• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
The Art of Doing Stuff
menu icon
go to homepage
  • HOUSE
  • COOKING
  • GARDEN
  • HOW-TO
  • EXTRA
  • Subscribe
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
  • search icon
    Homepage link
    • HOUSE
    • COOKING
    • GARDEN
    • HOW-TO
    • EXTRA
    • Subscribe
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
  • ×
    Home » How to (DIY)

    DIY Rocket Stove. For Your Outdoor Cooking Needs.

    March 4, 2018 by Karen 51 Comments

    Pin6K
    Share
    Email
    6K Shares

    Get ready for takeoff. You're going to build a tiny rocket stove in under 10 minutes.

    Karen Bertelsen wearing jeans and a maple leaf sweater starts assembling a rocket stove out of bricks in a backyard.

    Every once in a while I think, That's it. I've done it all. That there's isn't anything new or fun or exciting for me to learn. And then a chicken of mine will get maggots in its bum or I'll suddenly need to learn how to pour self levelling cement and the world is shiny and new again.

    Last week I was in the whole ... that's it - I've done it all phase (which is ridiculous because I've never even castrated a bull or panhandled or a bunch of other fun stuff).  But alas, that's what I was thinking.

    As always, I was proven wrong.  As I was getting everything ready to collect my first buckets of sap from my tapped maple trees I got to thinking that I'd love a different option for boiling the sap down. 

    If you've always wanted to turn sap into syrup (which I fully support) you're going to want to read my post about how to make maple syrup right in your own backyard. It has everything you need to know about doing it.

    The first year I boiled it in the house which resulted in every surface in the house being so sticky I could just lie on the floor and wiggle around if I needed to lint roll my sweater.

    The following years I've used a heavy duty outdoor burner that runs off of propane. Propane that's around $25 a tank.  And I'd go through 2-3 tanks each season boiling my sap down.  That makes for some expensive maple syrup.

    Looking around the backyard at all my fireplace and pizza oven wood (I really do seem to have a thing for fire) I realized there had to be some sort of little fire pit I could make. I didn't want something that was HUGE, it needed to be a temporary, fast, easy and strong.

    Enter the 10 minute portable rocket stove. An incredibly powerful wood burning oven you can make with 20 bricks and a piece of wire mesh.

    10 Minute DIY Rocket Stove

    A lit DIY rocket stove sits on a backyard paver waiting to heat maple sap.

    Materials

    24 clay bricks
    1 piece of metal screen

    Steps

    1. Lay 4 bricks in the pattern you see below.  Just make a square with a hole in the centre.  I've used a half brick where it's needed, but you can just use a full brick.  It'll just stick out the side or front a bit. Not a big deal.
      Hardware cloth being placed down as the grate of a brick rocket stove.
    2. Lay fine wire mesh on top of the first layer of bricks. If you don't have fine mesh, do what I did, which was to lay 2 layers of hardware cloth down. The reason I did this was so I could lay it in a way that the holes would be smaller.  You need the mesh to be fine enough that small twigs and charcoal can't fall through.  You can see on the left edge the size my hardware cloth actually is, and in the centre you can see how much finer it is by staggering 2 layers, one on top of the other.
    Setting antique bricks on top of hardware cloth for the base of a rocket stove.

    3. Add another layer of bricks on top in a "brick" pattern. That means you want your bricks staggered from the previous later covering any edges.

    A rocket stove at the beginning of assembly with 3 layers of bricks.

    4. Lay your 3rd layer the way seen in the picture above.  Now you're only working with whole bricks and are basically building a chimney.  The full brick in the foreground is just barely resting on the brick underneath, to the right.

    Assembling a rocket stove in 10 minutes with the 3rd layer of bricks.

    5. Now just continue laying in a brick pattern until you have a total of 6 layers.

    6 layers of stacked bricks forming a rocket stove.

    6. You're done. That's it.  Your rocket oven is built.  Seriously. It's done.

    Adding a vegetable oil soaked paper towel to start a rocket stove is the BEST trick.

    Would you like to save this stuff?

    We'll email you this post, so you can refer to it later.

     

    I built my stove on paver set on a stand but you don't need to do that. I did it so the stove would be a bit easier to feed and it was better for taking pictures.

    If you have dirt, you can build the rocket stove on dirt, but if you have an area you don't want wrecked or burned up set it on a paver like I have.

     

    A vegetable oil soaked paper towel held up in front of a brick rocket stove outside.

    The fastest way to start the oven (or anything you want to light on fire really) is with a paper towel that's been soaked with some vegetable oil. It'll catch easily and burn longer than a plain paper towel or piece of paper would.

    Burning twigs in a rockest stove made from 6 layers of bricks.

    Add a few very dry, very small twigs to the combustion chamber and once it's going (if the fire is crackling, then it's going ... no crackling generally means it's only pretending to go) add bigger pieces.

     

    A look down the chimney in a burning brick rocket stove.

    You will soon have fire roaring up the chimney.

    Sap in an evaporation pan boiling over a small DIY rocket stove.

    There are other FAR more efficient rocket stoves but if you're just looking for something that works and is temporary this is great.  Mine would be even more efficient if I had bricks that weren't hand formed and were all the same size. That way I wouldn't have any cracks and gaps in the chimney.

    Another rocket design has you build an additional base at the front of the rocket stove where you have the fire. The fire then creates a draft, and burns sideways, up the chimney.  It's also stronger and more efficient, but ... honestly.  This little setup is fine. It works.  In fact it's hilarious how well it works.

    Reconfiguring and using cinder blocks is next on my list because I think it will be more efficient and burn hotter but for now this brick rocket stove is perfect.  .

     

    Karen Bertelsen sits outside bundled in blankets beside a brick rocket stove boiling maple syrup sap.

    Yup.  Just when I thought this old dog wasn't going to learn any new tricks, I'm given a stick to play with.  The one thing that you have to keep in mind is because the area you're feeding is so small you have to use fairly small pieces of wood which means they burn quickly which also means you are constantly feeding the fire.  You can't leave it alone for 10 minutes or it'll go out.

    So just keep that in mind.

    Other than that, there really isn't anything bad I can say about this cute little Rocket Stove.  It's fast, easy, cheap, portable and there is zero chance it's ever going to get maggots.
     

    →Follow me on Instagram where I often make a fool of myself←

     

    DIY Rocket Stove. For Your Outdoor Cooking Needs.

    More How to (DIY)

    • This Fruit Fly Trap Catches 25X More Than Your Bowl of Vinegar Does
    • DIY a Modern Birdbath to Attract Birds
    • How to Light a Charcoal BBQ Without Lighter Fluid (In 2 Minutes)
    • The Subtle Signs of a Sick Cat

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

      Leave a Reply Cancel reply

      Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

      Recipe Rating




      The maximum upload file size: 512 MB. You can upload: image, audio. Links to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other services inserted in the comment text will be automatically embedded. Drop file here

    1. Allen

      March 05, 2018 at 1:23 pm

      Inexpensive and effective. Swap anything galvanized out for an old barbie rack (can we say zinc poisoning? Even low exposure to the vapours will make one veeeery ill; and it'll get in the food being cooked! NO fun!) Old racks should be easy to come by.
      Love your blog; my Missus and I have decided you're our kinda crazy. Have fun...

      Reply
    2. Mary W

      March 05, 2018 at 12:12 pm

      LOVE this idea for a small fire for marshmallows or hot dogs on a cool night with hot chocolate and movies on the garage door. Brilliant!

      Reply
    3. Marsha

      March 05, 2018 at 11:55 am

      Oh, and I have castrated a few bulls.😉

      Reply
    4. Marsha

      March 05, 2018 at 11:50 am

      I just need your sweatshirt 😊

      Reply
    5. Heather Sykora

      March 05, 2018 at 11:22 am

      Love this idea!!

      Reply
    6. Lisa

      March 05, 2018 at 9:44 am

      One more thing that is totally unrelated to this post, but I saw on one of your instastories - Bog Boots - I just busted through my second pair. So sad. But decided to go out on a limb and try a different neoprene rubber boot. Went with the Alaskan Xtratuf - wore them all weekend and let me tell you, they are the most comfortable boots I have owned. Check them out - there are many different ways to wear them too, which is an added plus!

      Reply
    7. Lisa

      March 05, 2018 at 9:40 am

      Cute sweater, by the way :-)

      Reply
    8. Lisa

      March 05, 2018 at 9:38 am

      Fantastic - if you love fire so much, you should look into Swedish Fire Logs! Would love to see you post on that

      Reply
      • Nicole

        March 06, 2018 at 7:28 pm

        Oooo, those look neat!

        Reply
    9. David in Oakville

      March 05, 2018 at 9:28 am

      Wait, am I the only one who noticed that the first thing she lists when she realizes she has not done it all and there is still lots to do, is CASTRATING A BULL! (insert YIKES emoji here!)

      You and Dr. Freud could have a long long talk sitting around your hot stove. And you won't be talking hockey, hockey sticks maybe.

      Reply
      • Jan in Waterdown

        March 05, 2018 at 7:08 pm

        Puck, yeah!

        Reply
    10. Kat

      March 05, 2018 at 9:22 am

      I have panhandled! Way back when I was 16. Toronto, Yonge Street was closed off from any traffic. Musicians, artists and other hippie like people were able to wander around all nilly willy and set up shops on the street to sell their artsy stuff. It was a fantastic era. My sister who was one year older than I and myself panhandled the summer away and had the best summer of our lives. Now that I am 60 those memories are some of the best of my youth.

      Reply
    11. karin

      March 05, 2018 at 8:20 am

      Am I remembering correctly that you have to keep the sap at a certain temperature? Was it easy to regulate? And doesn't it take pretty much all day to boil it down? Although it looks like a pretty idyllic way to spend a day; you're just missing a good book in your hand!

      Reply
      • Karen

        March 05, 2018 at 11:47 am

        It does take all day to boil down (depending on how much sap you have). And nope, you don't need to keep it at a certain temperature. You just need to stop boiling when the sap is boiling at 219 degrees because that means it's syrup. :) ~karen!

        Reply
        • H.C.

          March 08, 2018 at 1:46 pm

          Is that 219 Celsius or Fahrenheit degrees?

        • Karen

          March 08, 2018 at 4:41 pm

          Fahrenheit. ~ karen!

    12. Nancy Sanderson

      March 05, 2018 at 8:04 am

      Just when I think you must be starting to run out of fantastic ideas, you come up with this! Wow. I need to try it.

      Also thank you so much for explaining how to change an outlet (a few posts ago). I too do my own electrical and no one has ever explained it so clearly to me before. I'm already more confident with wiring little jobs. Thanks

      Reply
    13. danni

      March 05, 2018 at 7:51 am

      This may be the answer to getting melted butter and hot clam broth on time during our yearly backyard clambake! The pizza oven is being used for apps (usually pizza, duh!) the grill being used for kid meat (burgers and dogs), the half barrel for steak... yeah!! Thanks again Karen!

      Reply
    14. Cathy

      March 05, 2018 at 6:35 am

      How do you not get your white clothing stained, ripped, or otherwise trashed?
      Who is your mystery photographer ??

      Reply
    15. Robert

      March 05, 2018 at 2:24 am

      Cut to you finding a maggot in it right before you take it apart

      Reply
    16. Lois Baron

      March 05, 2018 at 1:00 am

      Chickens can get maggots in their bums???? My fantasy of chicken ownership might be slipping . . .

      I love ideas on ways to have fires.

      Reply
    17. Robert Vellios

      March 05, 2018 at 12:42 am

      Great idea, maybe use some pieces of coal, would give significant heat for some fine but the screen would have to be beefed up. Maybe use expanded steel, much thicker than hardware cloth

      Reply
      • Karen

        March 05, 2018 at 11:45 am

        Hi Robert! There's no need for coal in rocket stoves. Because of their shape they produce incredible heat just from small amounts of burning material. ~ karen!

        Reply
    18. MrsChrisSA

      March 05, 2018 at 12:39 am

      Oooo - as we have no Maple trees in SA, I was wondering if this would work as an outdoor stove type thing (we call them potjiekos here - basically a stew made in a black cast iron pot).

      Think I will have to try that but the wood burning area may have to be a little larger!

      Reply
      • Karen

        March 05, 2018 at 11:44 am

        Hi Mrs. Chris! The point of the rocket stove is for it to be tiny. :) It uses small sticks and pieces of wood and burns them at an incredibly high heat to the point that even the carbon monixide is burned up. Very little waste and hardly any ash at the end of burning for hours. So you probably don't need a larger wood burning area. (if what you're talking about is the spot you put the wood in the stove) :) ~ karen!

        Reply
    19. Lavada

      March 05, 2018 at 12:23 am

      Great stove; great tutorial.
      LOVE the chair. Did you make that at some point as well?

      Reply
      • Karen

        March 05, 2018 at 12:29 am

        :) No. It's one of my garden chairs. ~ karen!

        Reply
    20. billy sharpstick

      March 05, 2018 at 12:19 am

      Please be aware that burning galvanized metal can give off toxic zinc fumes.

      Reply
      • Karen

        March 05, 2018 at 12:28 am

        You mean the hardware cloth? I don't think it should pose a problem based on the small amount and being outside, but good to know. Will not boil sap in galvanized buckets. ~ karen!

        Reply
        • billy sharpstick

          March 05, 2018 at 8:13 am

          Yes. Idon't know if they make it without galvanizing. Maybe a charcoal grill grate, old oven shelf, pieces of steel rod laid in and anchored with a layer of sand. (Do not use old refrigerator shelves, either. I think they have toxic metal on them, too.)

        • Mary W

          March 05, 2018 at 12:11 pm

          Didn't know about the galvanized poison - why do we drink out of it? Burning must release the yuk but what about it leaking into water? I fed my hogs from galvanized pails all the time. (They never lived long enough to die from natural causes but I ate their meat.) I cooked spilled corn/grits in water over an outside fire and gave them the cooled off mash the next day. It's been 50 years so imagine it didn't hurt me - no cancer. What about coffee in galvanized cups? I'm going to rethink a lot of metals, now.

      • Kristina

        March 05, 2018 at 8:17 pm

        It's coated in zinc to help keep it from rusting. I don't think that you want to breath zinc fumes, but I don't think ingestion is a problem.

        Reply
    Newer Comments »

    Primary Sidebar

    SHOP ON AMAZON

    Use it 👆 to support my work. LEARN MORE

    My name is Karen Bertelsen and I was a television host. In Canada. Which means in terms of notoriety and wealth, I was somewhere on par with the manager of a Sunset Tan in Wisconsin.

    I quit television to start a blog with the goal that I could make my living through blogging and never have to host a television show again. And it’s worked out. I’m making a living blogging. If you’re curious, this is how I do that.

    So I’m doing this in reverse basically. I’m the only blogger who is trying to NOT get a TV show.

    More about me 👋

    Seasonal Articles

    • Apple Watch Band Stuck? How to Remove It.
    • Cleaning Copper with Ketchup: A No-Rub Experiment
    • Garbage Apples, Jam Trauma, and the Beige Poppy Crisis
    • Creamy Pesto Pasta with Zucchini & Goat Cheese
    • Saving Lettuce Seeds From Bolted Lettuce
    • How to Keep Flowers Fresh in a Vase

    Popular Articles

    • This Is Where I Try To Buy Your Love
    • Guaranteed Crispy Sweet Potato Fries & Sriracha Mayo Dip
    • A Year Full of Pots: Win Sarah Raven's New Book
    • The Difference Between People Who Eat Mayo & People Who Eat Miracle Whip
    • Your FIRST look at my new kitchen in Canadian Living Magazine.
    • How to Print an Image on Wood.

    Footer

    as seen in

    About

    • About
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy

    Newsletter

    • Sign Up! for emails and updates

    Social

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Twitter
    • Pinterest
    6484 shares