A little tap from a hammer and it fell right out.
Finishing the opening: Cutting through the weld with a sawzall gave a nice edge that needs a very little cleanup. A quick pass with a grinder made all the edges nice and smooth.
Making the door: I took a scrap of the piano hinge and traced the profile of the rim on to it. I rough cut it on the bandsaw and perfected the fit with a grinder.
I couldn’t decide whether to put the hinge on the side or bottom. I ended up putting it on the bottom. I was going to tack weld a spring on to the top for a handle but the lip of the rims seemed good enough to me.
Leftovers: Not a lot of waste so far and even the valve stems got a second chance at life. I used them for handles for valve core removers. A little drop of Loctite and then crews on a remover and you have a neat little rubber handled valve core remover.
Still not done: It looked done but what about actually using it. My sister had given me a nice cast iron dutch oven for Christmas. It’s supposed to be good to 1000 degrees just right for outdoor cooking but I might want to use a standard frying pan too.
I made a template for a semi-circular baffle to block the flames where the frying pans handle would overhang the stove. I wanted there to be plenty of room between the rims holes and the baffle to keep up the airflow but not too high so it hits the pan
I could have just welded a couple of the rims holes up but his way there is still airflow all around the stove. It also nicely covered the top valve stem hole.
I turned to my scrap pile and found a nice heavy piece of steel. Using the plasma cutter I cut out the shape and refined the fit with a grinder.
This one I did stitch weld connecting them from end to end. A little cleaning with a wire brush and it is ready for some high heat paint.
Finally done and ready to fire: I have to find a good Chilli recipe for next weekend. My sister is coming up to visit and I’ll make the first firing of it then.
First firing: I put a bunch of charcoal around the outside and then I added 3 short logs to the middle.
Once lit it warmed up quickly. The paint seems undamaged except for some soot on top of the stove. The fire was a little smokey at first but soon settled down. The air coming up through the center made a nice flame.
I used a wok to brown the meat so I could easily drain off the fat. Simple Chilli recipe, tomatoes, peppers, beans, chopped beef, seasonings, and a couple of hours of bubbling heat.
The temperature seemed perfect – bubbling but never burning.
Thanks to rjkorn for this great project.
