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Ookpik Tiny Woodstoves
My name is Drew McCuish, I’ve been building tiny wood stoves for over 4 years now in my metal fabrication shop located in Ladysmith, BC. I first built a tiny wood stove after a cold winter living in an off-grid tiny house on wheels that was heated by a propane heater that was too small, and have been building them ever since. Since then I‘ve built over 400 wood stoves for people who have put them in small green houses, live aboard boats and everywhere in between.
If you have any questions feel free to reach out on the contact form on the homepage.
auk stove tests
Every year I make a stove for testing new ideas on. This year I decided to take pictures of each test to document how and why each stove is different.
For the first test, Ive always wondered if 2 coats of stove polish would prevent rust as well as paint. We live close to the ocean so the salt air and Vancouver Island dampness was a good environment to keep it.
As you’ll notice as this stove ages
The next tests are all on changing the air control.
Being able to get a fire going easily, and get it up to temperature quickly is important to keep your stovepipe clean and for your comfort so that was something I wanted to keep.
Having a way to adjust the primary air intake very slowly was something I wanted to improve on, so I decided to add a rotary dial to the primary air control to be opened
This picture shows the new firebox hole which is now slightly bigger than before to allow the stove to get hotter faster.
Stoves without a rotary dial will now have a smaller primary air opening, as the smaller opening makes adjustments less sensitive to changes, and easier to make small adjustments.
When the stove is loaded up and at temps (flue temp 450-500f ideally) the slider plate can be closed and the dial opened. With the dial open, it will still get the fire hotter if needed but will also maintain temps and allow for smaller adjustments as the fire burns.
(The air intake on the side of this stove is the winner)
In total, 6 different primary control mechanisms were tested out, each with a different size and style opening.