--- >*"To my horrified surprise, I saw the seal beginning to burn!"* [**- @creatr -**](https://steemit.com/@creatr) --- Note: This series originally appeared [**on Whaleshares.**](https://whaleshares.io/@creatr)

I absolutely love wood heat.

Wood heat is a renewable resource. You can saw, split, stock, stack, and store your supply of heat in advance. If you are resourceful and do the work yourself, your fuel source can be had at a very low out of pocket cost. Having your own completely independent means of heat production makes you "winter proof," and free from worries about the utility company. Besides that, your sweat equity warms you even as you save. In [**the first installment of this story**](https://steemit.com/life/@creatr/necessity-the-mother-of-a-damn-fine-woodstove-976e42d996168est), I told you why and how I built a home made wood stove from scrap material. This chapter is about how I checked out the new wood stove and installed it in our little house in the woods. [![stove00.jpg](https://img.whaleshares.io/wls-img/creatr/b2a1acfabdb1f73062919a33adc15df87db0085d.jpeg)](https://steemit.com/a/@creatr/b) ###### 3D Model Replica of my Wood Stove ~ Original image by @creatr ---

How I Made My Own Wood Stove - Part 2

The image above was constructed from memory.

After deciding to write about my wood stove, it occurred to me that even though photos are hard to find, I could reconstruct a fairly close approximation using a 3D modeling program.

When the stove was finished,

more or less like you see it above, I was excited and eager to test it. In the interest of safety, I set it up in our front yard for initial testing. I stacked four or five lengths of stove pipe on the output collar, straight up to create a tall enough test chimney for a draft. I filled the bottom of the firebox with a layer of rocks and sand to prevent hot coals from eventually burning through the bottom. A good stove needs to be airtight so that the burn rate can be carefully controlled. I had bought some asbestos rope from a hardware store in Conway. I attached this around the inside edge of the stove door for a seal, held in place by pieces of copper wire passed through pairs of holes and twisted in place.

It was finally time for the "smoke test."

I put a few sticks of wood in the box, placed a handful of twigs and some crumpled up newspaper under the front of the wood, and struck a match. Leaving the door ajar for a minute or two, I waited until I was sure that the wood had caught fire. Then I closed and latched the door. The wood kept burning, the stove drawing air only through the openings in the front door. Smoke was rising up into the heavens above the chimney stack.

Hallelujah!

My stove was working! After dancing around and shouting for a moment or two, I cautiously checked the surface of the firebox along the top and the sides. The stove was throwing off plenty of heat. I was ecstatic. The surface of the stove continued to heat up as the wood burned. I could see flickering light from the flames when I looked down through the damper holes in the top of the door. I closed the damper slide a bit more to regulate the fire. As I was making that adjustment, to my horrified surprise, I saw the asbestos rope seal beginning to burn!

Oh, no!

Apparently, the hardware store had sold me *asbestos pump packing,* and ***not*** the fire proof asbestos rope I had ordered. When I called and complained, I learned that it would be a week or two before they could get me the proper asbestos rope I needed to seal the door. ***Not*** good. Winter was coming! Necessity being the mother of invention, I had a grand inspiration. I borrowed a roll of heavy duty aluminum foil from the kitchen, pulled out a sufficient length, and twisted it into a "rope" long enough to surround the door. I attached it the same way (copper wires) as I had the original, failed seal, and tried again. My "maker hack" worked great! The aluminum foil was flexible enough to conform to the door and the front of the firebox, and it sealed the door perfectly. As I recall, the scrap tank I started with had been painted silver. While still outside, I ran a few more loads of wood through the stove to completely burn off the old paint, and then I got some [**stove black**](https://www.lehmans.com/product/stove-black-and-polish/) and applied it to the now bare metal surface. [![fire.jpg](https://whaleshares.io/imageupload_data/e0881c1d4c2b3482fbcc7f0a9c472d26140370d1)](https://steemit.com/a/@creatr/b) ###### Wood heat is *awesome!* ~ Image courtesy of [tookapic](https://pixabay.com/en/users/tookapic-1386459/)

Now that it was tested,

it was time to install the stove inside our little house in the woods. Of course, as a renter, I could not modify the house... And so I had to figure a way to vent the stove out through a window. The house windows were of a design that slides open, leaving an unobstructed space. I opened a window at one end of the living room and removed and stored the window screen. Then I made a sheet metal baffle that fit into the open space that remained when the window was slid open to the side. I think I cut it out of a piece of enameled siding from a discarded appliance. I cut a hole in the baffle at the right height to feed the stove pipe through. The stove was spaced a couple of feet from the window wall, with lots of space on either side. It was raised slightly off the living room floor, resting on a sheet of cement board that served as a fireproof barrier between the stove and the floor. [![stove01.jpg](https://img.whaleshares.io/wls-img/creatr/8b9f5bb75425b3c5e4c7193ce72bc3404becafdb.jpeg)](https://steemit.com/a/@creatr/b) ###### 3D Model Replica of my Wood Stove ~ Original image by @creatr

I put a 90 degree elbow one length of stovepipe up from the top of the stove, then enough pipe to pass through the baffle to the outside, and a second 90 degree elbow to stack several vertical pipes on top. At the very top, I placed a spark arresting cap to keep sparks from flying up and out. Later on during the cold New Hampshire winter, I did run into an issue with the stovepipe. Over time, [**creosote**](https://chimneyandwildlife.com/blog/what-is-creosote-and-why-is-it-so-dangerous/) had built up in the pipes, causing considerable clogging problems. This happened because I was using bare, uninsulated stovepipe. The winter chill froze the creosote, clogging the pipes. I remember one night, smoke beginning to back up into the house. I had to go out in the cold and dark and disassemble the chimney to clean it out! I drilled a small hole in the bottom of the outside elbow, and that helped drain the creosote over time... But this is definitely a problem to watch out for! Especially if you've got a temporary setup and don't have an insulated chimney.

Thanks for reading my wood stove story.

In the next chapter, I'll tell you about how well the stove worked, what I used for wood to feed the fire, and how we managed that winter with wood heat. ---

~FIN~

--- [![shelter.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmNbsUa8AHqnrei284fy9ZqnoPbbop2bVouQCRykxJAJsa/shelter.jpg)](https://steemit.com/a/@creatr/b) ###### A shelter from the frozen elements... ~ Image courtesy of [Jerzy Górecki](https://pixabay.com/en/users/JerzyGorecki-2233926/) --- **Note:** If you're reading this after the payout window has closed,
you can still reward it: [**CLICK HERE**](https://steemit.com/steemit/@creatr/steemit-tip-how-to-reward-good-articles-after-the-payout-period-has-expired). ---

P.S. If you have an "in" with anybody at [Steemit, Inc.](https://steem.io) - Would you please ask them to get rid of these damn, [extremely annoying](https://steemit.com/steemit/@creatr/registering-my-discontent-stop-screwing-with-the-u-i) "off-website" arrow/boxes? The have, overnight, made Steemit ugly. There are [***much* better solutions.**](https://www.solodev.com/blog/web-design/how-to-make-an-external-link-pop-up-modal.stml)

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