After viewing many videos on YouTube, I decided to purchase the Deadwood Stove. Seemed like the best value for the money. And I can say that I am not disappointed! It arrived promptly and I was totally impressed with the quality, construction and good leather gloves that were included.
I like these stoves so much, that now I even have two Deadwood Stoves! These are, to my mind, mini-wood stoves that are so well built they will be passed down for generations.
I’m old and disabled, so weight is a concern for me. The Deadwood Stove is 18 lbs. Not light, but for the quality of construction it is made for durability—5 year warranty. This is a mini-woodstove–I’m guessing 50 years plus. The Deadwood Stove is something you can pass onto the kids. This makes the $250 I spent on my gas grill look like money ill-spent as that, even though it is stainless steel, is already rusting (1 year old!).
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6 Month Update on The Deadwood
I’ve had my Deadwood Stove for about six months now. I’m thrilled! Here are a few of the high notes:
- With dry sticks and pinecones it boils a quart of water within 10 minutes.
- I keep one (Yes, I actually have two now!) on top of a table on the patio so I don’t have to bend over.
- It has removable legs, so it is perfect on a tabletop.
- The legs have a slight adjustability
- Roasted marshmallows within three minutes!
- You can grill a steak (or tinfoil anything) to perfection directly on top of the built-in grill just by adjusting how many sticks you feed into the front of the stove.
- Wind blowing the wrong way? Just turn it! Works best facing the sticks into the wind—no smoke!
I put wood chips in a tin foil pan in my propane grill to get that delicious wood smoke flavor… Turn the Deadwood Stove slightly angled to the wind and you don’t need to add smoke! Actually, I’ve been contemplating how I can use a Deadwood to create a smoker. I’m sure it can be done; I just have to figure it out.
With two Deadwood Stoves you can pretty much do a meal. My two Deadwood Stoves have almost made the propane grill obsolete! And between we use them camping and the kids also using them, the savings in not buying firewood at state parks has already paid for both in one summer!
Only problem… The kids! Expect that they will borrow one for every camping expedition. The son even uses it on his pontoon boat! And my husband takes it with him on his Harley when camping! And if two of the kids go camping at one time, well, you are sans your Deadwood Stoves. Not good if you get the grandkids.
My son even sidled up and asked who was going to inherit the Deadwood’s (He already has dibs on the 12 gauge and .38)! Not cheap, but they are definitely worth the money.
Can You Use The Deadwood As an Indoor Rocket Stove?
With the bitter cold winter we have had this year and the electricity going on and off, I got to thinking about the Deadwood for interior cooking as well. Sorry, but I am not going to feed sticks into a rocket stove outside to cook when it is -20 with wind chills of -50.
It IS Minnesota!
WOW, am I impressed! For cooking all I did was clean out a spaghetti sauce can, tear off the label, stick it upside down inside the Deadwood for height, then I took a cleaned soup can with label torn off, put 10 cotton balls in it, poured maybe a half a cup of rubbing alcohol over that, let it soak-in good for about 15 minutes, lit it with a BBQ lighter and I had water too hot to touch with steam rising within 5 minutes!
Plenty good enough to cook on!
The Deadwood cooked okay with just a common candle too. But I think that a three wick survival candle would work a lot better. I also tried putting one of those pocket stoves in it with a fuel tablet and that worked great!
The legs on the Deadwood are positioned to make the stove easy to cook on just sitting on a chair. Remove the legs and you have a counter top or table top stove where you can easily stand and cook.
Below the grate the Deadwood is a bit less than 5”x5” , so Sterno fuel, camp heat, survival candles, fuel tablets, nearly any kind of solid camping fuel, can be used with it when you are indoors (and of course sticks for outside).
The only thing you have to be careful of if you are cooking indoors, is not to put too big of a pot on it that snuffs out the fire. And that may not be a problem because it can draw oxygen from below it also.
This is a very versatile, indoor-capable rocket stove!
Deadwood Is Also Awesome for Outdoor Cooking
We like to grill on the back deck. I like my propane grill, but it doesn’t have a burner. And the more I grill, the more I would like an extra burner for boiling corn-on-the-cob, sautéing mushrooms and onions, whatever.
The grandkids come over and want to make s’mores. Even though I have a fire ring down by the creek it is a chore to start up a campfire for 10 minutes of roasted marshmallows and then they are off to something else.
We have lots of tree–maple, birch and various spruce trees. We have branches come down in every storm and a lifetime supply of pine cones! So I have been looking at rocket stoves using biomass (sticks and pine cones), for perhaps two years now. Weighing the pros and cons and trying to decide what I really want from it.
Did I say money was tight? Everything I purchase has to work for multiple purposes.
Awesome Stove for Emergencies, Grilling, or Camping
If the power goes out and no natural gas is available, how am I going to cook? The propane grill will only work for so long and only for so much, so the Deadwood could come in handy there.
But what if nothing ever happens? How can I use a rocket stove to justify the purchase? I NEED at least one extra burner on the deck near the grill. I could satisfy the grandkids with their s’mores and hotdogs without creating a bonfire, and the kids could gather the twigs needed to fire it—yard cleanup.
It would definitely be handy for our camping excursions and would save us money by not having to buy firewood at the site (Minnesota is currently under a ban for unauthorized firewood being brought into parks due to an emerald ash borer infestation threat). And…. the kids could borrow it.
LOVIN’ IT! The stoves are on sale so I’m thinking MrWE2 will get one ordered :-) The only thing I think I’ll do differently is the kind of pot or pan…I use only graniteware in my solar oven because it’s so easy to heat. I have just about every size I’d need, including pie pans that we use for plates (when we’re camping), cups & a coffee pot. I don’t have sauce pans because I use my very small “roaster” with lid for stuff like that, whether in my solar oven or on an outside grill. Great job Bev! Great job!!!!
Couldn’t resist…printed this out but also saved the pdf in our thumb drive for heat-cool stuff! Can I “like” twice or thrice! LOL
Fiddlesticks…can only vote once! LOL Oh well, I’m verbally voting lots and lots, since we’re not “social media” people (facebook, tweet, pinterest etc.) so just know that we’ve voted BIG time in our hearts Bev!!!
For quality and versatility this is the rocket stove I would recommend to anyone.
I’m thinking that if you had a small cabin or trailer and had the option of adding an inexpensive flu to it, you could actually use it as a heat source with wood. Or build up around it with masonry or cob.
Ideal if you have a teepee tent for camping or rendevous.
Or put it in your RV or camper as a very safe heat source with flame as I will show you tomorrow.
This is very interesting as I have been looking at Deadwood, Grover and Silverfire rocket stoves. Decisions can be hard. I prefer shopping hands on, not on line. Thanks for the input.
Looks good, but be careful using fuel tabs; they can be toxic.
Do not use charcoal, it will kill you.
Thanks Buddy! You may have saved someone’s life!
I’m thinking that anything you would normally burn outdoors you can’t use indoors – smoke, toxic fumes, etc.
So alcohol, sterno, camp heat which is Diethylene Glycol, and candles would all be safe to use with this indoors. You be able to fit one of those bottles of propane that you light up into it and use that safely also. Any other thoughts?
Wyzyrd suggested a wok and stir fry with the high heat.
I’m thinking that anything you can make on a campfire you can do with the Deadwood indoors and perhaps even bake in the Dutch oven!
Have you thought of lamp oil if you have it? There are oil candles too. An oil lamp without the chimney would work but I read that that is dangerous because the base could become pressurized. I am not sure of the science behind the glass base Walmart lamps and I wonder if they were talking about those or the Alladin lamps. but I wonder if it was left on loosely or a spacer put in for airflow it might work. Those wide wicks put out a lot of flame. Before I heard.not to use the oil lamp without a chimney I experimented with success putting it on the bottom of the oven and a pan on one of the oven racks above it.
GrammaMary that sounds very interesting!
I guess I don’t have any oil lamps anymore since my home burned.
Anyone have an answer???
MrWE2 and myself have pretty much decided that we’re putting an EcoZoom Rocket Stove (similar to StoveTec) on our wish list. We’ve been wanting a StoveTec, but after some research we think perhaps the EcoZoom is what we may want to spend our $$$ on. I like Granny’s idea of putting a heat source inside the oven. Will be watching for updates on that too.
I’ll have to clean my oven and figure out some spacers to have the lid loose on the oil lamp base and do some time testing for cooking and take a picture and send it in to Bev. Was thinking of people stuck in apartments without much for preps and how could they have a hot meal or cocoa waiting out a storm and be safe with kids and animals.
GrammaMary, I’d be very interested in what you find out. Our long, skinny house is already a fire hazard, and I’d worry about a rocket stove around my large, active dog, but being able to adapt my oven for power-outage cooking would be wonderful! Up to now, my only thought was a 3-wick candle under a coffee can on the stovetop. Better than being outside over a charcoal grill, but not by much!
I’m curious about the WE2’s opinions on the different stoves. We all know Bev is a Deadwood fan. I’m just starting to look at these, and would value your opinions. GramaMary plz do keep us up to date on your explorations, just be careful!
LOL, the WE2s are definately Graniteware fans! I have not found Graniteware to be durable – chips and rusts.
I’m a woodstove fan hence – Deadwood.
Worried about money? Buy firebrick and build your own! Mobile for interior or exterior! That is the EASY BUTTON!
SingleMom, I will have time on Saturday to write something. I have easily cooked rice and heated things up quickly. Glad to give some more ideas.