coffee can stove baffle

The following is my method of installing a baffle in a 6" can to make the cooking surface the hottest part of the stove, to give control for a slow steady burn and to eliminate the need for a spark arrestor.




baffle in shortest possible 6" can


Spacer is used to mark the added flexible edge that follows the inside of the can and spaces the baffle from under the cook surface.


vinegar bottle treatment to counter sink hole for strength when hot.


baffle bent ready to go in





tallest 6"can I have found. Front feed door cut out leaving tabs on top edge. Slits for door jamb are cut after tabs are bent in. Door jamb with slide door beside.


Smoke port cut out, tabs left on lower edge for baffle



Baffle pulled tight to the back and tabs bent around smoke port tabs





Ready to roll up tabs to make a channel for smoke connector latch pin (nail).
Rolled up tabs can be seen on short stove beside.

A baffle makes an ordinary can into a very efficient stove that will burn slow and steady using a gassifier method( burning from the top down). Replacement is cheap and easy and different sizes can be made to suit any weather.

If anyone wants to make one, the only way I know of to get the size right for the pattern is to fax it

looks fascinating, if complex - got any picures of how the stove is loaded, lit, and fed? it's not quite clear to me from you assembly pictures how this stove is supposed to work.

I was wondering when you would post this. I saw you post the exact same thing on two other forums. phat's question is basically exactly what everyone else is asking, so I won't repeat and just wait and see if you answer it.

The barley fields have dried here an we are working around the clock to finish harvest. I will take some new photos to better explain how my stove/chimney works. I would like to have time to send faxes to those who have read my posts and can see how it works. I know I am on your turf here and I will try to tread as lightly as possible in the future.

All the best, Arlen

(quote)


I like take down box stoves, the Kifaru for example or the one I am working on right now for the homemade stove and shelter thread. These are not the very best heating (still can run me out of the shelter) but rock in terms of cooking and packablilty. Toss in a warming tray and it is like having a kitchen on the fly.


(end quote)

The top picture shows a red hot chimney stack robber on a stove without a baffle.
The chimney gets red hot and not the cooking surface when there is no baffle.
A baffle is harder to do in a horizontal stove without smoking in the shelter.
The thermosyphon action is not as strong as a vertical stove.

The following stoves have the baffle, as shown in my former post, which makes the cook top hotter than the chimney and stops fly ash getting out and burning holes in the tarp(no spark arrestor needed).

The stove and chimney can be made to weigh as light as (I am guessing) 18 ounces maybe less using one chimney section made with titanium and other parts aluminum. It remains to be seen if it is worth the trouble to make the stove body with titanium considering the price and weight of a tin can.When made with all steel the total stove/chimney weighs 2lbs.

The smallest tapered chimney is 2.5”x 40”. The 20” sections nest and can be rolled up with a sleep pad. All other parts are packed in the stove, the smallest practical size being 5”x5”.



6.5” stove used to show the grate in the cone shaped bottom cover seen thru the feed door.


5” stove, heat shield/ ash catcher removed, shows cone shaped bottom cover/grate. The vent door supplies primary combustion air, it controls how fast and hot the wood burns. The door is mostly closed when burning a full load of wood from the top down (gassifier), and open wide to burn out the charcoal or to keep a small fire hot.


Connector latch pin (nail) shows, spearing the smoke connector and thru the channel formed (when the baffle was put in) at the bottom of the 5" stove smoke port.


This 5” coffee can is a tad to tall for light or summer camping. I am having trouble finding shorter 5”cans.


This is the chimney top carrier, the metal stove jack rests on the outer flange. The chimney base seen in the other photos sits on a piece of fire wood which acts as a handle to adjust the stove position and bridge over melted snow.

So looking at your can stove there, your feed door sits above that tapered section with the grate in the bottom - so I assume you put the wood in there and burn. do you shut the feed door and then have draw from the very bottom of the stove through that grate? (with I assume coals/ash dropping out onto the tray underneath) or does this work some other way? pics of a burn?

Yes thats the way it works.I described in my post how the bottom primary draft door works. I did not mention secondary draft which is a partly open feed door which is open about 1/4" most of the time. It is shut more when a greater draft draw is wanted thru the bottom. The greater draw thru the bottom makes the fire hotter. So the feed door is usually closed when the bottom is open . Combustion air is best directed at the hottest part of the fire. That is why I put in a draft opening sometimes just below the feed door in a taller stove as shown on the post.

Knownonscents ( alberta outdoor forum) in calgary said I can pick up a stove/chiimney and tarp I lent him to him to try out. You can pickup that stove in calgary if you want to experiment with it. It is an older outfit but it works about the same.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just another word or two about the possibility of this system being used by backpackers. I am interested in opinions for or against.

The stove/chimney can be made to weigh as light as (I am guessing) 18 ounces maybe less using one chimney section made with titanium and other parts aluminum. When it is made with all steel the total weight of stove/chimney is 2lbs.

It remains to be seen if it is worth the trouble to make the stove body with titanium considering the price and weight of a tin can.

The smallest tapered chimney is 2.5”x 40”. The 20” sections nest and can be rolled up with a sleep pad. All other parts are packed in the stove, the smallest practical size of stove being 5”x5”

The chimney is centerpole for a weather tight tarp.

Is there is anything out there for a four season shelter that is better for cost or comfort?
What is the weight of your tent or tarp, stove, and how much fuel will you carry for each day out?

Well, I'd be interested in a stove and pipe setup that honestly weighed 2 lbs. I would love to see it on a scale.

Here's my winter rig, on a gram scale:

Golite Shangri-la 3 tarptent with pole and stakes:


so that's 2 lbs, 9 oz for the shelter, pole, and stakes

Stove that goes in that is homemade, with a titanitum goat rollup 6 foot stainless steel pipe.. stove, pipe, supports
and everything gets packed inside the stove, which is a
12 inch long, 6 inch round stove. weight:



3 pounds 3 ounces.

So my entire rig is approximately 5 pounds 12 ounces - for winter.

In spring->fall, forget it. if I'm on the ground my shelter weighs 27 ounces, and I don't bother with a tent stove.

And in case you are wondering why I don't bother spring->fall, it's because I don't need a tent stove for warmth, so the only thing to do with it is cook on - 5 pounds 12 ounces == 92 ounces. 92 - 27 = 65 ounces. I carry 2 ounces of fuel a day, so that's 32 days unresuplied - a lot longer than I can possibly go out with what is on my back.

What did you use for a scale? This beam scale is all I have got, I have used it to weigh my stuff for years and consider it reliable. Each mark on the scale is 1/2 lb. It would be good to weigh in on a scale with finer calibrations. The stove is made from a 6" can. The bottom cover is older style maybe heavier with a stainless steel swing door instead of a slide door.
The 2-4 man shelter with the 8'x15'tan tarp I have shown on my posts weighs 5 1/2lbs.with the poles and pegs, it is a nylon canvas type material. What would silnylon weigh for that size?

That's a salter gram scale from london drugs, put into the pounds and ounces setting so as not to confuse our poor metricly-challenged southern breheren..

nifty old beam scale though - even though I'm not sure I'd trust it for small weights - man does that thing look cool..