Mini Wood Stove

Mini wood stove sounds like a bit of a misnomer. 

How can any activity that involves cutting, splitting and hauling firewood lend itself to anything mini. 

Small packaging is not usually the first thing that comes to mind when you are thinking of heating with wood, but with efficiency and carbon neutral energy sources coming into greater general awareness it makes sense that expectations will be challenged.

Wood heating has shown itself to be compatible with humans and with human lifestyles for thousands of years. 

One of the keys to its sustainability is woods ability to regenerate itself in its environment.

Sustainably managed woodlots can produce wood year after year without damaging the environment.  

There are advantages to wood heating as well.  

Properly made and installed wood stoves are very safe.  

Their radiant heat warms you through and helps to dry out your living environment like nothing else.  

This is where we get back to mini wood stoves. 

Places that you traditionally wanted a compact easily transportable radiant heating source or cooking surface had to rely on options that were available. 

Those options have until more recently been confined to compressed gas or liquid fuel heaters and burners.

Both of those fuel types have a long history of accidents, in many cases because the fuel itself is dangerous to handle and store, and when they are burned carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide can be introduced into the area.  

In contrast to this, wood is stable and pretty much inert in storage.

While it is heavy, an efficient wood burning stove can extract much of the heat efficiently.

Cubic Mini Wood Stove

The line of mini wood stoves from Cubic illustrate the potential of what a very small wood stove can do to make your travels safer and more like home.  

Cubic advertises their two mini wood stoves as small wood cook stoves for boats, RVs, and tiny spaces or cabins.

The smaller wood cook stove the “Cub” weighs only 27 lbs but is rated to produce 6,000 to 14,000 BTUs. 

The Cubic mini wood stove can put out so much heat because they are real modern wood stoves created in miniature, so they utilize reburn technology to extract the most heat possible while also keeping their particulate emissions low.

The Grizzley is a little heavier at 37 lbs but its extra few inches of width gives you enough heat for a 200-400 square foot space with 8,000 to 18,000 BTUs and a larger cooking surface than the smaller Cub. 

The larger Grizzley is only a tiny 12”x 11”x 15” not much more than a couple of shoeboxes.

Both stoves also offer a ceramic glass front, which allows you to enjoy the warm glow of your fire in small spaces safely like never before.

Mini Wood Stove - Overall

Mini wood stoves are perfect for a portable and on the go lifestyle or even for a deep woods cabin that is off the grid and away from roads.

These are not like the old farmhouse wood stoves that seem like they can eat a tree for dinner.

Mini wood stoves are really just that....mini, so their appetite can be expected to be the same....small. 

The wood that they need will also be small, something that is easy to find in deadfall or even construction offcuts.

This allows mini wood stove users to find fuel more easily, but not from traditional firewood sources which are not going to keep stock of small wood under 6 ¾” inches long. 

On the bright side on those nights that your travels bring you to have Chinese food or Sushi your chopsticks can be saved for firestarters.

Traveling and portable appliances like this are designed for efficiency of energy, and space, not necessarily for your efficiency of action. 

Short, small logs will have you cutting and splitting more.

Small fireboxes mean that you will be loading it more often to keep it burning.  

Even though they are mini they can still throw off some major heat and temperatures, so they still need to be installed according to the manufacturers required offsets. 

This means that they will command their own space and be a little more intrusive into your living space, but for those who know and long for the benefits of wood heat they will probably not mind sharing.

Mini wood stoves offer a lot of benefits in a very small package. 

Taking the comforts of home with you when you are in your RV or boat are important to keeping you happy and safe in your journeys.

When your journey for solitude takes you a little farther you can still have the comfort and convenience of a wood cook stove as far as your legs can carry you to your off grid cabin.  

A modern high efficiency wood stove with reburn is a useful and impressive piece of technology, what a great tool to have available to you, no matter what you are doing or where you are.

About the Author

Nick Greenway

Obsessed with firewood, Nick is behind over 350+ of Firewood For Life's articles, as well as countless reviews, guides and YouTube videos to help readers like you reduce heating costs and create the perfect fire.