Mother's Compact Cookstove Heater

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ANOTHER JOB WELL DONE

After spending several days assembling the cookstove, you can be sure that Emerson was eager to see it do its stuff. So, after dressing it with several coats of heatresistant paint (and applying a layer or two of high-temperature flat black to the rear surface of the copper reservoir), he loaded the firebox with five pounds or so of split wood and kindling, put another 25 pounds in the lower storage bin, filled the copper tank with water, and set a blaze in the burner. The results were impressive: Not quite three-quarters of an hour later, the oven chamber was holding steady at just shy of 400°, and the stack temperature was in the same range. The reservoir of water reached a maximum of 180°, and—as he had suspected—the refractory mass absorbed enough heat (and subsequently held it in storage) to tone down the fluctuations in temperature which might otherwise render a woodstove's baking oven nearly useless.

In its heating mode, the unit does not, of course, operate as well as an appliance expressly designed to perform only that function, but it certainly is capable of warming an area the size of the average kitchen, and that's probably as much as anyone would hope for from a hybrid design such as this.

With everything taken into account, it'd be difficult to imagine someone in the market for a woodburning cookstove not giving Emerson's brain child some serious consideration. After all, what else could you make a dime-on-the-dollar (or less) investment in, and still get a world of practica l use from?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Those looking for an inexpensive woodburning heater should consider ordering MOTHER's $10 plans for such a device. See the ad on page 152. Furthermore, any person who burns wood should read the report on page 72.

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