Back in 1982 a new design of stove was presented by Dr. Larry Winiarski. It’s a super-efficient way of burning small size fuel to produce the maximum possible heat. In true Tengu fashion we were inspired by all the blogs saying how easy to make they are and set about making one for ourselves. Here’s Kawauchi-san’s report on how it all went:

“We just happened to have finished a large can of soy sauce. We went to the home center to buy all the chimney parts and had created a rocket stove in just 30 minutes! We were amazed at how well the stove burnt whatever fuel we threw in. I had my nieces, nephews and various friends around to help so everyone collected twigs and small branches for me. We put a frying pan on top of the stove and baked mochi. Perfect after all that hard work collecting fuel!

This time round we made the chimney an L shape (as it’s easier to put in the branches). This make it a long way between the chimney and the body of the stove though so the next time we make one we’ll be leaving out the bend of the chimney and just sticking to the 15cm pipe.”

There are loads of blogs and sites with instructions on how to make your own rocket stove. Just google and see!