[Stoves] Re: Comments for Christa Roth on staff stove

[Jigme Rangdrol]

Greetings Christa Roth.
It happens that our project was rained out when your email arrived and I 
was taking the opportunity to quiz a cook about stove designs.
She has a great deal of experience having cooked in almost every 
environment from a Tibetan Gonpa to canoes and in unbelievable 
conditions. She knows first hand the requirements of 3rd and 4th world 
cooking as well as nomadic and bush cooking.
I tried my best to communicate our conversation here. It seems a bit 
gruff to me. It is important that you understand this is my failing. She 
and I both have nothing but sincere respect and support for what your 
efforts.


The first thing she said was "Ouch!"
The stove is too low. Bending over like that with a heavy pot of water 
or moving a heavy pot of cooked grain is bad for the back.
This leads to the CCS - "Cranky Cook Syndrome" and early medical 
retirement! It is known world wide that happy cooks makes a better 
community.

It also has several more direct dangers.

The uneven top between the pot stand and the sand trap will allow a pot 
of boiling water to spill.
The fuel rest forces the cook to endanger herself to cook.
The cook must bend over to cook.
The cooks face is forced over the heat and grasses when the pot is 
stirred or moved.
The fuel sticks protruding out the front are bound to trip the cook and 
the hand will naturally end up in the hot pot or boiling water on a child.
When the cook sits her face is at the same level with the steam and 
splatter exiting a boiling pot..
It is the absolutely perfect hight to burn children.
The protruding corners are too sharp.

The "Niceties".

There is not enough space between the pot stand and the warmer for 
another full pot to sit. Ideally there would be space for 2 pots plus 
the one on the pot stand. This makes it difficult to transfer hot foods 
and water between pots, increasing burns and spills and contamination by 
debris [like sand and wood bits].

The sand.
Having both lived and camped in the desert sands for many many years we 
have some useful advice.
First and foremost sand has a desire and magic ability to get into 
cooking food. It takes extra care and a system of behaviors to keep sand 
out of the food. That makes it harder to cook. Great care must be taken 
to contain and control the sand. It should never be at or above cooking 
level and if at all possible it should not be under foot.. The most 
useful device in a desert kitchen is a pail of water next to the cook to 
rinse everything in continually systematic way while cooking.

Second having the sand trap built in is a first order improvement for 
the cook as it is easy and provides both safety and keeps the work area 
cleaner. However the sand in this stove is in the wrong place. It needs 
to be around the opening of the fuel feed to catch up the ash and embers 
that threaten the cooks bare feet.
The use of sand to extinguish fuels works very well but the sand should 
be as close to the fire as possible and easy to clean as it will rapidly 
fill with char and then it loses its function and becomes a hazard.

So our recommendations are as follows in order of importance.
1. Make the ENTIRE surface one level. Eliminate the little step by the 
pot stand. If you do nothing else do this. It will burn a child or cook 
sooner or later.
2. Turn the fuel feed port 90 degrees so the fuel does not force the 
cook to bend over to tend the pot or protrude into the walkway.
3. Either raise or lower the stove to protect the face. Ideally raise it 
to put the pot bottom right above hip height to keep the cook from 
bending the back while picking up or moving the pots..
4. Move the sand trap to the fuel opening, it is a great improvement and 
will save many many foot burns.
5. Put the extinguishing sand in a container that can be easily removed 
and cleaned outside without disturbing the sand while inside. Like a tin 
can or bucket. It is a very excellent improvement and ideally it would 
be recessed into the stove close to the fuel feed port to make it stable 
as free standing sand gets spilled and the closer it is to the fire the 
less sand gets dispersed into the cooking environment..
6. Round the corners off. This not only protects children and cooks but 
it keeps the stove looking nice as it gets its edges chipped away over time.
7. Put enough space around the pot riser for at least 1 and ideally 2 
full size cook pots to sit next to the boiling pot. This will make 
cooking easier and more efficient as well as safer.
8. A recessed holder for fuel next to the sand trap [in the position 
that the sand trap is in in the photo] would  be a very nice improvement 
to keep debris out of the food and warm and dry the fuel.
9. Put some color into the cement plaster. It will look cleaner and more 
pleasant for the cook to spend all those hours with and that promotes 
hygiene and happiness.

The vent or a chimney of some sort would be nice but like the pot skirt 
it falls down to the bottom of the list for the cook in this case.
If it was me the vent would e right at the top of the list.

I have been thinking about the pot skirt. I have a metal steamer I 
bought new for US$ 1.00. It has overlapping "leaves" that allow it to 
open like a camera aperture. If the bottom was cut out it would make a 
nice design for a pot skirt that adjusted to the pot automatically. I 
think it could be readily made from old cans.






Tom Miles wrote:

>Jigme,
>
>Please send them along. 
>
>Thanks
>
>Tom
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Jigme Rangdrol [mailto:rangdrol at turboisp.com] 
>Sent: Monday, May 22, 2006 1:26 PM
>To: Tom Miles
>Subject: Comments for Christa Roth on staff stove
>
>
>
>Greetings Tom MIles and Christa Roth.
>It is my fortune to have a woman here today who has lived with and 
>cooked on many stoves in the 3rd and 4th worlds.
>Are you interested in her comments?
>
>J.R.
>
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