More On Mother's Amazing Wood Burner

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In the last issue of this magazine (see "The Amazing $500 Wood-Burning Stove ... That You Can Build for $35 [or Less!]" in MOTHER NO. 49), we described a really nifty wood-burner that a fellow named Bob Smyers showed us how to construct from an old electric water heater tank. We even offered a separate set of complete plans for the project for an additional $6.00.

Well, as some of you good folks know, the first couple of hundred MOTHER readers who ordered those plans had to wait a few weeks to get them. And one of the main reasons we didn't have those drawings ready to mail as rapidly as we'd originally hoped ... is because we kept adding "extra" ideas and information to them. Things like complete instructions for the following accessories that we've designed expressly for this particular stove.

SCOOP

You just can't beat this compact scoop for shoveling the ashes out of the main body of MOTHER's water tank stove. It's fabricated from three pieces of 14-gauge sheet iron (see drawing for dimensions) and its handle is an 7"-long section of 1/2" pipe. You can cut out the sheet metal bottom, sides, and top with a torch and then file 'em smooth it you must ... but you'll do a far neater job if you slice 'em out with a metal-cutting saber saw. Bend the flat metal and pipe handle as shown and weld the scoop together.

DRAFT TUBE CLEANER

One of the secrets of the high efficiency of MOTHER's stove is the draft tube that's built into the burner's combustion chamber. That's the good part. The bad part is that a certain small amount of ashes can sift into the tube during the stove's use.