New ideas for cooking under tarp

[chimpac]

New design ideas have come to me this winter, so I think I have the simplest, latest and greatest for any weather cooking under cover.
This old stove has burned out a baffle and now has a simpler better design baffle that makes wood fire burn cleaner and front of stove hotter.
2 pegs at each corner 12” or 16” apart and 4” in from edge to keep edge tighter to the ground, makes stronger pitch and more inside corner space.
Vents can be cut in each side that shut tight. Two strips of oil bucket, one 4”x 8” is stapled (paper) in to shed water. A 3”x 8”
is stapled lower so it can be on one side or the other to make flap open or closed. I consider these vents important so I can see what the neighbours are doing. I thought they had to be big enough to get a can of bear spray through. Now I like to use them to see through and aim the spray can that I push out under the tarp side. If my hand and the can are low the bear might not bite it off.
This is a 12’x12’ tarp which will fit in a camper in each corner if poles are used to keep the tarp above the persons head in the corner.
The lower the centre of the tarp can be kept the higher the sides can be raised to cool off.
Space for a bivy on all 4 sides.

[chimpac]

I recently eliminated my ash pan and small grate at the bottom outside of my stove. I will I have gone to a larger grate attached to a full can lid. So there is no more ash opening on the bottom outside. It is just as hot or hotter for open top kettles held up tight to the bottom of the stove and no more ashes in my dinner.
I use the strip of tin as a shovel to slide under the grate and chute to take out the ashes. I
l also made a can opener cut on the side along the floor just below the chimney and bent the side in and up to made a draft opening to bring combustion air under my new grate. It also gives a place for the back of the grate to rest on.
The next time I put a grate in a can lid it will be positioned as far away from the feed opening as possible. This position will allow ashes that are pushed to the back of the stove to be over the grate and burn or fall through the grate.
A mistake was made on my position of chimney opening.

[chimpac]

This stove is easy to make except the chimney. I make 2 sections of 20” tapered pipe. I could get by with something 7” shorter. Stores stock 3” pipe. I will ship the 2” if anyone wants it.
The 1.5”x2” connector can be made quickly by bending a 1.5”wide strip of tin can around a little rectangular 1.5”x2”pattern. The top of the connector is doubled.
Then the bottom is sniped .25”at an angle in the 4 corners so the 2” side edges can be bent to flanges.
The 4 top corners of double top are cut 1/4” on each side at an angle into the corner and the tiny triangle side of each corner is bent over tight to the doubled top .
Each of the 4 top corners being now 3 three layer metal right in corner is bent at an angle tight to the top in each corner. The top flange is cut 3 times about .25” at the edge spaced to make 3 equal parts and inserted into the chimney opening and bent 90 degrees inside tightly to the inside of the chimney. The same is done at the opening in the stove.

The opening in the stove and pipe is made by marking the outside edge using the 1.5”x 2” pattern. Then marking a concentric line 1/4 “ inside the outside line. Cut on the inside mark all the way around, then at each corner cut diagonally in the corner to the outside mark. At the top and bottom make 3 cuts at equal intervals inside line to outside line. Bend all edges out perpendicular.

The stove will hang on the flanges but it is good to use a wire around chimney and stove to be sure the weight of your dinner does not pull out the connector.

[chimpac]

There is a number of ways of stopping drafts coming into a tarp shelter under the edges next to the ground. It gets more and more important as the wind velocity increases and the outdoor temperature decreases.
l have started moving my corner tie points 3” or 4” from the edge but it just occurred to me this morning that increasing that to 10” or 12” would be even better. You just need a tarp that is big enough.

[chimpac]

I made myself some shorter 2” tapered stove pipe. I have been using 20”now I am trying out 14”. For summer I will use 2 sections with a 8’x10’ tarp with chimney at the side. I will use 3 sections for a larger tent with chimney in the middle.
I like the new little 5”x5” stove I just made with the new idea simpler baffle. I broil my meat in a kettle hung up under my stove by a wire swinging from holes on both sides of the stove.
I will post how I make each part if any one is interested.

[chimpac]

Summer outfit. I use 2 tie points at each corner about 3” from edge and at least 12” apart. I just use a 2” square of plastic bucket taped on at each tie point on the tarp corner.
At the 2 support points in the peak I tie with masons cord an 8” piece of tent pole in the middle, the line extending outside so it can be tied to an overhead line. The 8” pole piece held in place, parallel with the 2 corner tent pegs, with wide tape. If I have no over head places to tie to I use 4 sections of tent pole 2 attached with a bent piece of wire plugged into each end of the 8” piece taped to the roof, four sections for each person.

[chimpac]

Lately I have been splitting dry scrap 2”x4” to burn in my little stove. This morning I got an arm full of sticks from trees in the yard.
Sticks are easier than the heavy duty splitting and burn just as hot. Care has to be taken to choose dry sticks.

[chimpac]

The stove pictures show the flanges on the. chimney opening in the stove.
l have a nephew who went to live in Australia. He has fist fights with kangaroos. He took one of my tarps and stoves with him. Now he is fixing himself a new outfit so I have to tell him about improvements I have made. He can read it here.

[chimpac]

A gas burner can be attached to the bottom of the stove shown above. The bottom needs to be cut out but a 1/2” should be left at the rim. This will let you hang a gas burner or lay a floor.

[chimpac]

I am narrow minded when it comes to cooking meat. I consider barbecuing to be a waste of good flavour. When I am cooking meat on my wood stove it is either fried or broiled so I do not burn some of the good stuff like barbecuing with flames underneath burning the drippings.
i do enjoy making my breakfast every morning, burning a bit of small tree branches. In all the years I have tried out different ideas for stoves I may have hit a better combination of draft and baffle because most of the time I am seeing no smoke coming out of the chimney and having a blue flame showing in the fire box.
When it gets colder and especially when the wind blows it greatly adds to comfort if the outside edge of the tarp is air tight to the ground. The easiest way is to move tie points at the corners in from the edge 10” or 12”. Another way is to use a strip of Velcro on the edge to attach a tarp full floor or a piece of tarp to the edge.

[chimpac]

I am interested in tent stoves of all kinds.
I still prefer a vertical stove with a vertical sliding door and centre pole chimney. It has been a long time since I fired my 5 gallon can stove burning a stove full of wood with the family. When I travel by my self or with a friend I prefer a vertical stove just big enough to get the cooking done., burning a small amount of wood. Very little sawing wood just what I can break. Wood is fed as burned to a completely open draft. Small bottom opening with no door. I can cover the opening by swinging my feed chute up close to the stove.
I need to get back to experimenting with larger stoves burning a load of wood. I would use my new idea very simple baffle, stove to chimney connector and two tin can lids for a chimney jack.
A vertical stove has so many advantages. It is very inexpensive to choose a 5 gallon can or a drum of any size up to 45 gallons.. The system of feeding and draft control to get a clean burn would have to be chosen. There could be elastic pressure put on wood on a feed chute. All my stoves I make now can be fed through the top which can be covered with a cook pot or metal lid. I have burned full loads of wood from the top down. Limiting the bottom draft to control the rate of burn.
I like to keep a stove up off the ground so I can use bottom radiant heat to broil food.
I may not get the big stove experimenting done before I cash in but it will be done by someone in the future.

[chimpac]

I have to tell my adventures
I am going to a camp out in January by Medicine Hat. I sent them this.
I plan to be there if I am healthy. I am chimpac on the forums. I do enjoy thinking I have the latest and greatest. I am always considering any new idea I see.
I am always shoving my ideas in front of people if I get a chance. Nobody is changing camp cooking very much.
Cooking inside a tent is a bad sin according to backpackers, that’s why they stay home when the weather is not perfect.
I am trying to get Calgary’s mayors attention to give homeless people a piece of dirt to put their tent on. The city people did this years ago for the Indians when they came to visit and they did just fine thank you very much.
I emailed the sports stores in Lethbridge just lately the following.
What shelter and stove weighing under 5 pounds would you sell me to make me comfortable cooking and eating while camping on a day like today. Google chimpac
It was blizzarding.
Two stores answered and told me what they had but I could see I would not be very comfortable.
Here is what I answered.
Your store has in stock all the simple equipment, including some cans from the kitchen, needed to get you comfortable making and drinking coffee outside in front, all year around, in any weather.
To show off a light weight, warm in winter or cool outfit in summer. Arlen Google chimpac
I make 2” x 40” tapered stove pipe. The stove and connectors are made from tin can. This time of year mostly 6” coffee cans. Smaller ones for base of chimney.
Hope to see you at the party. Arlen

[chimpac]

New strong corner pegged.
Tents offered for sale as 4 season tents must have been designed by people who did not use them very much.
For hot summer sun all sides of a shelter have to be raised forming an umbrella. Like no floor.
A square tarp pegged on each corner supported by a centre pole chimney and a stick to keep tarp above a campers head sitting in each corner.
Winter, use a 2’ strip of floor material attached to edge of tarp with Velcro tape.
Corner peg detail. Use 3 only 6” aluminum nails for each corner. Cut a 1”x7” piece of oil bucket. Roll the corner of tarp around the bucket piece toward the centre of the tarp. Drive nails through tarp and oil bucket. Leave one nail in tarp when packing.

[chimpac]

Hey I thought you guys quit. Glad to post again.
I can’t quit this. I am a slow learner so I cook a morning meal on my 12 ounce stove hanging on my 12 ounce centre pole chimney under a 8’x10’ tarp every day for this last year or more. I have discovered some gems of wisdom and truth. When I pitch a square tarp for a man in each corner I use a vertical stick in the exact corner. When I use a 8’x10 tarp for just me I finally smartened up and used a vertical 36” stick in 2 corners. It makes the tarp tighter. I was using the 2 sticks but I thought I had to have a top spreader piece. If I get the sticks in the exact corner I do not need a spreader and I have a lot more head room. I drive a nail in each end of the sticks to go through a 3”x3” piece of oil bucket glued to the tent at the top. The nail in the other end keeps the stick from slipping out of place on the ground.
I do the same, lay tarp flat and to position pegs I move the corners in, thumb to little finger + half more. It may have to be adjusted to make the tarp tight at the right height. My three nail corner lowers the tarp tighter to the ground.
I have never melted my tarp using my 2 tin can lids, roof jack. I used an old much smaller than my regular 6” lid and it got to hot.
I can feed long pieces under 3/4” diameter at my, no door, feed opening on top of my loose grate floor. If I want to restrict draft I lift my feed chute that is attached to the grate. I keep it raised by jamming a stick under or adjusting the chute support wires. If I am near a power saw I cut as big as 3” wood to 5” long. I feed these pieces through the top of my stove. I heat my kettle with no lid on the stove if it is big enough to stop the smoke.
I am thinking that 2 backpackers can cook, eat and sleep in the same tent shared stove. To stay out of each other’s way it is not good to be side by side. It is better to each have their end of the tent. I can turn my stove either way. So I propose 2 6’x8’ tarps joined at my centre pole chimney. In summer the join can be lose or open to get rid of the cooking heat.. I do not need a door anywhere, I just lift the tarp.
I commit a heresy when I say it is best to be cooking in my tent when a bear comes sniffing around. If I am cooking on a little gas stove in the wind outside, with my dinner all ready for the bear l shake in my shoes when he shows. I give him my dinner and try to save my life. My dinner is in a tent I am watching the bear through an eye level peek vent that I have on each side. I can put my spray hand under the tarp and get him good if he comes close enough.
I am looking for new posts on the forum. There must be an easy way I have not discovered yet.
That’s it for now.

[chimpac]

I need information about the eating much beef fat. Is it really dangerous. First of all they trim most of it off these days, in fact you have to add oil to fry their hamburger. All the good flavour is in that fat. I like to get the free butcher’s scraps. I love my kettle of all I can eat garden vegetables boiled in a bit of water on top of my coffee can stove. In a kettle that has to be same size or smaller than my stove.I clamp tight to the bottom of the stove, it has to be smaller or l get ashes in it. I cook a small amount of some kind of diced meat or a few inches of sausage. What makes it all delicious is the chunk of fat diced up. I render the fat right to crispy brown but I take the meat out earlier and start to eat because my vegetables are usually done. So am I going to die early (can’t really do that cause I am 84).