What wood to use on a rocket cook stove.

I have been using rocket stoves of one sort or another for about 3 years now and usually use old floorboards or pallet wood as fuel, with these types of wood starting out flat you can easily push the fuel in too far and have a smoker which is not good. I have recently been collecting dead Cherry limbs with a view to smoking fish but aside from the larger limbs I ended up with bags of small twigs that are covered in lichen, yesterday and today I used some of them to boil my water and was surprised how much better the stove behaved, a better flame pattern and no or little smoking. There is plenty of rocket stuff on youtube but I have never seen any research done on the actual fuel we use, 57 and still learning, Dave

David C : I expect the difference was due directly to the size (SMALL) of the wood you were burning! Your wood should ideally be finely split Very Dry Wood !

Ideally the wood that you will burn this fall has been user cover AND Well ventilated since 2012, and wood 'put up' in 2014 should be ready to Burn in the fall/
winter of 2016 !

Always use the smallest and driest wood you have to start your Fires ! For the good of the Craft ! Big AL !

Hi Allen, what I did notice is that even though I split the wood into small sections it is easy for flat wood to come together and form larger pieces, this cannot happen with round twigs/branches etc . I have noticed a much better burn with increased air flow through L tube, cheers Dave

Save little sticks for 2 years to make sure they are dry for a Rocket Stove. Wow seems like a lot of work for a little Rocket Stove. How often do you use this stove? I have a wood stove and I put in 6" 8" diameter logs every day during the winter. It stays lit for 6 months, Burns every day. I only use sticks for starter, and to use them up.

I use my stove for heat mainly. But can warm/cook almost everything. I never have a problem with flat boards not burning. The two flat surfaces are not that tight.
Good Luck

Hi Jeremiah, we use the rocket stove in the summer months to cut down our electricity bills, we have a wood stove for the winter months and cook boil etc on the top. The cherry branches/twigs are dead wood that has been standing for years so is fairly dry already, cheers Dave ps we have a fair amount of cherry and fish in the freezer so now to make a cold smoker

Jeremiah wales wrote:I have a wood stove and I put in 6" 8" diameter logs every day during the winter. It stays lit for 6 months, Burns every day. I only use sticks for starter, and to use them up.

You should probably look into what a rocket mass heater is in more detail - might trade in that inefficient wood stove for a RMH when you realize the differences. A wood stove smouldering logs for 6 months of the year eats up, what, 10 cords? More? With a rocket mass heater, you'd probably be looking at burning 4-6 hours a day during the colder months and less in fall/spring. The 6 to 8 inch logs become 3/4 inch saplings and branches, and the 10 cords or more becomes 5 or less. It's honestly like comparing a 1940 diesel tractor to a modern Jetta

Ditto on the pallet wood flat surface issue.

I burn pallet wood because I don't have a time machine to go back and cut twigs for future me to burn.  But HT (heat treated) pallet wood are kiln-dried already.

The flat surfaces are a problem.  So, I have found putting a few twigs in with the pallet pieces solves it well--to make an air gap.  

THis has really given me appreciation of nature's curves and irregularity.

I also wish I had a round rocket stove instead of square hole, like a fox-hole.  No corners-->no places for air currents to catch, I've heard from two different Wamponoag sources and it stands to reason.

Another thought, cracking the pallet wood an extra time with the kindling cracker or a machete is worth it, even if it doesn't split all the way there are now curvy spaces or air pockets that open up along the grain of the wood (instead of what the mill had carved in making the pallet).