Appendix H
Oven - Candle/Hot Coal/Lamp/Fire
( Note: This is still a work in progress Appendix, but is mostly done. )
Update 10/19/2020: This Appendix is now finished.
What This Project is About
This oven is kind of a culmination of several ideas that God worked together in an amazing way, and into quite an interesting oven design that makes it possible to use many different types of heat sources to heat it like a candle, a kerosene lantern, hot coals from a fire, barbecue briquettes, a camping cook stove, or even things like a small fire as long as it is in some kind of a container like a rocket stove that can be made out of paint type cans. So pretty much any way you might be able to generate a fire type heat, you should be able to use to heat this oven. As with any time you are using fire, there are of course precautions you will want to take while using the oven, but it should still work to use all of those things above, which is quite amazing to be able to bake bread with something like a candle. The only thing that probably won't work is something like a small open fire pit kind of idea because you can’t control where the heat is going very well and you also have the risk of catching the wood stand on fire that the oven is on top of.
Now for where this whole design originally came from, it all started with some YouTube videos we ran across one day of people creating cardboard box ovens, where they would simply take a cardboard box, line it with aluminum foil, and put some barbecue briquettes inside with whatever they wanted to cook, like this video shows: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfvW0hoS438. And amazingly, as other videos show on YouTube, these cardboard box ovens can get up to around 350 and 400 degrees, depending on how many briquettes you might put in it.
Although, with temperatures like this, using cardboard also starts to raise fire danger concerns. So that developed into the idea of, “Maybe instead of using cardboard, you could create a box that was all metal inside, then had insulation over that metal, and finally a wood structure around it. This way you wouldn't ever run into the danger of fire because the inside was all metal, and you also wouldn't need to use very many hot coals because the box would be insulated." And that was basically what the original idea for the box was.
However, as we were working on designing something for this, we ran across something else in a very old issue #30 of Mother Earth News that was in some boxes we just happened to be organizing. And what was in this issue were instructions for building something that can now be found on the Mother Earth news website here: https://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/aladdin-oven-zmaz74ndzwar?PageId=2, and basically it's this idea for a very rudimentary oven where you cut a large wooden barrel in half, which acts as the top of your oven, and place this half a barrel on an aluminum table. Then in this aluminum table, you cut a hole in the middle and weld a long, hollow aluminum cylinder to the top of this hole. This cylinder then acts as a chimney that you can put a kerosene lamp underneath and heat your oven with. And since the aluminum cylinder is closed on the top, it also eliminates thee risk of the fire ever actually being in the oven, while the heat is able to still transfer through the aluminum. The person also talks about in there that this idea actually first came from someone in the 1800's who made a stove that worked like this, using kerosene instead of wood or hot coals.
So this also got us thinking that there might be a way to incorporate this whole idea into our oven as well, making it possible to use things like candles and kerosene lamps to heat the oven, in addition to hot coals and barbecue briquettes, which we were able to do.
Finally for the last idea of using fire, this came because of the way that one of the things you notice on some of the videos on YouTube of people trying to use the cardboard box oven is the way that smoke fills the oven a lot of times, because you are dealing with hot coals that are sometimes still smoldering. Because of this, we were trying to figure out a way that you could stop this when we realized that you could actually use the above idea of having an aluminum chamber to transfer heat, but instead of having it closed off, you could use it like a vent for smoke too. Then we realized that if you have a vent for smoke, this also means you could use a normal fire to heat it too, as long as the flame was contained in something like a rocket stove.
So in the end, there were a lot of different ideas that all came together quite amazingly, creating this oven that you could use practically any fuel source you might have and still be able to do things like cook bread. So far we have tried using a rocket stove and candles to heat it with, both of which do work as you will see in the Performance section, and since those work, I don’t see any reason why the other ways of heating it wouldn’t work. So it’s really quite a neat oven.
Here are some more images of the oven and the way that the different doors open. Also, in the “Performance” section below, you can see pictures of actually using the oven with different heat sources:
As a note, the instructions for the oven don’t show putting the second door on to the front of the oven that is attached to the stand, as shown above. This was something we added just because the area we plan on using the oven makes it a little difficult to get to the back of the oven to feed the rocket stove or adjust the candles. However, if you want to add this it isn’t too difficult to add since you can just copy the design that is used for the door on the back and adjust the measurements a little bit to fit the front.
Lastly, as with all the things I build, I just want to give credit to God for all the amazing ideas He gives during the designing and building of these things, because it is so much because of Him that they even work as well as they do :). He really is an amazing person, and it is always such a fun thing and a treasure to get to build these things with Him. The truth is, I never could do it without Him, whether it be through direct ideas He gives, as He talks about doing in Exodus 31:1-6, when He gave people the wisdom and understanding to create the things He wanted them to create:
"Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to design artistic works, to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of workmanship. And I, indeed I, have appointed with him Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and I have put wisdom in the hearts of all the gifted artisans, that they may make all that I have commanded you:"
or it's just because of His ability to make me in a way that I could create these things, it is always because of Him in the end that they exist, and not because of my own amazingness to do them. With each of us, when we are born and given life, we don't know why or how we are able to do the things we do, or why we are just naturally better at some things versus other things. While it is true that throughout life we can learn new things and become good at things, even this ability to learn and grow is something that none of us know how we do. We just are who we are, and we don't have an explanation for it. But if none of us actually know how we are able to do what we do, how can we then take credit for it? It is only because of God's amazingness to create us in a way to do these things, that we can then do them. So is it not God, the one who made us able to do the things we do, the one who should have the glory for what we do? And in this way, even when He doesn't give ideas for things directly, it is still only because of Him that I can create these things.
The story of Nebuchadnezzar being turned into an animal in Daniel 4 really shows this as well, that without God's ability to make us understand life and how to create things, we never would be able to. Our understanding of things and ability to reason is only as much as what He gives us. I'll just quote a little bit of the chapter here:
All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of the twelve months he was walking about the royal palace of Babylon. The king spoke, saying, “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?” While the word was still in the king’s mouth, a voice fell from heaven: “King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: the kingdom has departed from you! And they shall drive you from men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. They shall make you eat grass like oxen; and seven times shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses.” That very hour the word was fulfilled concerning Nebuchadnezzar; he was driven from men and ate grass like oxen; his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair had grown like eagles’ feathers and his nails like birds’ claws. And at the end of the time I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me; and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever:
For His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
And His kingdom is from generation to generation.
All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing;
He does according to His will in the army of heaven
And among the inhabitants of the earth.
No one can restrain His hand
Or say to Him, “What have You done?”
At the same time my reason returned to me, and for the glory of my kingdom, my honor and splendor returned to me...Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth, and His ways justice. And those who walk in pride He is able to put down.
So I really do give Him the glory for what He has done, whether it's giving direct ideas, or creating me in a way that makes it possible to think through these things, and I just hope that my expression of Him will be a blessing in your life that shines with the incredible love and goodness that is in His heart. Because this is the real and amazing purpose of why He does give these things. They aren't just for our own use, but to love others with them. This was really what John the Baptist was trying to say in Luke 3:7-14 when he talked about giving your extra things to others that don't have what you have:
"Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?...And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” So the people asked him, saying, “What shall we do then?” He answered and said to them, “He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.” Then tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Collect no more than what is appointed for you.” Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, “And what shall we do? So he said to them, “Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages.”
As though to say, "Use the things of this earth to bear good fruit and love others with it, because it's all going to be destroyed anyway. Put a purpose to it and do something good with it. Use the things in this life as a tool to store up treasure in heaven instead of here on earth." As Yeshua (Original Hebrew name of Jesus) also says in Matthew 5:16, let your light shine so that others may see your good works, and glorify God, and come to know God, because of them:
"You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. "
So it is in that love He has given these things, for as He says in Matthew 6, He knows the things that we need in life, and as such a loving Father, is so glad to help, and it is also in that love and in His love that I give them as well, hoping that what He gives out of that love will be a help to you as it has been to us.
Oven Performance and Ways of Using Oven
As for how the oven performs, we have been keeping track of this in a spreadsheet that is in the Download section of the website, found in the same place as this PDF can be downloaded from. The file will be labeled, “Prepping List_Appendix H_Oven - Lamp, Coal, Fire_Data_Performance.” This will give a run down of all of the temperatures we have recorded as we have experimented with different things and used different fuel sources.
To give the short version of what can be seen in there, when building the oven the way it is currently in the instructions and using a rocket stove to heat it, so far the oven has gotten up to 260 degrees without anything in it and definitely would have gotten a lot hotter, but I had to do other things and wasn’t able to watch the fire. So I had to stop the test after that and let the fire cool down. The other thing we have tried so far are two long candles, and with the second test we did using them, we were actually able to cook a small loaf of bread. It took about 4-5 hours in order to do it, but the oven did eventually get up to 190 degrees and the inside of the bread was at 155 degrees when we took it out, so it did work. There was also another test we had done previously to that one where the oven got up to 205 degrees using two long candles and stayed there. So that’s about the highest it will get with two candles. During that test, we had also kept track of how much of the candles burned and it was only about ½ of each candles’ worth of wax after 4 hours. The actual candles had melted down to about ¼ of their original height, but there was also about ¼ of the wax that had dripped down, so in the end, the amount that was actually burned was about ½ of each candle.
All of that is the short version of what we have tried so far. For the long version that goes into more detail and gives some tips for using the oven, you'll have to look in the free PDF file in the downloads section to the left.
But before ending this section, one other thing to mention real quick about the spreadsheet is that when it says something like 1 small piece of wood in the column entitled, “Amount of Fuel Used in Between Readings,” this image below shows about the size or amount of wood that is referring to. Basically, it’s just a small piece of wood chipped off of a small 2x4 that can be seen on the bottom of the image:
Building the Oven
Preview of Instructions and Images of Real Life Build
Since these instructions are quite long and everything can already be downloaded for free in the "Downloadable PDFs" section to the left, here is just a preview of those instructions and some images showing what is involved with creating this. All of these images will also be in the PDF along with further explanations for things.
Also as another note, if you decide to build this project, as will be mentioned in the PDF there is a spreadsheet with links to all of the supplies needed to build this project, which is also found in the Download section to the left, under the file labeled, "Prepping List_Appendix H_Oven - Lamp, Coal, Fire_Data_Cost." It "should" :), be a complete list of everything used in the project and also has the cost of each item, as well as measurements for cutting most of the wood.
Now on to the preview:
