The Western Development Museum has decided to raffle off a stove I've fashioned from a 20-pound propane tank.
I will share more information on this little wonder. All of the fittings are one-eighth of an inch thick rolled steel. Both doors are lockable and are secured with hand-made P/R hinges. There is an expanded metal mesh grate to support burning fuel. The base is formed from the valve guard and the top of the tank. It is oriented to provide a mitt and glove drier between the stove body and the base. The chimney is galvanized steel - three inches in diameter and with a storm cap and spark screen. Air for the stove is controlled by a rotating ported disk that can be locked in place. If one wants more air to speed things up, the lower door can be held open. The propane tank is a salvage item. Recycling it made good sense.
The Bush Buddy Stove with a number of accessories: poker, shovel for ashes, two styles of wiener sticks made from coat hangers, and an auxiliary cook top of eight inch thick steel. The Bush Buddy Stove being raffled has been painted, so one should not cook directly on the top. Bannock comes to mind as the ideal menu item prepared on the stove top. The stove temperature is regulated by the kind and amount of fuel used and the amount of air supplied, just like the big, beautiful wood burner in the pioneer house on the WDM grounds.
Bush Buddies burn almost anything. A shot list includes the following: paper to get started, scrap wood, cones, buffalo chips or cow chips, tree branches and twigs picked up after the big storm, phone books, old catalogues, and even a pair of old sneakers. One suggestion is to have a supply of match-light fire briquettes and fireplace logs.
The stove is started easily with the briquettes and is kept going by adding small pieces of log as needed. If you overdo the fuel thing and it gets too hot, just step outside as my friends did last winter when we were ice fishing (understand that my shack has about the same floor area as an old-fashioned outhouse). One of my fishing buddies announced that the shack was hotter than a sweat lodge. On another day, they failed to secure the lid correctly and were smoked out.
Operator trouble aside, the little stove works very well. Mine was made more than 20 years ago, and after seeing it for the first time, my sister suggested I put the door locks on the left side. She is left-handed, after all, and skilfully left-footed as well.
A Bush Buddy Stove could be at home anywhere. On a patio, at the beach, in an ice fishing shack, in a hunting lodge, near an outdoor rink or in an emergency, in a greenhouse to save precious bedding plants.
With a bit of luck, you can win one. Make sure to check out the Western Development Museum - they have a great bannock recipe for it too.
