Building a Rocket Stove

So I had what I thought was an original idea, a vertical, chimney type fire box with a grill on top to cook steak. This was partly a result of my Weber Silver A not really getting hot enough (IMO) to sear steaks. I've made numerous smokers and had a sort-of draft sketch of what I wanted. Then I bought a Genesis with the extra searing burner and sold my 14-year-old Silver A because that thing was still working great (but it still couldn't sear).

Still, I really missed the taste that a wood fire imparts to steaks so I started to think about my chimney type grill again. Then I ran across the rocket stove. It turns out my idea had, long ago, been designed and in a much simpler and better way.

Google "rocket stove" to see countless variations, but this is basically a self-feeding, wood burning stove that uses the chimney effect (a.k.a. "stack effect") to burn wood at very high efficiency.

This is the basic rocket stove:



This is after I made the grill attachment, added an accessory air intake (fuel was blocking the stack a little) and did some painting (I still have a few touch-ups to do).



I tested the grill and diffuser and am getting temps over 700°.




Here's some chuck eye steaks for testing using split oak as fuel:



All you need are some oak, hickory or pecan limbs from your yard. I bought a shallow, galvanized tub for ashes. If you research these stoves, you will see L and J shaped designs that don't self empty their ashes but I didn't want to have to lift the whole stove to empty the ashes.

Next project will be a rocket-stove based "fire pipe."