked like. Apparently it looked like a waste basket and a burner cover to her while I looked like an idiot, but to me it looked like the start of a stove. Didn't like the flare type taper of the wastebasket but promising none the less. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

indeed - although I suspect the "brittleness" is less a factor of the galvanizing than of just the thin steel - in my experience with cheap sheet metal stoves (like the gsw airtights you can buy in canada) and using galvanized and nongalvanized pipe for them is that it's good for a couple of seasons and that's it. it'll burn out. I fully expect to simply build another
of these stoves after a season, maybe 2, depending on how much I use it. If I could find
a good souce of stainless that might be another matter. But at that point I'll just give up
and buy the titanium goat rollup titanium jobby <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Nice woodstove phat.

Well even starting from scratch and replacing all parts, I can build six stoves for the price of one Kifaru (which I do plan on getting eventually). Don't get out as much as I'd like to so I think this will last me a bit.

Thin stainless steel is pretty available on the net. My next one might use galvanized end caps and rolled up stainless stock.

You know to pre-burn galvanized metal outside the tent cause the fumes are toxic right?

I do. Had to take a torch to some of the stove pipe to get it all "burned".