The design

With the above thoughts in mind, I got to planning how my stove would look. Unfortunately, I didn't have a suitable ammo box to convert but I did have a metre length of 5" enamelled stove pipe in the shed that came "free" with my domestic woodburner. It wasn't going to be used and I thought a suitable length of this would be perfect for the body of my stove.

I sketched out a rough design on the computer:



For the flue I initially thought about using sections of exhaust pipe but even mild steel ones were quite expensive and I didn't want to invest a lot of money in a project that might not work. I considered scaffolding pole but it's really thick walled and thus very heavy.

I eventually found a length of 45mm steel tube lying in a nearby wood and salvaged it. Aside from some surface rust and mud, it was in pretty good nick and about 2mm thick

For the end plates, I decided to cut out circles from some 2mm steel shelving I had cluttering up the shed. These were eventually cut roughly to shape with the angle grinder and then finished on the lathe

I set to work with the angle grinder and a pack of thin cutting disks.

I cut a 330mm section of stovepipe as this would allow me to make 2 more stoves and would still fit inside the rocket pouch.

I cut a panel out that would form the door and reattached it with some small metal hinges. To minimise the gap around the door, I cut another piece of metal slightly smaller than the door and rivetted it inside.

The bottom plate was (badly) welded onto the bottom of the main canister and the gaps were sealed with fire cement. An M8 bolt is tightly screwed through this to attach the legs to

The top plate was made oversized and then hammered onto a 5" piece of plywood to form a lip

The throat plate was eventually cut straight as it was easier. My original thoughts had a top plate that flipped round to reveal a handle underneath but I realised that this handle would be covered in soot. The top plate is held on with two butterly nuts that locate onto bolts welded inside the tube. The throat plate rests on the heads of these bolts

I was then trying to work out how to connect the sections of flue together. I wanted at least a metre and worked out that I could comfortably fit 3 sections inside the stove. In the end I cut some 2mm flat plates and hammered them into tubes which were welded and then welded onto the sections of 45mm tube (don't worry, there are pictures coming up)

I then wanted a grate and used a piece of perforated steel from inside an old exhaust silencer. This was hammered flat and then turned in the lathe to make a disc of the right diameter. To space it at the right distance (i.e. just above the air holes), 3 M6 screws were bolted through it (I believe these were the bolts used to attach Land Rover Defender rear side-facing seat backs)