Portable Wood Fired Pizza Oven/Patio Heater

Although there are already many instructables on the topic of stoves made from old propane bottles, I thought I would try to come up with something a little more usefull in the cooking department. This all came about when a chunk broke off of my beloved pizza stone and I had to think of some way of repurposing it.

The theory behind it is as follows:
A fire is built in the main fire pot, and the air is drawn up through an adjustable flue in the bottom which also serves as an ash egress point. There is an upper chamber for cooking which the hot smoke passes through before exiting out the stove pipe. The temperature can be regulated both by controlling the air through the flue, and also by rotating the top chamber so that the hot smoke has less distance to travel from the fire pot to the stove pipe.

To be used as a brazier or patio heater, the top chamber can be lifted off and the stove pipe fits directly to the fire pot. The Kettle boils quite nicely on the stovetop, or even a wee frying pan works well.
 

Materials:

• Tall Propane tank
• Steel door hinge
• 4" stove pipe
• Grate of some description
• BBQ & Stove paint such as Krylon
• Exhaust cement
• Oven Thermometer
• Old pizza stone

Tools:

• Drill & holesaws
• Angle grinder & many cutoff wheels, alternatively plasma cutter (I wish!) or gas axe
• Welder

Note: I'm trying to present these steps in a more logical order than which I actually did them, so pay no mind if you notice differences in the pictures.

Step 1 Cut up the Tank

The first order of business is to get your hands on an old 33kg LPG tank. I got mine from the good blokes at National Gas for a whopping $6NZD, and they were even kind enough to purge it for me. That's easy enough to do yourself though, just fill it up with the garden hose and then drain it out before cutting into it.
What was originally the top of the bottle is going to be the bottom of the stove, so stand it upside down and scribe a line all the way around where you want the top to be. I used a few sheets of paper taped together to get as accurate a line as I could. Cut along the line using whatever implement you've got, it uses the better part of a 100mm x 1mm cutoff wheel to get all the way around, and makes one heck of a mess. Now lop off the foot ring of the tank so you're left with a clean dome for the lid. Try to keep it on one piece, you'll need it later. Also cut along just above the seam of the dome to remove it from the rest of the bottle.

Comments

[thefabricator]

Well the man did say " I was surprised at how easy it was to form considering how thich the metal is. If this doesn't work for you, just use a bigger hammer"

[flyingpuppy]

Another one to add to my faves. Too bad it doesn't also do time travel.

[skiedra]

Wahahahaha, Andrew, after reading your "diagnosis" ... I'm afraid it's very contagious, 'cause I have very similar symptoms. Anyways, awesome instructable!

[ssleeper]

Awesome stove. How thick is the metal on that propane bottle?
I was thinking of going a little bigger with your idea and using an old air compressor tank. We get alot of the 60 gallon size at our scrap yard.
They are about 3/16 of an inch or more and about 20 inches in diameter and about 5 feet 5 inches tall. I might even try to incorperate the oven inside and line with stove cement. What do you think?
Thank you for a very creative idea and recycling.

[andrew.spencer.2]

Thanks for the comments, the propane bottle I used was about 3/16" thick as well. The air tank idea sounds great, as does the fire cement trick. Check out this 'ible:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Gas-Tank-Pot-Belly-Wood-Stove-budget-approx-35/
It looks like he had pretty good success with the cement, although I imagine it would turn it into something more permanent and less portable. Best of luck, and be sure to post some pics!

[vincent7520]

I'll have the pepperoni and tomatoes !…

And, please, please ! … REMEMBER to give your real address so I can invite myself next time I come to America. You will be the first person I will visit in my journey : I alway thought that good food a the beginning of a trip is good omen.
Yours cannot be better !!!…

OK! Joke apart : you did a wonderful job.

[andrew.spencer.2]

Ha ha, thanks for the comments! I'm sure they do great pizza in America too, but next time you're in New Zealand just follow your nose, I'll keep the wood fires burning!

[vincent7520]

NEW ZEALND ????
So again I made a fool of myself !!!
I may as well change my plans and visit NZ great sailing place where I always wanted to visit and sail around !!!…

Right now I' testing the direction of the wind to find if it blows in the right direction !!!

Take care.

[vhcl]

"put it in the parking lot, and ran it over with my bus a few times to flatten it out,"

Epic move!!!

[Kevanf1]

I like the way you have gone further than the usual gas bottle idea and created a cooker too. I currently have two redundant butane bottles (standard portable cabinet heater size) and I'm thinking of welding them side by side. One half would be a standard gas bottle burner with the other having some shelves in it to use as an oven.

I think I'll start small and do a stove first though :)

I am so glad I found this site, I think it is awesome.

Take care all.

Kevan

[gamnoparts]

Nice job! I'm currently knee deep in converting a 250 gallon propane tank into a giant smoker. One tip, on the hinge. . if you get a good amount of rain, that hinge type will often seize up on you, if it stays outside. You're much better off, using barrel hinges, like these. . .
http://www.kingmetals.com/default.aspx?page=item%20detail&itemcode=44-2020

well done. . .

[drewgrey]

Your oven is at least a ton lighter than mine. That would be awsome at the beach!

[groovy]

There are a few good ibles on converting gas bottles to stoves...but this one is right at the top of the heap....very good thanx.

[jamiep]

Be very careful cooking on that if it is indeed galvanized! Same with welding it.. that stuff puts out EVIL mojo fumes when heated!

[mary candy]

wauu
very nice.
a men work ;P

[eduardoromano]

You are very creative! :)

[IdahoDavid]

I really like what you have done here. I have thought about doing something similar on a smaller scale to recycle the tanks that you can get with the helium balloon party kits. I have a couple and you have given me real food for thought.

[veloboy]

Bro - that's a really nice build! Great example of Kiwi ingenuity - keep em coming.

[bigme]

I lift a pint in your general direction sir! Nice work.

[SWV1787]

I love the lid and flat griddle... I haven't seen that before on recycled wood burners

[nanosec12]

5 of 5 !!!