A NEW OVEN RACK FOR AN OLD WOOD COOKSTOVE FROM A REPURPOSED GATE

As I have posted previously, I am now cooking on my Grandmother's old wood cookstove.  This is not one of the big, fancy stoves.  It is small and with a small oven, but it is what my grandparents could afford early in their marriage.  My Grandmother cooked many, many large meals on this little stove, for many years.  At this point, it still does a great job, except for the oven.

Heavy usage in the past, bad storage, high humidity and the ravages of time (this stove is close to 100 years old), took such a toll on the oven rack that it is practically in pieces.  Finding a new one is out of the question, as is the hope of finding one of similar size.  Consequently, I have been thinking for awhile of how to make a new or repurposed one so I can use the oven.

I had considered modifying a larger oven rack from a modern stove, and I have a couple here to choose from.  However, this project has been on the back burner (no pun intended) for most of the summer in favor of more urgent projects.  With fall approaching, a working oven becomes a higher priority for me, and I find myself thinking of making bread and other baked goodies.

Recently, while walking past the old chicken yard, as I do several times each day, the gate caught my eye.  It is made of an end piece
of heavy livestock panel with 2 inch by 4 inch spacing.  My mind instantly shifted to baking.  

With measurements in hand, and a few minutes with a good bolt cutter, I had the makings in hand.  I cut the section of panel to width and added 4 inches to the length.  The added length to be bent down to make legs.

Using fence pliers to make the bends, and a block of wood for   stability, I proceeded to make the bend, one rod at a time, little by little, first one then another, until the extra 2 inches on each end were at a 90 degree angle.  This part took a little time of working back and forth, and this stuff is not easy to bend.  
Fortunately, my hands are large and pretty strong, otherwise I would have had to resort to other tools with more leverage or possibly heating the rods with a torch.  Either of those options would have taken more time and been a bit more of a hassle, but still quite workable.

As it is, in a relatively short time, I had something resembling an oven rack that would set on a flat surface and have 2 inches elevation.  With a few minor adjustments, it slid nicely into the oven.

As you can see from the last photo, the supports for the original rack are higher than the new rack.  Not a problem.  This oven  always had a problem with cooking on the bottom.  Everything 
would be beautifully baked on top, but not quite done on the bottom.  It was something my Grandmother contended with the whole time she used it.  I deliberately lowered the new rack to try and compensate and to make more room above for taller cookware.

With the new rack in place (this was done in early morning, before work) I could hardly wait for evening to try it out.  Biscuits are always a nice test, and the anticipation practically had me drooling all day.  With evening came the test batch, the first baking in this oven in a very long time and the first ever on the new rack.  The biscuits turned out pretty well.  Pictures of the biscuits would have been nice, but they smelled so good that I forgot to take pictures.  Maybe next time.

Lowering the rack did not fix the challenge of browning on the bottom, as I suspected, but setting the pan on top of the stove for a few minutes took care of the problem.  In all fairness to the little stove, not cooking at the bottom is not a design flaw.  I had noticed when I was setting up the stove that the little lever on the side looked a little off.  A closer look showed that the piece that is supposed to shift the heat flow underneath the oven had been put on the lever backwards when the stove was originally assembled, making it impossible for it to shift the heat flow.  At some later time, when I take it apart to replace the bolts, I will try to change that, but for now, a few minutes on the stovetop to finish the cooking is not a real inconvenience.

------UPDATE------

Friday afternoon, actual bread.  Just a simple yeast bread but the first baked in this oven in a long time.  Turned out tasty.

Yes, it is a bit large.  Normally, I would have made two braded loaves with that much dough and baked them on a cookie sheet, but it seems that my cookie sheet has disappeared or been misplaced during the past couple of years.  A cake pan makes an unusual size loaf but it works.

Now, with a cook shelter and usable oven, I will be back to baking most of my bread.

A BIT OF SHELTER FOR OUTDOOR COOKING

Outdoor cooking is a wonderful thing.  The open fire (or as is now the case, my Grandmother's wood cookstove), the fresh air and smoke, it is all quite wonderful.  As I am sure you know, even the most wondrous experiences have a downside, and in this case rain falls into that category.  I can't bring myself to complain about rain, but it does present challenges.

Most of my cooking has been done outdoors for a few years now, first on a cooking ring made of car rims, and more recently on my Grandmother's old cast iron cookstove.  Last winter, I made use of a crock pot when the weather was bad, but I really prefer a real fire.  This brings us to the need for a cook shelter.

Recently, I had the opportunity to do some bartering.  Through this bartering, I acquired (among other things) a portable garage.  You know the type, the kind with a metal tubing framework covered with a heavy fabric covering, like they sell at Harbor Freight.  The covering is pretty well worn, but should hold up for a while longer, then it will be replaced with a decent tarp.  It doesn't look like much as a pile of components, but will be good once assembled.

With the framework and back end cover installed, it begins to look a bit more like a shelter.  This is only 2/3 of the frame I traded for due to the space of my cooking area as well as some terrain issues that exist near the back end of the framework that you see in the second photo.  The only real option would be to move my cook stove to a larger flat area, which would not only be quite a bit of extra work, but would also be further from my food storage and living area.  The added space would be nice, but not necessary.  The remaining components will be stored for future use after my cabin is built and I no longer need the cook shelter.


Due to circumstances beyond my control, this little project took longer than I had hoped.  My plan was to have it up before it started raining again.  That did not happen!  I found myself after work on Friday, working frantically in the rain to install the front end and the cover, thoroughly soaked in a slow steady rain.  

With the shelter up, the lack of dry wood and kindling created the next challenge.  As you can see from the smoke, the challenge was met, and I cooked the first meal under my new shelter.  I must say, it was very nice cooking in the dry while listening to the rain falling on the shelter.  With the addition of a table, it will be a pretty nice little kitchen.

With winter coming soon, the walls will also be great.  Nothing takes the fun out of outdoor cooking like a cold wind, or worse yet, a cold, windblown mix of rain and sleet.  This will be good now, with the fall rains, and even better for winter.

I hope this post gives some helpful ideas, and as always, I look forward to your questions and comments.  Now on to the next project:  making a replacement oven rack for the old stove so I can start baking again.