- A old wood stove doesn't have to be discarded.wood burning stove image by Paula Gent from Fotolia.com
Wood stoves are versatile appliances for heating and cooking and use few or no mechanical parts. If you have basic welding skills and tools, you can take on a variety of wood stove projects. Old and damaged wood stoves can be repaired and refurbished with some welding work. A number of simple wood stove building plans are also available for skilled welders looking for a bigger challenge. - Barrel wood stoves are the easiest way to make a wood stove for your workshop or outdoor use with a minimum of tools. Cutting and welding a scrap 50-gallon drum barrel is easy and the materials are inexpensive or even free, according to the Wood Stove Wizard website. The main problem with these wood stoves is their short life. The metal used to make these barrels is thin and not designed for constant heating, so they will rust quickly and will only provide service for a few years. Kits are available that provide a professionally-made sealing door, legs and vent fittings.
- If you've got a welder, it may be possible to repair an old and damaged wood stove back to working condition. Small rust spots can be repaired with a small plate and a tight welding seam. The door of a wood stove, especially the hinges, is often the first part to wear out. New hinges can be welded onto an old wood stove, renewing its lifespan. Care must be taken to ensure that any repairs made are tight and won't let hot ash or dangerous gases escape.
- Campers, hikers and beginning welders may be interested in creating a simple collapsible traveling wood stove. These square, foldaway devices are lightweight but create a hot and low smoke fire perfect for cooking and heating water, according to Zen Wood Stoves. The designs vary, but most feature four steel sides with locking hinges that allow them to fold up. Once the steel is cut, a few minutes of welding the hinges in place will yield a strong and reliable travel wood stove.
- While high-efficiency, safe wood stoves for use in the home are beyond the skills of most home welders, it is possible to build a working square wood stove for use in an ice-fishing shack or a outdoor workshop. The Lincoln Electric website has plans for a simple model, a small box with welded seams. Building the door frame and the sliding vent control are the most complicated steps, and these are still simple enough that beginning metalworkers should be able to handle them.
- Advertisement -
- Advertisement -
