DIY Baffle for Takedown Stove

[4estTrekker]

I've been using an interior baffle in my stove this fall/winter and really like it. It allows me to run the stove pipe over the door (pushing the stove box back into the unused space of my tent), gives me a better, more controlled burn with very few escaping sparks, and regulates the heat on top (which I find helps with cooking). I made it from a section of the stove pipe I cut off and bent with a Vise-Grip hand break and a rubber mallet over over the corner of a board. My two friends both run them on their stoves, too. It find the only drawback is that it takes a little longer to get the stove to draw well when first lighting it. Other than that, it has improved the performance of my leaky little stove a lot. So much so, that I rather like my leaky little stove a lot. The baffle rolls up and stores inside the rolled stovepipe.

PS: Pardon the state of my stove...I had just dumped the ash/coals. It's a messy little thing.

[Undersky]

Simple, efficient, and effective = beautiful! This looks like a beautiful improvement and almost no cost, 4estTrekker. Good on you!

Just one thought: in the large, baffled stove we use for group trips I, too, find it a bit smokey to getting the pipe to draw right off the bat - especially in colder weather. I believe the problem is in the physics of trying to push that long cylinder of cold air up and out of the pipe. One partial solution has been to put a handful of birch bark on top of the edge of the baffle. Next, I'll reach in and light that birch bark. Because the smoke really has no where else to go, it is more likely to start up the pipe than to come down into the stove box and into the tent. Of course this warm smoke being pushed up the pipe warms the pipe so it can start doing its job as the "engine" for the stove. As that "baffle bark" is burning I lay the tinder and small starter wood in the stove, ready to be lit. Once the pipe is warm to the touch, and the baffle bark is pretty much burned out, I'll light the "real" fire. At this point the pipe draw is usually much improved with combustion air being drawn into the stove and little or no smoke coming out into the tent - away she burns!

One question about this type of stove, please: Considering that you have used yours a bit, can you say how easily you can shut down a roaring fire by using the draft and damper? Can it be shut down pretty well, or does it leak enough so that the fire is reduced, but keeps burning steadily? I guess my question is really a question of how much this design of stove leaks after a bit of use.

Thanks!

[4estTrekker]

Hey, that's a great idea about preheating the baffle with birch bark! I'll hafta give that a go for sure. In regards to your question, I find that I can really feather this particular stove when using the baffle. Once it's going and drafting well, I can shut the air intake on the door almost all the way and still get enough draw from the leaky bits of the stove. The damper is REALLY sensitive and effective at that point, and it doesn't take much to instantly tame the inferno. As I've gotten better with this stove, I can leave the damper about 1/4 to 1/2 open without loosing too much heat up the pipe or overheating things.

Just for comparison, I ran the stove without the baffle on a camp out last weekend. I REALLY had to babysit the stove and disliked the fussy performance so much that I let it cool enough to install the baffle.

[Undersky]

Thanks for you reply, 4estTrekker. I value your assessment.

For me, it is important to be able to shut a stove down if/when that is needed. When working with young people there are times when your attention is needed elsewhere, immediately, and of course that is at the same time the stove is cranking out the heat cooking supper. It is good to be able to shift the draft and damper and leave the tent knowing that the stove will behave predictably even though it is untended for a few minutes.

Recently I have been playing with a very small stove made from a 4L Coleman fuel can. I guess I am too spoiled by basking in the heat of the hot tent in snow season and now want a little comfort in the small back-packing tent during the shoulder seasons! Ha! Before installing a baffle it was either full-on red hot, or dying; pretty finicky to keep it running at a medium level. After adding the baffle, desired performance was easier to maintain, and, as you say, more heat was always available under the pot, and less heat shot up the pipe.

Temperature outside, pipe draw, draft, damper, quality, size, temperature, and moisture content of the wood, how much you "need" the heat, even the mood of the user - there are so many factors that affect stove performance! Guess that's what makes it fun.

Thanks again!

[4estTrekker]

Yeah, put simply, with the baffle installed I can kill the fire by starving it. Without it, it's unruly and malcontent.

[Undersky]

You should sell winnerwell your baffle concept. They could sell it as a $50 add-on! Ha!

[4estTrekker]

I’m just tickled it makes the stove work much more efficiently and hope it can be of help to someone. To be fair, I got the idea from a fella who posted the design on YouTube. Perhaps he hangs out here and will chime in.