Andrew C. Parker, October 2011
Lion Cub Stove
A variation on Larry Winiarski's 16 Brick Stove
and Crispin Pemberton-Pigott's Lion Stove
"I had been waiting all Summer to use my brother's StoveTek
stove to do some experiments. While searching a reference
for someone on the stoves list I ran across a video of Larry
Winiarski's 16 Brick Stove. I had seen the reference before,
but had not seen the video. After finally watching it, I had
found the answer to my problem. I have a firepit with walls
made from pavers. I would make my own 16 brick stove."
Please see his PDF or PPT for the Photos of the construction, and the detailed description of the stove.
"I also wanted to build one of Crispin Pemberton-Pigott's Lion
Stoves, so I decided to make a simple modification to the 16
Brick Stove. I went outside and in the space of five minutes
had put together the Lion Cub Stove.
"I boiled a gallon and a half of water in about one hour. It would
have been much more efficient with a skirt.
I have experimented with wind baffles for the air inlet and added
and removed layers of pavers to adjust the draft.
"I put a crudely modified 14.5” Weber Kettle barbecue on top of the
flue, sealing the gap with fiberglass insulation. After adjusting the
height of the flue (it needed to be taller for more draft), it worked
great.
"It is about as finicky as the StoveTek. It will take some time to
work out all the bugs and make modifications and work out more
bugs. Sound familiar?"
"Try it out yourself. Use whatever you have available: pavers,
bricks, cinderblock, flue tile. Don't be hesitant. It isn't rocket
science, but it can be.
"Insulating the combustion area and flue should improve combustion... I was going to use lava rock in mine, but it came without the charcoal grate. I have noticed that chicken produces a lot of grease and it was puddling at the bottom of the kettle, then dripping down on the flames (no serious flareups). Lava rock would have intercepted most of it. Also, because I have no diffuser, the barbecue only works with the lid on, otherwise the heat escapes up the middle.
"I need to resize my stove to fit the opening into the barbecue. The flow is being choked now, and I get more smoke than I should. It is still a vast improvement over an open fire..."
Andrew