[Stoves] Stratifying TLUDs for 'turn down'

Ray Menke ray.menke at gmail.com
Sat Jan 14 15:21:40 CST 2017


On Sat, Jan 14, 2017 at 2:04 PM,  <neiltm at uwclub.net> wrote:
> is that something you made?

My location is 18 miles South of Austin, TX.  The stove was
constructed in 2013, and is still going strong, with a few
modifications.  https://youtu.be/vHms7E0VAio
Since that video, I made another grate with even smaller holes.  They
are made from a worn-out ten inch carbide saw blade, with holes
drilled on the drill press, and the teeth broken off.  This heavy
blade tolerates the burning char quite well.  The stove pipe
replaceable liner get replaced quite often.  I choose to use a
computer fan blowing air through very small primary air holes, for
starting and ending, rather than large holes that provide too much
primary air all the time.  I also have the valve, but don't use it too
much with the new grate.
Another really good modification was to cast a Plaster and Perlite
(with added crushed bottle glass) top covering the whole stove.  This
was cast into an old metal oil change pan that happened to be the
right size.  The juice can was cast in place to act as the riser.
This cover has U shaped handles so it can be removed and stored
inside.  It weighs about 25 pounds and holds the top down tight, and
provides a sturdier pot support (better that the six bricks shown in
the video).  Now I only need four bricks.
I was worried about how long this would last, and started keeping a
log.  After about 25 sessions, I saw no damage whatsoever, and stopped
keeping the log.  I then proceeded to cast a top for a smaller TLUD
stove based on a stainless steel stock pot, using the saw blade grate,
and replaceable stove pipe liner.  This was cast into a large teflon
coated aluminum skillet using plastic wrap to protect the skillet.  It
also has two smaller U-Bolts as handles, so it can be stored inside.
My logbook for making charcoal says I have made 229 50 gallon barrel
(200 L) loads of junk/scrap wood into black gold.  It seems to be one
of my hobbies.  A long drought killed thousands of trees, so there is
no lack of wood to use.  Every time I walk the fence line (more than a
mile) I carry back some dead wood for the next barrel load.
A burn ban is in effect now, so I can only collect stuff.  My outdoor
kitchen never smokes unless I am BBQing, so I am still producing char.


-- 
Ray  Menke




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