Building a Wood Burning Stove for the Garage

When we moved here, one of the first projects Rob started was converting half of the garage into a workshop.  The framework was already in place so he had to insulate and put up walls and a ceiling.  He also wired it for more lights and outlets and added a ceiling and exhaust fan.  All that was done in the fall so the first winter here, he worked in his shop wearing coveralls and using a salamander heater to make the shop temperature just slightly above tolerable.  

In the spring, he began talking about adding a wood-burning stove to the garage to heat it during the winter and thus the latest project began.  After searching several designs, he decided making his own was the way to go.  Although not necessarily cost-effective to purchase and make, it is unique and fits the space he has in the shop perfectly.

The body of the stove is made from three 24" steel semi-tire rims purchased dirt cheap at a local junk yard.  

Bought 4, used 3 (one will be used in our fire pit)

First, he threw them in the fire pit to burn the paint off and then he employed the help of a friend's plasma cutter to cut the centers out of each rim.  Once that was done, he welded steel into the bottom of the middle section to make a grate for the logs to rest on while burning.

Cutting out a door for the ash box in the bottom section of the stove was next.  After that, he welded steel together to form an ash box door and attached it.

The next part involved lots of cutting and welding and grinding and more welding.  I didn't get pictures of most of that but just know that it resulted in something that looked like this.

Top and middle sections welded together with door opening cut out

Once the steel top was welded on, it was time to attach the bottom section of the stove containing the ash box opening.

Steel top attached with rear stove pipe opening

Ash box and stove door attached

When he got to this point, it was time to test fire the stove.  He dragged it outside and got to work lighting a fire.

Quinn wanted to see if it would get hot enough to cook eggs so that's what we did, right there in the middle of the driveway.

Scrambling some driveway eggs

At this point, the stove was finished except for paint but we needed to install all the stove pipe and chimney sections in the shop.  I don't have pictures of any of that either (#fail) but here's what it looked like when he had it all installed and ready to use. 

Fresh coat of black paint

He almost lost some eyebrows right there

And that, friends, is how he made a wood-burning stove from tire rims.  We use it all the time and find ourselves coming up with reasons to be in the garage just to hang out in cozy warmth of the shop.  It easily heats the space to temps pushing 85 degrees, and it's reassuring to know in the event of an extended power outage during the winter months, we have an alternate heat source instead of always relying on a generator.  

Watch the video here!