Outdoor woodburning cookstove

[chuckwood]

On my place, this is what's left of an outdoor woodburning cook stove, built roughly around 1900. People used these here in the south when cooking indoors with a regular wood burning cook stove inside the house would make things unbearable. With temps in the 90's outside, firing up a wood burner in your kitchen could easily run kitchen temps way above a hundred. So you fire up the woodburner outdoors. Folks would can veggies outside on these things in water bath canners even after electric and gas stoves first became available in the 30's. AC didn't arrive here until well into the 50's. This stove once had a cast iron top on it with those round removable inserts that woodburning cook stoves have. It also had a rather complicated metal door on the front of it that had a damper for controlling air flow into the firebox. About a foot from the bottom is a a ledge going all around that held a metal grate in place, letting the ashes drop down to the bottom and allowing air to come up under the fire for hottest burn, I'm assuming. I don't have any pics of the stove when it was actually working, I'm guessing it was built from a kit or something. It was already rusting apart and missing pieces in the 60's, which is about as far back as my memory goes concerning the details of it's construction.

This year, after it warms up enough, I'm tuck-pointing all the masonry and replacing missing stones and brick, I don't want to see this bit of history crumble apart, the masonry is still in relatively good condition, it just needs some major repair work. After that, I'm dreaming about rebuilding the thing into a working stove again. Getting the original cast iron assembly is impossible, so I'm thinking of fabricating a new top using steel, some welding equipment, and a plasma cutter. The issue with a steel cooktop would be warping from heat. Would 3/8" steel be thick enough to resist warpage? The door, bottom grate, and damper setup will require some thought and engineering, but it's all doable given I have enough spare time. I don't think it would be that big a project and maybe fun to do.

If I can rebuild this thing, then I'll be prepped for the grid down apocalypse with my own woodburning cooker. I've considered how nice it would be to have a woodburning cookstove in my kitchen, but the cost would be prohibitive. My kitchen would have to be remodeled and enlarged, and I'd have not only the expense of adding a chimney but there is the cost of the stove itself, they aren't cheap.

 

[H-Ranch]

I've seen 2 old cook stoves on Craigslist this week for cheap - I wonder if it might be easier to adapt something like that for the top and door. Not sure if the size is going to be easy to match but something to consider. Looks like it would be a cool discussion piece.

 

[JeffGu]

Looks like a fun, worthwhile project. Family meal outdoors in nice weather is always enjoyable.

 

[stumpy75]

Several houses on my block have something similar to what you have. Unfortunately, the Northern Ohio winters have not been nice to them, and they are in much worse shape than yours. All I have left is a foundation... My neighbor says a lot of the people put them in in the mid 1930s on my block. This was the heart of the depression, and it was cheaper to cook with wood from your own trees than with electric or gas. Most of the houses here had gas lighting and cooking before they were electrified. Of course, the heat in the summer was a huge factor too. None of the stoves have any of the iron left, but the neighbor described his just like you did.

As far as the thickness of steel you might need, I don't have a clue.

I think it's great that you are trying to preserve it. I look forward to seeing your results!

 

[chuckwood]

I've seen 2 old cook stoves on Craigslist this week for cheap - I wonder if it might be easier to adapt something like that for the top and door. Not sure if the size is going to be easy to match but something to consider. Looks like it would be a cool discussion piece.

Yeah, maybe I could adapt an old cast iron top to fit somehow. Most all of the old wood burner cookstoves I've seen have square tops. On this masonry stove, the top would have to be rectangular. But it might be possible to fab something out of steel that I could drop a cast iron top down into if the measurements work out.

 

[Streblerm]

Neat. Those are fairly common around here as well. It's funny how things go in and out of fashion. Outdoor kitchens are all the rage again. Not so much for practical reasons though.

 

[zogger]

Slick!!! I had to do this as well in my old cabin in the olden days. I just hauled my two burner box stove outside during the summer months to cook. When not in use kept it covered, and kept a club by the door to shoo away inquisitive mastodons... On real rainy days I used an alkyhaul stove inside.