The concept of the rocket stove has been around for decades and the wealth of online information surrounding do-it-yourself designs are vast. Just do a quick Google Image search for "rocket stove plans" and you will have more options than you can shake a stick at. In this blog post we tip our cap to the do-it-yourself rocket stove builders out there. DIY are three letters that many people live by. When faced with the option of purchasing a new product that is fully built or making it themselves, they almost always choose the latter. Regardless of the reason for doing so, DIY'ers are making a comeback here in the US and around the world. More and more people are choosing to learn skills that provide self-sufficiency around gardening, permaculture, clothing, and construction. With a DIY mentality comes a opportunity to learn new trades, assess what goes into making different products, and measure what you need to survive. Like other products, rocket stoves can be made at home and can be made in a variety of different designs with a plethora of materials. Here are a few that caught our eye while browsing #rocketstove on Instagram:

Mishmash Stove: This type of stove is fairly typical. It doesn't use just one type of input to build a stove but rather pieces together a variety of things to make a rocket stove. In the example from stumpmeister13 we can see a large tin can used for the body of the stove, a smaller tin can used as the fuel shelf, and a gas range stovetop burner placed on the top of the stove to hold any type of pot or pan. Barrel Stove: Looking to cook for large groups or even thinking about building a rocket stove mass heater? Then a barrel might be your best friend in constructing a rocket stove. The barrel can allow for a larger central combustion chamber diameter and while also successfully radiating heat through large metal surface area encompassing the heat source. southerntextiles built a fabulous barrel rocket stove that fit a large pot for cooking. Brick Stove: This is a classic design that can be found across the web and is popular based on its simplicity. All one needs to do is round up a few bricks, assemble them so that there is a way for fuel to be fed into a central combustion chamber and voila! grivs photo on Instagram shows this classic design while cooking with a cast iron pan. Popcorn Tin Stove: Reusing things you might otherwise throw out is a great way to lessen our impact on landfills and natural resources. cheyannapeterson re-used an empty popcorn tin to build a rocket stove. Much like our EcoZoom stoves, it features a number of prongs for setting your pot or pan on the stove while still allowing airflow through the combustion chamber. It even appears that there may be a layer of insulation between the combustion chamber and outer body of the stove. In our book, any type of rocket stove is a good rocket stove. As mentioned earlier, we tip our cap to all those DIY'ers out there making things happen by rolling up their sleeves and doing what it takes to make what they need. Of course, we here at EcoZoom are a slightly biased towards our stoves. The value built into our EcoZoom commercially fabricated rocket stoves is durability and efficiency. The fully insulated body and cast iron top mean that your EcoZoom will continue to hold up over thousands of hours of use, and the highly tested dimensions and specifications mean ultimate efficiency.   About the Author: Tom Pritchard is an EcoZoom employee and likes to cook outdoors with his EcoZoom rocket stove on camping trips or sunny days. You can email him directly at tom@ecozoomstove.com.