The Rocket Powered Oven

Learn the fundamentals of rocket stove design that powers the oven, and choose between one of two designs to build. A Black Oven, which reuses an existing gas or electric oven and a White Oven, which can be made using 2 x 200lt (44 gal) drums. Most materials required for the build are cheap and can be easily found. In fact, you may have some of them laying around your home, just crying out to be used.

Tim Barker and Joel Meadows take you through a step-by-step guide to building an extremely cheap, rocket powered oven using easy to access materials such as bricks, clay and reclaimed steel barrels. These designs may not quite have the domed top elegance that has made the backyard cob pizza oven so trendy, but they do have a farm yard charm of their own. And rather than taking hours to heat up to cook a couple of pizzas (often only used once a year!), these are super efficient, and very practical ovens. Both Tim and Joel use theirs on a daily basis. Their potential as a genuinely sustainable backyard fixture of the future is very high.

In the first section you'll learn about the fascinating principles of the rocket stove, and in subsequent sections they will get down to the detailed business adding on the oven. Choose between one of two designs to build. A Black Oven, which reuses an existing gas or electric oven and a White Oven, which can be made using 2 x 200lt (44 gal) drums.

To complete the projects yourself, you'll need a handful of common tools, and a little confidence using them, but the process will demand nothing beyond the scope of the most casual backyard tinkerer. The focus of this volume is on cooking, and we'll be presenting two options for DIY ovens, appropriate for both outdoor and - if correctly flued and sited - indoor use.

This 2nd edition has an updated and easier process for making the white oven.

• About this volume
• Foreword: the future of fire
• Introduction
  Fire
  Conventional stoves
• Rocket stoves
  The anatomy of a rocket stove
  How a rocket stove works
  Dimensions
  Materials
• Ingredients
  Rocket stove power unit
  Black oven
  White oven
• Building your rocket stove ‘power unit’
  The mock up
  Starting the stove
  Final placement
  The final build

• Building a black oven
  The baffle plate
• Building a white oven
  Barrel safety
  How the white oven works
  Making the inner barrel
  Making the outer barrel
  The shelves
  The door
  Building the door latch
  Insulating and covering the oven
  The stand
  Final touches
  Controlling the beast, or how to cook with your oven.
  Taking care of your beast
  Tips and tricks
• Learn more!